How to build a better pantry

A good pantry is not a big pantry. It is a small set of ingredients you actually cook with, kept at a level where you never run out mid-recipe.

Start with the base: a pasta shape you like, a rice you cook well, tinned tomatoes, and one excellent olive oil. These four cover more dinners than any gadget.

Then add flavour: sea salt flakes, black pepper, smoked paprika, tahini and peanut butter. Five small jars that change everything they touch.

Finally, the backups: chickpeas, lentils, rolled oats and honey. Cheap, long-lived, and the difference between ordering in and eating well.

Buy the small size first. When you finish it, you have found a staple. When it sits for a year, you have found a souvenir.