Pantry Essentials
With the right pantry essentials in the cupboard you can easily throw together a last minute dinner rather than relying on take away or pot noodles.
By cooking your own meals you will save money and your waste line.
When you are starting out you don’t need everything on the list. Just build your pantry as you go…
Oils & Vinegar’s
Olive Oil – Use extra virgin olive oil to drizzle on salads, for marinades, making sauces or dipping crusty bread.
Vegetable Oil – Use canola or vegetables oils for sautéing and heavy cooking at a high heat.
Sesame Oil – A few drops of sesame oil adds a depth of flavour to Asian style dishes.
Balsamic Vinegar – Brilliant for salads or combining with olive oil and dipping breads.
Apple Cider Vinegar – Great for pickling, dressings and soups.
Red Wine Vinegar – A great all-purpose vinegar for salad dressings, sauces and marinades.
Baking
Flour – Have both Plain and Self Raising flour to hand. Note that a lot of American recipes call for All Purpose Flour, this is essentially Plain Flour and you add Baking Powder as the raising agent.
Sugar – Plain white granulated sugar (castor) and light brown sugar (demerara) and Icing sugar are essential if you do any amount of baking. Buy castor sugar in bulk but buy the others in smaller packages as they can go hard if not stored in air tight containers.
Vanilla Essence – A bottle of good vanilla essence is essential for baking. It can be expensive but well worth it – avoid the imitation vanilla, it’s just not nice.
Cooking Chocolate – Don’t use chocolate chips as a substitute, they are not made for melting. Try the Ultimate Chocolate Brownie Recipe
Cocoa Powder – Quality cocoa powder is a must when baking.
Cornflour – Use in baking, it’s also for great for thickening soups and sauces. When you purchase, transfer to an airtight container. Usually only small amounts are called upon for recipes so you’ll have it for years.
Baking Soda – Also known as Bi-Carb. Not only is it great for baking, it’s an odour eater and if mixed with white vinegar is a great cleaning agent.
Spices & Herbs
Salt – Yes, you need salt, it brings out the flavour in your cooking. Keep a packet of Maldon flake salt by the stovetop and fine salt like Saxa with Iodine in the cupboard for when you need exact measurements.
Pepper – Buy black peppercorns in bulk (you will also need a grinder). A small container of white pepper is good for when you want to add pepper to a white sauce and don’t want black flakes to appear. Think Lasagna.
Herbs and Spices – Start with the basics like cinnamon, ginger, cumin, smoked paprika, red pepper flakes, and cayenne pepper. If you haven’t discovered Sumac (a middle eastern spice) do yourself a massive favour and get it now!
Branch out to nutmeg, fennel, bay leaves, and sweet paprika, as well as herbs like dried thyme, sage, dill and oregano eventually. When you start adding up the cost of dried herbs or store-bought fresh herbs you may want to start a little herb garden of your own.
Canned / Bottled Goods
Stock up your pantry with canned goods and you won’t starve! A Black Bean dip with corn chips and a little cheese will set you back around $5.00.
Tomatoes, Canned – Good quality diced tomatoes are essential to have in the cupboard. Beef Ragu
Tomato, Passata – With a bottle of Passata handy you can whip up a great sauce by adding a little garlic and basil, pour over pasta.
Tomato, Paste – The paste provides an intense tomato flavour. It comes in a tube (great if only need a small amount), pre-portioned sachets and cans / jars if you needing more volume.
Tuna – A couple of cans of Tuna can bulk up a garden salad or make a big difference to a tomato sauce to pour over pasta.
Coconut Milk – Full-fat coconut milk is a staple of many Indian and Asian dishes.
Stocks – Salt reduced Beef, Chicken and Vegetable liquid stocks are great to have on hand. Stock cubes keep for ages OXO is a good brand. Watch for added MSG in the ingredients. Even better make your own, portion into zip lock bags and freeze. Stock Recipe.
Rice & Grains
Beans – Black beans, cannellini beans, kidney beans, lentils and chickpeas are great staples. Black Beans Dip Recipe
Rice – Jasmine is great for Asian dishes, Basmatti for Indian or Mexican, Arborio for Risotto and Brown Rice goes great with slow cooked meat dishes. Cauliflower Rice is awesome if you want a light weight healthy option.
Pasta – For a quick filling dinner nothing beats a bowl of pasta.
Bread Crumbs – For meatballs to crispy chicken tenders, breadcrumbs add texture and flavour. Panko breadcrumbs are great and add that extra crunch, cheaper versions do the job and a great when you are on a budget.
Garlic – No kitchen should be without it. Fresh locally grown bulbs are the best, keep them in a cool, dark space. Jars of minced garlic are okay if you are in a hurry, just make sure your measure is at room temperature before adding to hot oil. (Burnt garlic is not a flavour you will forget). If you are doing a Roast, soak unpeeled garlic in milk for 10 mins. I will mellow the flavour.
Pantry Storage
An Instagram worthy pantry is not necessary. Go for it if you have the money and the time. Kitchens should be functional, get in – get moving – get out.
1. At the Top – make that your store
Items that you buy in multiples go here. Put a mark on the items that you are currently using and have a duplicate in the ‘Store’ so when you are about to run out of something you know it’s going to be okay. Things like baking paper, glad wrap etc.
2. Oils, Cans and Spices
These are the items you will use on a daily basis so keep them handy and easy to access.
3. Baking
These are occasional items – either keep them at the back of the cupboard or they may have their own shelf.
4. Keep heavy items at the bottom
Keep perishables like Potatoes, Sweet Potato, Onions, Garlic & Ginger at the bottom.
Shopping Lists
Stick a Shopping blank list on the inside of the pantry door, with a pen, so you won’t forget what you need to reorder. I like to add items to the Woolworth’s online shopping website, it’s free and you can download the app to your phone so you always have the list with you when you are out and about (and you don’t have to shop at Woolies).
Storage Containers
You don’t need to tip everything in fancy uniform containers and cute labels it may look good but it can be expensive and time consuming. As long has you keep everything grouped together you are going to be okay.
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