Stocking Your Pantry

Dear Sisters,

I am creating this blog so that both of you may be inspired to create more food in your home for yourselves and hubbies. I cook for AJ so often and somehow keep him satisfied with a variety of delicious things without that much effort on my part or that much money spent. We are mostly vegetarian at home, which helps with costs, but we also maximize organic vegetables that are in season, whole grains, and jam-pack exciting flavors and texture. This blog is going to follow what we have for dinner (and other meals) as much as possible so there will be a range of mostly vegetarian, gluten free meals with the occasional meaty or vegan-y meal as well.


I would say that **the most important part of guaranteeing simple, fast, delicious dinner starts with what is in your cupboards.

I always have in dry storage:

Olive oil
Coconut oil
Grapeseed oil
Balsamic vinegar
Rice vinegar
Red Wine vinegar
Sesame oil

Dry: Lentils, black beans, (etc. beans) long grain rice, short grain rice, quinoa, polenta, oats

Masa arepa
Flour (a variety including wheat, all purpose gluten-free, rice flour)

Sugar
Brown sugar
Honey
Dried fruit(s)
Maple syrup

Vanilla extract


Onions, potatoes, garlic (and sometimes yams)

Coconut Milk
Broth
Canned Tomato paste and whole peeled tomatoes

Almond butter and/or peanut butter

Tamari

Tahini

Hot sauce(s)

Dijon mustard

Rice noodles
Bean threads
GF pasta

Refrigerated things: Almond milk, lemons, limes, carrots, eggs, butter, cheese, tortillas

Spices (in descending order of necessity): Pink salt, other flavored salts, pepper, cumin, whole cumin seed, marjoram, basil, dill seed, oregano, cayenne, whole chiles, cinnamon, turmeric, a variety of curries and garam masala, clove, thyme, dill, coriander, nutmeg etc.

**I try to always use fresh herbs when possible, they taste better, but having salt, pepper, cumin and some other aromatics will make all of the difference in the flavor-power of your kitchen!


If you do your best to keep these basics in your pantry all of the time, I promise you you're never going to go hungry or spend another night eating a whole bag of Goldfish ever again.