Tony Turnbull

1 month ago | thetimes.com | Hannah Evans |Tony Turnbull

1 month ago | thetimes.com | Tony Turnbull

If there is one cuisine that has come to dominate our shopping baskets over recent years, it is Asian. These days supermarkets stock an extensive range of chilli oils, soy sauces, noodles, herbs and spices - items that only a few years ago would have required a trip to a specialist Asian shop. Additionally, the ready-meal aisles are filled with exotic-sounding dishes from Thailand, Japan, Korea and, of course, China.

1 month ago | thetimes.com | Tony Turnbull

Tinned foodManufacturers will generally give best-before dates of one to four years, but you can safely ignore them. When my grandmother died, we inherited her larder and ate from cans priced in pounds, shillings and pence without ill-effect. Dried pasta and riceGenerally best-before dates give two years' shelf life. Kept in a dark, cool place, you can push that to three or four.

1 month ago | thetimes.com | Tony Turnbull

1 month ago | thetimes.com | Andrew Ellson |Tony Turnbull |Hannah Evans