Fat, oil, and flavour

What to keep

Olive oil, rapeseed oil, ghee, coconut oil, and lard all have a place. Ghee and coconut oil tolerate warmth better than delicate seed oils. Buy oils you already cook with. A litre you use every month is worth more than a drum you are saving for a story.

Fat is calorie-dense. A tablespoon of oil is roughly a hundred kilocalories. When you log a bottle, use the calories for the whole bottle if that is your “unit”, or per tablespoon if you will count them that way. Be consistent or the days-of-food number lies.

Rancid is real

Oils oxidise. Light and heat speed it up. Store bottles closed, cool, and dark. If it smells of crayons, paint, or stale nuts, do not “just use it for frying”. That is how a store becomes a stomach ache. Set a best-before and open the cap when the date arrives.

Shortening and peanut butter also go stale, just more slowly. Wipe the rim of a jar so the lid still seals. A dirty thread lets air in.

Flavour is a supply

Salt, stock cubes, chilli, vinegar, soy sauce, and a jar of something sweet keep people eating plain food for the second week, not only the first night. Morale is practical. A small tin of spices weighs nothing beside a bucket of rice and decides whether the rice gets finished.