Sloane - a few other quick potato ideas, for your little spuds.

Roast with rosemary - just split the little ones in two
Boil then dress with butter and lots of fresh black pepper
Warm potato salads
- mayo, red onion, capers
- balsamic vinaigrette, hard boiled eggs, green beans and grilled tuna
- warm goats cheese, bacon bits, curly endive and mustard vinaigrette
- olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, bacon, mustard and chives
Spanish Omelette/Frittata

My current favourite potato dish:-
Put a glug of olive oil into the bottom of pan, add a couple of finely chopped anchovies and place over a low heat, use a wooden spoon to mash them down until they have almost dissolved into the oil, then add slices of potato cut about as thick as a two dollar coin.
Increase the heat slightly and get the potato coated in the oil by stirring - once the potato has really started to release it's liquid and is starting to steam, turn the heat down again and put the lid on the pan. Wait for about ten minutes until the slices are soft, then remove the lid and increase the heat to drive off any excess liquid.
Just before serving stir through finely chopped parsley and raw garlic - the heat from the potato will cook the garlic and release the aromatics from the parsley.

Astrid - Chicken Nuggets

I'm not sure that would keep terribly well, a light crispy batter is a delicate thing - it's such a quick thing to do from scratch, I'm pretty sure that you would spend more time defrosting than making fresh. I've made for other people's kids a few times and I use an adapted recipe for a Wiener schnitzel - actually Veal works well for chicken nuggets, by the time it's battered it's not easy to tell the difference.
I make a light batter mixture using eggs, flour and milk and a crispy coating mixture using breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese and parsley - I dunk them in the batter, then the coating before shallow frying - this method works really well as the meat steams inside the batter, but still leaves you with a crispy coating.
The bigger you make them, the better the ratio of batter to meat...see if you can convince kids to eat a whole mini schnitzel if sold to them as a really big nugget. You if you make them this way then they could be cooled and frozen, then reheated on an oven tray.

Kitchen Staples

Obviously these will vary from cuisine to cuisine - I tend to cook mainly European dishes - French/Italian/Austrian/Spanish and English influences, so my list of staples will reflect this.

Fresh Herbs - the price charged for fresh herbs is criminal, get a window box, or a planter in the garden and get some going - once they are established then they are pretty foolproof.
- Flat Leaf Parsley
- Thyme
- Rosemary
- Basil (in the summer)
- Mint (not spear mint)
- Bay Tree
- Coriander
- Sage

Dry Herbs/Spices
- Whole Peppercorns
- Rock Salt
- Sea Salt
- Juniper Berries
- Whole Nutmeg
- Mace
- Paprika
- Cayenne Pepper
- Oregano
- Dried Chilli
- Star Anise
- Fennel Seeds
- Cinnamon Bark
- Black Cloves
- Green Cardamom
- Black Cardamom
- Turmeric
- Saffron
- Curry Powder
- Cumin
- Mustard Seeds
- Coriander
- Dried Porcini or Morel Mushrooms

Store Cupboard
- Flours
- Plain, low protein for pastry, sauces, pasta, etc
- Strong Flour for bread making
- CornFlour for thickening sauces
- Jar of Breadcrumbs (don't buy them, just stick a couple of slices of stale bread in a blender every now and again)
- Cans
- Tomato
- Beans - Cannelini, Borlotti, Kidney, Chickpeas, Green Lentils
- Smoked Mussels (instant snack food)
- Crab Meat (one my rescue items - pasta tossed with olive oil, garlic, chilli and tinned crab is a very sophisticated ten minute meal)
- Coconut Milk or Cream
- Olive Oil - EVO and a lighter oil
- Vinegar - White Wine, Red Wine, Malt and Cider
- Sugar - White (for DW's cup of tea), Icing, Soft Brown
- Honey (much prefer a natural sweetener if possible)
- Soy Sauce - Dark and Light
- Worcester Sauce
- Tamarind Paste (great secret ingredient)
- Capers
- Anchovies (we use these a lot, dissolved in oil to add a little salt to the start of a dish...see the potato recipe above)
- Home Made Jams and Marmalades
- Duck or Goose Confit (another quick rescue dinner)
- Rice - Long grain and a risotto or paella rice
- Pasta in it's various forms
- Red and White cooking wine - usually keep a box of chateau cardboard next to the hob


Freezer
- Chillis (keep well in the freezer and can be chopped and cooked directly from frozen)
- Frozen Peas and Beans (throw them into all sorts of dishes directly from frozen - Broad Beans are particularly good)
- Frozen Prawns and scallops - another thing that can be sliced directly into a dish from frozen with great results.
- Stocks - Never throw any bones away...always make your own stocks! Always have chicken stock and beef stock, occasionally duck, fish and lamb.
- Bones - If I've got enough stock on hand, then I'll freeze the left over bones in a bag until I need to make a stock.
- Prawn heads - same as the bones, these can be used to make fantastic sauces for fish, so they lurk in the corner of the freezer until needed.
- Instant Pastry - Short crust and instant - fits nicely in the top of the freezer and makes life easy if you are in a hurry.

Fridge
- Butter
- Double Cream or Creme Fraiche
- Eggs
- Mustard - Dijon and Wholegrain
- Cheese
- Hard Cheese - Parmesan or Pecorino
- Cheddar type cheese
- Blue Cheese
- Melting Cheese - Fontina at the moment, but Gruyere, Mozzeralla, etc most of the time
- Marinaded Vegetables - Eggplants, Zuchhini, Sun dried tomato, olives, etc
- Bacon/Pancetta - I usually have a tub of pork dry curing into bacon in the fridge, we will just hack off what we need for cooking along the way
- Chocolate - bags of dark chocolate buttons for cooking
- Milk
- Curry Pastes
- Miso Paste


Vegetables/Fruit

The base of many sauces is a mixture of Onions, Carrots and Celery - the french call it "mire-poix", the Italians "soffrito" - it's all the same thing. It's an essential part of so many things - cut it fine for a quick sauce, or chunky for a long cooking stew.
Onions - Red and White
Carrots
Celery
Garlic
Red Cabbage - we braise it with red wine vinegar, cinnamon and cloves
Potato
Lemons
Some form of salad leaf
Then whatever is in season...fennel, leeks, cauliflower are all great at the moment, some awesome capsicum are just starting to appear.