What is a pantry?
In a perfect world it's a small room off the kitchen where you can store anything from dry food goods to plates and glassware to kitchen odds and ends.
Some of us know it as a cupboard above the kitchen counter. I've seen even a few spartan kitchens where it's a shelf over the stove with two items: salt and pepper.
Home cooks all over the country have some incarnation of a place they keep the items they need to make a meal. And if you don't my advice would be to get one.
The initial cost starting a pantry can be a little steep, but you will see a return on your investment and many of the items only need to be replaced or replenished every few months or in some cases once a year. And once you have all your base items, you can watch for great sales and take advantage of the special prices to stock up.
A start up pantry will mostly contain herbs, spices, canned and dry goods.
Some cookbooks, food websites and magazines will give sample lists of what the home cook should always have on hand to whip up a meal. I've gone through and put together a list of my own, things that I find helpful to have around and that as just a regular everyday home cook I actually use.
Martha Stewart may go through a lot of French green lentils and dried porchini mushrooms to warrant them making her pantry list, but I don't.
William-Sonoma recommends always keeping stone-ground polenta in house, but for me unless I'm making a specialty polenta dish, plain corn meal works for me.
So here's a quick list of things I like to keep around.
Canned Goods
Chicken Stock
Beef Stock
Vegetable Stock
Tomato Paste
Tomato Sauce
Diced Tomatoes
Black Beans
Bottles & Jars
Ketchup
Mustard
Worchestershire Sauce
Tabasco or Louisiana Hot Sauce
Mayonnaise
Spaghetti Sauce
Steak Sauce
Pickles
Oils & Vinegars
Olive Oil
Canola or Vegetable Oil
Grape Seed Oil
Red Wine Vinegar
Balsamic Vinegar
Dry Goods
Pasta
Bread Crumbs
Flour
Yellow Onions
Garlic
Shallots
Potatoes
Rice
Baking Soda
Granulated Sugar
Herbs & Spices
Salt
Pepper
Red Pepper Flakes
Cayenne Pepper
Thyme
Oregano
Basil
Sage
Bay Leaves
Rosemary
Paprika
Chili Powder
Taco Seasoning
Montreal Steak Seasoning
Baking Pantry
Flour
Sugar, granulated
Sugar, powdered
Sugar, brown
Baking Soda
Baking Powder
Vanilla Extract
Chocolate Chips
Cinnamon, ground
Cloves, ground
Nutmeg, whole or ground
Ginger, ground
Cream of Tartar
Food Coloring
Oatmeal, old fashioned or quick
Spices can be some of the most expensive ingredients when shopping for your pantry. A couple of tips I find helpful:
1. WAIT FOR SALES. A lot of times around Thanksgiving and Christmas stores will have good deals on spices because everyone is getting ready to do their holiday baking. Use that time to stock up for the rest of the year.
2. BUY IN BULK. If you know you go through a lot of pepper, look for discount pricing at Sam's or Costco or even your own supermarket for buying larger quantities. Sometimes it's cheaper to buy more.
3. KNOW WHERE TO LOOK. Some stores have more inexpensive spice selections than others. Hy-Vee has a section in the spice aisle of smaller discount priced items. Baker's has their own Kroeger brand that can be cheaper than a name brand like McCormick's. Bag and Save and Jewel have large plastic bottles of discount spices, but they are usually just common types like Black Pepper and Paprika. Even World Market can be a good place to find deals, a bag of whole nutmeg can go for a little over a dollar.
If there is anything I've forgotten or something that you like to keep in your pantry, drop me a comment and let me know.
In a perfect world it's a small room off the kitchen where you can store anything from dry food goods to plates and glassware to kitchen odds and ends.
Some of us know it as a cupboard above the kitchen counter. I've seen even a few spartan kitchens where it's a shelf over the stove with two items: salt and pepper.
Home cooks all over the country have some incarnation of a place they keep the items they need to make a meal. And if you don't my advice would be to get one.
The initial cost starting a pantry can be a little steep, but you will see a return on your investment and many of the items only need to be replaced or replenished every few months or in some cases once a year. And once you have all your base items, you can watch for great sales and take advantage of the special prices to stock up.
A start up pantry will mostly contain herbs, spices, canned and dry goods.
Some cookbooks, food websites and magazines will give sample lists of what the home cook should always have on hand to whip up a meal. I've gone through and put together a list of my own, things that I find helpful to have around and that as just a regular everyday home cook I actually use.
Martha Stewart may go through a lot of French green lentils and dried porchini mushrooms to warrant them making her pantry list, but I don't.
William-Sonoma recommends always keeping stone-ground polenta in house, but for me unless I'm making a specialty polenta dish, plain corn meal works for me.
So here's a quick list of things I like to keep around.
Canned Goods
Chicken Stock
Beef Stock
Vegetable Stock
Tomato Paste
Tomato Sauce
Diced Tomatoes
Black Beans
Bottles & Jars
Ketchup
Mustard
Worchestershire Sauce
Tabasco or Louisiana Hot Sauce
Mayonnaise
Spaghetti Sauce
Steak Sauce
Pickles
Oils & Vinegars
Olive Oil
Canola or Vegetable Oil
Grape Seed Oil
Red Wine Vinegar
Balsamic Vinegar
Dry Goods
Pasta
Bread Crumbs
Flour
Yellow Onions
Garlic
Shallots
Potatoes
Rice
Baking Soda
Granulated Sugar
Herbs & Spices
Salt
Pepper
Red Pepper Flakes
Cayenne Pepper
Thyme
Oregano
Basil
Sage
Bay Leaves
Rosemary
Paprika
Chili Powder
Taco Seasoning
Montreal Steak Seasoning
Baking Pantry
Flour
Sugar, granulated
Sugar, powdered
Sugar, brown
Baking Soda
Baking Powder
Vanilla Extract
Chocolate Chips
Cinnamon, ground
Cloves, ground
Nutmeg, whole or ground
Ginger, ground
Cream of Tartar
Food Coloring
Oatmeal, old fashioned or quick
Spices can be some of the most expensive ingredients when shopping for your pantry. A couple of tips I find helpful:
1. WAIT FOR SALES. A lot of times around Thanksgiving and Christmas stores will have good deals on spices because everyone is getting ready to do their holiday baking. Use that time to stock up for the rest of the year.
2. BUY IN BULK. If you know you go through a lot of pepper, look for discount pricing at Sam's or Costco or even your own supermarket for buying larger quantities. Sometimes it's cheaper to buy more.
3. KNOW WHERE TO LOOK. Some stores have more inexpensive spice selections than others. Hy-Vee has a section in the spice aisle of smaller discount priced items. Baker's has their own Kroeger brand that can be cheaper than a name brand like McCormick's. Bag and Save and Jewel have large plastic bottles of discount spices, but they are usually just common types like Black Pepper and Paprika. Even World Market can be a good place to find deals, a bag of whole nutmeg can go for a little over a dollar.
If there is anything I've forgotten or something that you like to keep in your pantry, drop me a comment and let me know.
1 comment:
right now, my sugar and flour are in my fridge...is it safe to put it in my pantry, long term. i purchased a larger bag when it was on sale and dont want bugs in it.
with my lofty goals of baking, but my barely there bakig reality who know when i will get to use it all.
Post a Comment