Creating an Italian haven for home cooks

The cost-of-living crisis has prompted consumers to cut back on unnecessary expenditure and as a result, they are eating out less. But while they may not be visiting their local Italian restaurant as often, this doesn’t mean they don’t want premium pizza and pasta.

They simply want to recreate it at home! Italian cuisine is perfectly suited to aspiring home cooks and those looking for top-quality meals they can make with their own two hands, so stock up and cash in.

Many shoppers are looking to their local independent retailers for quality pastas that can create a special dish from home, and therefore, being able to offer a solid variety of different shapes and sizes to cater to those needs is important. Look further afield than the classic shapes such as penne and spaghetti, and experiment with orecchiette, tagliatelle and boccole.

Alongside top-quality pasta, you will need to stock all the ingredients for creating premium sauces. Tomatoes are used as a base for a variety of pasta dishes, so offering great tomatoes, in all their fresh, jarred, canned and pureed forms will help your customers create comforting classics such as ragu and arrabbiata.

Provide a range of fresh Italian herbs for garnishing, high-quality salt and chilli for seasoning, and premium oils for drizzling, roasting and sauteeing to encourage experimentation.

Stocking a range of ready-made sauces also allows shoppers with less time available for cooking from scratch to still be able to whip up a delicious pasta dish at home. Having a good selection of different tomato sauces as well as flavourful pestos and even white sauces for lasagne ensures that the essentials are covered.

With a growing number of flexitarians, gluten-intolerants and nut-allergy sufferers, it is important to ensure that all dietary requirements are considered too. But this doesn’t mean limited choices, however.

Premium Italian brands offer vegan and gluten-free versions of their authentic pastas and sauces, while pestos using seeds instead of nuts are a great stock to avoid allergens. Increasing the number of quality options for different shopper needs will help you to become a one-stop shop when it comes to creating Italian dishes at home.