In a previous blog, I mentioned my pantry. Let’s chat about that for a bit. What’s in your pantry? What are your staple ingredients? Do you feel like you have enough ingredients to scrape together a meal for your friends or family on a moments notice? For the most part, I can confidently answer yes to the last question.

What’s in my pantry? I always have on hand the following ingredients:
🥄canned goods (beans, tomato products)
🥄a variety of rice (brown, jasmine, Texmati, and wild rice to be exact)
🥄non perishable ingredients for Pad Thai, since they are hard to find where I live.
🥄pasta/noodles (vermicelli, gnocchi and all different shaped pastas such as elbow, rigatoni, cavatappi, as well as spaghetti, linguini, etc.)
🥄baking essentials (sugars, flours, leveling agents, chocolates, etc)
🥄dried (lentils, wild mushrooms, beans)
🥄condiments and sauces
🥄spices and seasonings
🥄panko bread crumbs
🥄oils (canola for frying; olive oil and vegetable oil for cooking)

What are the perishable items I always have on hand?
🥄eggs
🥄dairy (cream, milk, butter)
🥄broccoli
🥄carrots
🥄celery
🥄cilantro
🥄parsley
🥄onions
🥄garlic
🥄seasonal vegetables
🥄citrus (oranges, lemons, limes)
🥄proteins (purchased when on sale and kept in the deep freeze)
🥄cheeses (mozzarella, Monterey Jack, Swiss, cotija, etc.)

What’s in my freezer?
🥄dumpling wrappers (gyoza and wonton)
🥄frozen fruit/berries
🥄frozen vegetables (peas, corn and okra)
🥄meats
🥄fresh noodles (yakisoba and rice)

With these items I am able to create something tasty without always having to go to the store. For instance, I can quickly make a pasta bake, a big pot of soup, or a batch of cookies. I could even easily make fried rice since I can cook a pot of rice in the morning, let it cool throughout the day, and fry it up that evening. It’s just less hassle if you are able to keep a staple of ingredients on hand. Meal preparation is less time consuming, overall, and the cooking is less expensive and healthier!

Happy cooking!