If you want to consistently prepare home-cooked meals quickly and easily, you need to have a foundation of pantry essentials on hand. If you keep your kitchen stocked with some basic essentials, you can avoid the temptation. That way, you always have ingredients at home to make a home-cooked meal and avoid having to order pizza or drive through a local fast food restaurant. Here are some guidelines on how to stock a pantry for the first time when you want to assemble your own collection of essential pantry items.
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How to Stock A Pantry for the First Time
The key to stocking a useful and efficient pantry is stocking up with things you will actually use before they expire for real. This means both things that you like to eat and things that you will actually cook. While you may be a quinoa lover, if you are overwhelmed at the thought of cooking it from scratch – then that’s not a good stocking up item.
And, when you are focused on stocking up on basics, choose items that are used in a wide range of recipes that your family is likely to eat.
This is a conservative starter list of middle of the road basics. For an expanded multipurpose list categorized by expertise in the kitchen, check out How to Stock a Modern Pantry.
We have set out below a description of the basic categories of products that you should include in your stocked pantry, as well as our recommendations for a basic starter list.
Oil/Dressing/Condiments
You’ll want to stock up on some combination of oil, dressing, and condiments. By having these in your kitchen already, you can prepare a lot of meals with other ingredients you have without worrying about picking up extra items every time you go to the grocery store. For this category, you can choose from a variety of oil based on your needs, including vegetable, olive, canola, sesame, and peanut oil. Also consider including some non-stick oil spray for the pans. Based on your frequency of potential use, also consider different types of vinegar, such as red wine and rice vinegar, and sauces like soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce. Don’t forget basic condiments like mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, honey, and any others your family enjoys.
This is a basic starter list for this category:
- Olive oil
- Vegetable oil
- White vinegar
- Basic vinaigrette
- Mustard (yellow or Dijon)
- Mayonnaise (or sandwich spread)
- Ketchup
- Hot sauce
- Soy sauce
- BBQ sauce
- Ranch or other favorite dressing
Rice, Pasta and Grains
In your pantry, make sure you have plenty of rice, pasta, and grains. These items can be made with nothing more than boiling water and some basic ingredients. Consider including a combination of different beans and grains, such as kidney beans, chili beans, garbanzo beans, black beans, along with quinoa and couscous. For rice, choose your favorites, but also have a variety, such as wild rice, jasmine rice, white rice, and brown rice. Have different forms of pasta, including bowtie, spaghetti noodles, and lasagna noodles. This will cover a lot of your basic meal options.
A basic starter list for this category:
- Preferred rice (white or brown)
- Pasta
- Favorite crackers
- Black beans
- Bread crumbs
Seasonings and Herbs
Include a wide range of seasonings and herbs in your pantry, both fresh and dried herbs. Choose the basics like rosemary, basil, oregano, and mint. These herbs combined with seasonings like salt, pepper, and garlic salt will take you far in your different meals. Also consider things like all-spice and multiple seasoning bottles, such as a bottle of Italian seasoning to make the cooking process even easier.
A basic starter list for this category:
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper or peppercorns
- Cumin
- Garlic powder or minced garlic (dried)
- Italian seasonings
- Cinnamon
- Sea salt
- Chili powder
Dry Goods: Baking
In addition to these items, you should have some other staples in the pantry. This includes items that help you bake things from scratch, such as bread, biscuits, and muffins. Have plenty of salt, sugar, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and other items that help you prepare your different baked items or treats.
A basic starter list for this category:
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Corn meal
- Corn starch
- Flour
- White sugar
- Brown sugar
- Vanilla
Other Fundamentals
These are items that turn up in a wide range of popular recipes. Having them on hand will make your life easier (and cheaper) when a new recipe that you ‘d like to try out catches your eye.
A basic starter list for this category:
- Tomato sauce
- Tomato paste
- Diced or stewed tomatoes
- Chicken broth/stock
- Vegetable stock
