Stocking Your Kitchen
When my husband and I married, he took me grocery shopping. Bags and bags later, I said “we have to come back for spices.” He thought to himself “salt. pepper. How complicated can that be?” only to see another whole bag appear. He discovered a love of cooking, and cooks much fancier, more complicated dishes than I do. I still laugh at the day when he thought spices were just salt and pepper.
Here is the list I made for the newlyweds and independants in our family. What would you add? What are your staples in the kitchen?
Staples for Your Pantry
small cans of tomato paste
whole tomatos, 16 oz cans
tomato sauce, 16 oz. cans
artichoke hearts, 16 oz. can
evaporated milk
powdered milk
Dream Whip
olive oil
cider vinegar
red wine vinegar
balsamic vinegar
canned tuna
1 can crab (opt)
1 can smoked salmon (opt)
1 can shrimp (opt)
1 can chunk pineapple
1 can some kind of fancy fruit juice concentrate – raspberry, pomegranate, etc. (mix with soda water for a “drink” when unexpected guests drop in)
1 package nice crackers
1 pkg chocolate chips
Soups – cans, packages
bouillon cubes (chicken, beef, veg)
Saltines (for queasy stomach and when there is no bread good with PB or tuna)
Baking Staples
flour (NOT self-rising)
fine white sugar
brown sugar
baking powder
baking soda
vanilla flavoring
almond flavoring
lemon flavoring
red food coloring
green food coloring
Spices
salt
pepper
cinnamon
thyme
sage
basil
marjoram
oregano
cumin
chili
cilantro
parsley
turmeric (makes things yellow)
Spices II Only if you are into cooking:
saffron
coriander
cardomon
ginger
cloves
Pasta
spaghetti noodles
lasagne noodles
stars/alphabets (small noodles)
penne noodles (for stronger sauces)
Freezer
cheddar cheese
mozarella cheese
hamburger
chicken breasts
leftover ham
leftover turkey
1 stick real butter
frozen spinace
frozen peas
individual biscuits
Refrigerator Basics
Milk
Eggs
Ketchup
sweet pickle relish
Mayonnaise
Butter spread
Pillsbury Crescent Rolls (trust me)
cheddar cheese
Horseradish
Mustard (basic everyday yellow)
Really good French Mustard (opt)
jalepeno’s (if you use them)
Soda water (removes stains)
capers (opt)
sour cream (opt)
cream cheese (opt)
jam and jelly (your favorites)
chocolate syrup
tomato pesto (jazzes things up)
Thai chili sauce
soy sauce
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I love this post. It inspires me to come up with my own. 🙂
P.S. Cheese in the freezer? I didn’t know you could do that, but it’s a great idea with the amount of mozzarella we go through in this house.
You left out SEA salt, pie crust, and my favorite, Crisco! Hahaha I only got those from YOUR past recipes.
Stinni – Post yours! I want to see what other people think of as “staples.” Yeh, you can freeze cheese, if you are going to cook it. Sometimes freezing changes its texture, so you might not be able to use it just thawed.
1001 – and now I see, I also forgot peanut butter! I don’t think my husband could live without PB & J.
I always try to have cans of diced tomatoes – ideally, the petite cut because it gets rid of any core/stem tomato bits.
and – for this cook – tea is a staple. more than a staple, actually: its a pre-requisite. english breakfast, with milk. it works particularly well for morning and afternoon cooking, though also good in the evenings (de-caf) or at noon :-).
Little Diamond – oh! you are right! but you know how it is, sometimes you work with what ya got – those beautiful littel diced tomatoes are not common here.
And I always have such interesting “staples” after you visit! 😉
[…] Inspired by Intlxpatr, who has a great list of must-have items for any kitchen, here is my stock list. I’ll be updating this post over the next few days to include comments and links. […]
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