Store Cupboard Food Stuff To Buy Now To See You Through The Whole Of Autumn

Yes, summer may be over and it's time to put away halcyon thoughts of long, nectar nights spent drinking gin in a tin in the park next to coconut scented bodies but don’t despair - all is not yet lost. With summer’s decline comes autumn’s triumphant return and that means one thing: carbohydrates. Who needs tan lines and the prospect of outdoor sex when you have mashed potatoes? The answer you’re scrabbling for is ‘No one’. And, like it or not, you’re going to be spending more time cooking. Lucky, then, that autumn is basically the best time of the year for food and with all the amazing produce that suddenly comes on offer for a fraction of the price (fruit, for example, is about a third cheaper when it’s in season) your bank balance will thank you, even if your waistline does not. Here’s all the stuff you need to buy now...

One of the most pleasing things about this time of year is that a whole bunch of amazing fruit is coming into season, making it the cheapest time ever to feel proper virtuous. Bonus. Make fruit like apples, pears and plums last even longer by baking them in a high oven with any combination of these spices and plonking them in an old jam jar. Great on porridge, on ice cream or even under a shop-bought puff pastry lid if you're in that pie kinda mood. Don't bother forking out on fresh vanilla which will only dry out in your cupboard - this paste is banging and lasts forever. Bay Leaves, £1.00, Sainsbury’s; Vanilla Bean Paste, £3.99; Cloves, £1.89; Star Anise, £1.89; Nutmeg, £1.89; Cinnamon Stticks, £1.89, all Waitrose

I'm of the impression that there is virtually no dish on this planet that can't be improved by chorizo. These soft, warming, comforting cooking chorizo can be shoved in your freezer and added to a tin of butter beans for a lush lunch, tomato sauce for pasta or roasted with potatoes to make any old crap you have left in your cupboard a proper tasty meal. I even stew them with people's leftover red wine from the party the night before to make an amazing hungover tapas - the juice is amazing dipped in crusty bread. Waste not want not. Cooking Chorizo, £2.69, Waitrose

When it's wet and dark outside you actually do need something that feels like its cuddling from the inside to stop suicidal thoughts from creeping into your morning commute. Porridge is the best way to carb load in the morning without having to worry about all the weight you're going to have to loose when the sun eventually comes out again for one week in mid-August. Cheap as chips as well. Rolled oats, £1.80, Sainsbury’s

If you make sure you've got these four things in your cupboard at home then soup making suddenly becomes an easy option - even easier (and much cheaper) than the latest deal on Covent Garden soup in Tesco Metro. Just add whatever you can manage to pick up on your way home - be it butternut squash, mushroom or celeriac if you're feeling fancy - and a week worth of lunches are sorted. Or just combine to make leek and potato of the weather's too bleak to make it outside your house. Scrimp on everything but the stock - it makes all the difference. Potatoes, £1.75, Tesco; Leeks, £1.00 Tesco; Onions, 80p Sainsbury’s; Chicken Stock, £2.60, Waitrose

Just because it's rank outside doesn't mean you have to feel rank inside, and lentils are an amazing way to fill that carbohydrate hole without giving up on your diet. They're Richie protein and these dark, puy lentils are packed full of antioxidants - not that you'll notice when you've cooked them up with wine, stock, bay leaves and some Italian sausages. Proper comfort food. Puy Lentils, £2.00, Sainsbury’s

It's basically pointless buying fresh tomatoes this time of year because they'll all be insipid, hothouse grown, flavourless offerings flown in from Amsterdam. These cherry toms were picked I'm the height of the summer and taste as such - just add good olive oil, garlic, chilli flakes and basil and you've got a pasta sauce that will taste like it's the height of summer in Lake Como rather than drizzling in Dalstons. Or something.Tinned Cherry Tomatoes, 98p, Waitrose

Tahini and tinned chickpeas are handy to have around because they never go off and can be whizzed up with lemon, oil and garlic to make a tastier humous than you'll ever buy in the shops - but the fun doesn't end there chaps! Tahini is spread amazing on lamb chops or added to salad dressing to make things all middle-eastern and chickpeas are a great way to bulk out stews and curries for people (like myself) or find peeling potatoes the most eye-achingly boring activity in the entire universe. Chickpea, chicken, chorizo and tinned tomato stew is something everyone needs in their lives. Tahini, £2.50, Tesco; Chickpeas, 60p Waitrose; Lemon, 30p, Tesco; Olive oil, £3.69, Waitrose;Garlic Cloves, 60p, Sainsbury’s

Berries are expensive this time of year - unless they come frozen. If you defrost them they make their own, sticky sauce which is great on yoghurt for breakfast or whizz them up and add vodka to make an insanely easy cocktail. Stick in your freezer and just forget they're there until you need them.Frozen Summer Fruits, £1.85, Waitrose

Often written off for making the eater a ‘bit farty’, it is nonetheless excellent for putting in your winter warmer stews and soups – especially handy when you’ve scrimped on the expensive stuff like meat, and you need to feed all the waifs and strays in your house too. If you needed any more convincing, it’s also a cheaper and healthier alternative to risotto rice. Pearl Barley, 55p, Waitrose

Yes, these guys are pretty expensive, but if you add just a sprinkling into any dish where you're using basic, button mushrooms your dinner will be transformed into something restaurant-tasty. Think of them as that one, expensive winter wardrobe purchase that makes all your other shit look fancy.Dried Porchini Mushrooms, £2.40, Waitrose