You need to have a basic food pantry if you want to make cooking easy. This basic food pantry is about ingredients that you like.
A basic food pantry are ingredients that you almost always keep. From these ingredients, you can make a meal without resorting to a recipe book. That you can combine with other ingredients to make a meal. The number of items on the list should be no more than 50. If it becomes too large, then you will struggle to keep it stocked. You want to use things that are cheap and within your budget. Some of these will be seasonal.
The list is not set in stone! You can change it as your tastes and the season changes. The key to a good list is to be flexible. It should work for you not against.
You could split the list into sections. For example dry, fresh, frozen, wet. Below I have shared my list with you. It is in no particular order. It does change during the year as it is based on seasonal fresh produce.
- Sweet potato
- Onions
- Tomato
- Leeks
- Carrots
- Frozen peas
- Broccoli
- Porridge
- Walnuts
- Pappardelle pasta
- Sweet peppers
- Salad
- Olive oil
- Coconut oil
- Apple cider vinegar
- Apples
- Bananas
- Chopped dates/apricots
- Quinoa/couscous/bulgar wheat
- 100% chocolate buttons
- Gram flour
- Split red lentils - dry
- Black eye beans - dry
- Chickpeas - dry
- Soya yoghurt
- Tomato puree
- Sunflower seeds
- Pumpkin seeds
- Tahini
- Tamari
- Spelt or buckwheat noodles
- Spelt flour
- Date powder
With this list I can create a huge range of foods I’d be very happy with.
I do buy other ingredients such as fresh berries, olives, coconut flakes, papaya, mango, pineapple, popping corn, cabbage, cauliflower, courgettes, celery, celeriac, beetroot.
The above is not an exhaustive list. I buy them as and when I need them. Sometimes it will depend on seasonal availability. Other times it will depend if I find a bargain in the market or shops. With the fresh produce, I will only buy what I can eat, unless I’m dehydrating, fermenting or freezing.
Having a basic pantry for me now is second nature. I don’t have it written down anywhere. It is all in my head. I know what I need, when and where I need to get them from.
However, writing down what you need is a good idea. It will help create a better shopping and meal planning list. It will help to identify the best place to buy ingredients from. The dry pulses and lentils I buy from an Indian grocery shop because it will be cheaper. The bulk of organic fruit and vegetables I buy from the wholefood coop. Everything else will be from the supermarket.