Getting started - Ingredients - Fresh

Final getting started bits then: what you need in the cupboard......

I am going to split this into 2 sections: fresh and dried ingredients - and will do fresh first as its easier!

Fresh ingredients

Contenders for the fridge:
Fresh Coriander
Root ginger/ galangal
Mint/ Peppermint
Lemon grass
Limes/ Lemons
Basil/ Thai Basil
Chillies/ Peppers
Onions/ Shallots/ Garlic
Celery/ Carrots
Fresh tomatoes - both "normal" and "cherry" great to have in hand
Potatoes - "Waxy" varieties best for Eastern cuisine

Natural Yoghurt
Double Cream/ Creme Fraiche
Butter - for making Ghee ideally or just mix with Sunflower oil

It goes without saying that fresh is always best - vegetables, herbs, meat, fish - the lot!
There are however some things which can be frozen for limited period:
Root Ginger:
If shopping at the supermarket, make sure you remove the box on the shelf and see if there is one behind it - you will get a proper piece of ginger rather than a bunch of broken off nodules. (PS, Oriental/ Indian etc stores have much better stuff if you happen to be near one)
So, having acquired a nice palm-sized piece of root ginger, your recipe calls for say, 4cm or peeled chopped ginger. When are you going to use the rest?!
Well, Peel the whole lot, then carve up into rectangles, followed by slices - they should ideally be about 1-2cm wide, up to 4cm long and no more than 1mm thick. Place in ziplock and freeze. This also works for Thai ginger/ Galangal, Fresh turmeric, lemon grass, and similar root type or "woody"/ dense type produce.
According to some friends of mine, you can also do this with your Masala paste (Chillies, Garlic, salt and sometimes ginger.......) BUT.....omit the Garlic which apparently doesn't do as well in the freezer, and add it once you have defrosted the rest of the paste.
As mentioned above, you can freeze chillies, although I wouldn't freeze them whole. Finely dice then paste them and freeze. Alternatively you can dry whole chillies - effectively dessicate them, and then grind them up into the dry spice mix. So far, this seems to be working well for me. I've dessicated them in the fridge and dried them in a warm oven - with not much difference I can discern (Seal them in airtight containers afterwards!).

For all these fabulous ingredients - do a location search and see if you have a specialist store anywhere near you. If not, ask your friends and colleagues whether they do.
Alternatively, get the stuff delivered. It will be inifinitely superior to supermarket stuff. You can also grow a fair bit over the spring/ summer: Coriander works well in the UK, but be careful - it seems to "bolt" (seed) with little provocation (too dry, too wet, sudden temperature shocks, invasion by aliens etc), which renders it useless for cooking. Chillies etc can also work well, particularly if started indoors early in the year, although I've found that UK home grown chillies seem to have heat, but little depth of flavour.

Near me I have recently discovered a gold mine in the shape of a Thai Food Direct store http://thaifooddirect.co.uk/ - have to say the quality of produce there is great - as is the variety - you can really wow the guests for instance by serving your dishes on fresh banana leaves with genuine Thai basil, Thai aubergines, proper lemon grass, and some seriously powerful chillies! They also have a great range of dried shrimp etc for the all important Thai curry pastes as well as all the pre-made stuff, massive frozen prawns, frogs legs and so on!

PS...A final word of warning....don't ever go to any of these stores hungry!