Have you ever been shoping, bought something on impulse and NEVER used it ?
I bought a tub of Palm Sugar, and I've just looked at the sell by date - May 2010 !

There's a couple of jars in the cupboard that haven't been opened

Tamarind paste and lemongrass. I'll get around to using them. Infact I might do tonight as I was going to make a pork coconut curry.

The problem then is using them up.

I have a tin of baked beans in the cupboard I have no idea where they came from as I hate baked beans.

Capers
Tinned mushrooms (I really cannot remember why I bought them. I don't know why they even exist as a product)
Tinned rhubarb (same as above!)
Loads of bits for making sushi - I will get round to using them eventually

Edit: Reggae Reggae sauce too!

yeah, i have those too.

I use a lot of stuff at least every month or too, but those i've not used since the first recipe. I only do lazy thai curry with paste.

A bottle of Rice wine from Wing Yips circa 1992.

I suppose a food cupboard, shelf or fridge is not quite right unless it has a tin of something you really don't intend or particularly want to eat, ever, or have turned against since you bought it because it now looks horrible.

I have semolina and pudding rice that are unopened. I don't like rice pudding and my partner isn't too keen on semolina so I haven't got round to making any yet.

tamarind paste is easy to use up if you eat Indian curry. There aer a few recipes that ask for it.

Lemongrass there are only 2 recipes I know that ask for it both coconut based so I also tend to eat one and then have one just sitting around for weeks.


We have a jar of tapenade. Yuk is all I can say. avoid

Same here! I have half a cupboard full of Yutaka sushi making ingredients that I've never used

Also:
Allspice powder
Demerara sugar
An oriental oyster sauce
Sumac powder

My mother has a special part of her pantry set aside just for these items. She usually gets them given to her by her mother. But then I cheerfully take the tins of creamed corn (nobody else I know likes this stuff, can't figure why really), stewed steak, corn relish (there's a corn theme seemingly) and tins of corned beef hash.

My own collection has recently been added to, which is a little early to decide whether you'll never use it or not I agree, but then I didn't really know what I was going to do with it when I bought it. Palm hearts. Someone on here mentioned them last year sometime and I was intrigued. I saw them in the shit-bins at Tesco for 11p so I bought not one, but two tins of them. Now they sit, waiting to be called to action. I haven't told them this, but it might be quite a while.

I notice someone else have some Reggae Reggae sauce lurking at the back of their cupboard. The thing is, not happy being very under-whelmed by his normal dipping sauce - I then went out and bought his cooking Reggae Reggae sauce too. This is keeping the Palm hearts company.
I'm a bit hooked on condiments so I have a lot and in defence they do tend to all get used. Apart from, that is, the really bad ones from the Chinese supermarket. The satay sauce dip I bought, is just oily, fishy, salty peanut butter. Shudder. That doesn't get used. Nor does it get thrown away.

I have Thai Green curry paste, a jar of minced ginger and TWO bottles of fish sauce. A friend came round and cooked me a curry. Left the ingredients and here they still remain after over a year.

Huge tin of mushrooms - catering size. Don't like tinned mushrooms it was left over from a fund raiser a couple of years ago. May have to have a another fund raiser to use it up.

I opened the lemongrass last night and used a teaspoon of it in a pork co**** curry. I'll have to make a few more of them in the coming weeks

I bought a tin of rice pudding several months back when I wasn't feeling too well (thinking comfort food)

It's still there and I don't really like it so don't know when it will ever be used

Tahini. Haven't got around to making homemade hummus yet and not sure what else to do with it.

Still got a jar of Saffron that I bought in Spain years ago. Never going to use it.