Many of us shell out for posh pantry staples - but you can eat well without breaking the bank, writes Sophie Morris
Forget wearing your favourite brands. The latest fashion is to cram your pantry - the posh name for a food cupboard - with on-trend independent products ranging from Ortiz tuna (£4.50 a can) to Perello olives (£3.50) and £5 bags of Torres crisps.
Together, these three distinctive Spanish brands almost make a balanced meal, and our eagerness for no-cook picky dinners - served, if possible, out of the original packaging - has contributed to the soaring popularity of cult cupboard must-haves.
Waitrose noted the “pantry glowup” movement in its latest Food & Drink Report, identifying a core group of long-life pantry items that more and more of us are willing to shell out for. Belazu - known for its “chef-grade” tahini and rose harissa - and cult olive oil subscription service Citizens of Soil were named as status symbols, while House & Garden magazine has described a bottle of olive oil as a more suitable dinner party gift than wine.
My own love for a posh pantry item is well documented. My friend even got me a bag full of all the greats for my birthday. These so-called staples either come from reputable independent producers or have been cleverly branded to hike their value. Cooks and online influencers are paid to promote them via menus and social media.
But do you want to eat well without breaking the bank? I’ve picked my top everyday store cupboard staples that should be within reach price-wise, whether you own an actual pantry or not.
OLIVES Swap Perello Gordal olives (£3.50 for 350g) for M&S salted pistachios (£6/300g) Bad news, I’m afraid: cheap olives taste disgusting. I know because I keep trying them. Save them for cooking. Odysea’s gordal olives are good, but not much cheaper than Perello at £2.80 for 290g from
Sainsbury’s, and the other quality supermarket olives are a similar price, e.g. £3.75 for 145g in Waitrose - though they’ve discontinued the best ones: queen olives with cumin. I don’t recommend buying in bulk unless catering for vast numbers as once a tin is opened, it quickly loses its freshness.
Still, I adore a salty or briny snack. Make your olives go further by mixing them with pearl cocktail onions such as Opies (£1.55, 227g) or small cubes of cheese such as feta, Parmesan or Manchego. Or deploy my favourite olive hack in your next cocktail hour: switch them for M&S salted pistachios (inset left) - £6/300g tub lasts for ages.
CRISPS Swap Torres black truffle crisps (£4.95) for Tyrrells black truffle and sea salt (£2.75) When these admittedly delicious crisps first became available in the
UK, everyone said no one would pay a fiver for crisps, even if they did come in such high-end flavours as Iberian ham and black truffle.
Well, everyone was wrong.
Crisps have become even more boujie in recent years, with buckets of Bonilla la Vista going for £20 and up.
My advice? Save Torres for special occasions (no need to share) and get two bags of Tyrrells (around £2.75 each) instead. Is there a local brand you can support? I buy Kent Crisps in oyster and vinegar or Ashmore cheese and onion (about £2.50). If you desire to impress with a lesser seen brand, look out for Brets - delicious ridged crisps in flavours such as aioli or camembert (around £3).
OLIVE OIL Swap Citizens of Soil (£19/500ml from Ocado) for Odysea Greek Early Harvest EVOO (£8.85/500ml from Sainsbury’s) The price of olive oil, especially the highest quality extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), has shot up in the past five years. There are a number of on trend brands, including Citizens of Soil and Honest Toil, but I hate seeing influencers cook with these, throwing a precious, premium ingredient into a pan instead of eating it with bread, in a dressing, or to finish a dish.
While Odysea is also an aspirational brand selling a variety of EVOOs, it’s 500ml specialty oils, such as Greek Early Harvest at £8.85 for 500ml, cost half as much as smaller startup brands. For cooking, reach for Karyatis, a cheaper line from Odysea with 2l tins for £19 at Sainsbury’s.
HARISSA Swap Belazu’s rose harissa paste (£4.50/170g from Waitrose, currently down to £3.60) for Sainsbury’s harissa paste (£1.70/90g) Belazu and products like rose harissa are firm favourites among Middle Eastern chefs such as Yotam Ottolenghi.
The £4.50 price tag seems more reasonable when you realise that you only use a tablespoon or two in most dishes - however harissa goes off fairly quickly, like pesto.
Buy a supermarket own brand instead, such as Sainsbury’s harissa paste (£1.70/90g). The smaller jar (above) should mean you don’t waste any. Purists will hate me, but can you really taste the difference when it’s stirred into a large batch of soup or stew?
TUNA Swap Ortiz yellowfin (£4.50 for 112g) for M&S Collection pole and line caught albacore tuna loins (£4.50 for 225g) If you’re going to splash out on tinned fish, do your homework. One distributor told me that a new and very trendy brand, which I’ve picked up myself thanks to the great packaging, is exactly the same stuff that goes in the supermarket own lines.
With the heritage Spanish tinned fish brand Ortiz, you get what you pay for. I live in fear of my stock of Ortiz Bonito Ventresca (incredibly pricey tuna belly) disappearing into a school lunchbox. But these are special products and not for use every day.
I buy own-brand pole and linecaught cans of skipjack tuna for sandwiches, such as M&S skipjack chunks in spring water (80p/160g), or Fish4Ever which has great ethical credentials (£3.15/160g).