Pantry Staples You Should Always Have On Hand

Knowing what pantry staples you should always have on hand is the key to throwing together a quick, delicious meal (or even a snack) on those days when you’re just too busy to get to the store. Until I learned to keep these in my pantry — and to stock up whenever I found them on sale — I’d often find myself dreading the dinner hour.

You know the dread I mean: where you look at the clock and realize you’ve got to come up with something to feed your family, including your picky eaters. So you open the refrigerator and your sigh of frustration echoes because it’s so empty. But there you are, wearing the same sweatpants and baggy t-shirt you threw on for the school run that morning, only now they’ve got a nice smear of egg yolks from breakfast and maybe a dab of Ranch dressing from that salad you had for lunch. You cannot possibly go to the store looking like this, you think, and yet you’ve got to come up with something to feed your family before they start rioting.

Or maybe that was just my experience when I was a young mother and often found myself at 5 PM wondering where the day had gone. I can’t tell you how often I raced to the store with one or more kids in tow to grab something to make before my husband got home from work. For years that man thought I made lasagna or chicken enchiladas in cardboard pans so he wouldn’t have to scrub dishes after dinner. How he didn’t notice the Stouffer’s box in the trash is still a mystery.

Then my kids got old enough to play more independently, and that meant I had more time to myself during the day. Time to shower, time to dress like a grown-up, and time to plan ahead. I began coming up with recipes I knew my family would like, and before long I was clipping coupons and stocking up on sales. As a result, I started building a well-supplied pantry and soon I was down to two, maybe three grocery trips per month.

Thanks to my pantry, I became THAT WOMAN. You know, the one the Class Mom calls at the last minute because someone who’d signed up to bring cupcakes got sick. The one who, after hearing a friend has a cold, whips up a pot of Chicken Noodle Soup to take to them. The one who drops off casseroles when neighbors have surgery. The one whose husband would routinely call on the way home from work to announce he’d invited a coworker for dinner. (Okay, there were trade-offs to having a well-stocked pantry, but it’s sure nice knowing I don’t have to stress out about such things.)

So, if you’re tired of dreading dinner time or last-minute dinner guests, the solution is printing this list of pantry staples you should always have on hand and then keeping that pantry stocked!

Pantry Staples You Should Always Have On Hand

Oils and Vinegars

• Extra virgin olive oil
• Canola oil
• Sesame oil
• Distilled white vinegar
• Red wine vinegar
• Apple cider vinegar
• Balsamic vinegar
• Rice wine vinegar

Herbs and Spices

• Table salt
• Sea salt
• Kosher salt
• Seasoned salt (you can make your own)
• Ground black pepper
• Black peppercorns
• Garlic powder (you can you can make your own)
• Onion powder
• Dried parsley
• Dried sage
• Dried basil
• Dried thyme
• Dried rosemary
• Ground cumin
• Chile powder
• Dried red chili flakes
• Dried, ground ginger
• Dried oregano
• Cinnamon
• Ground cloves
• Ground nutmeg
• Ground cayenne
• Bay leaves

Condiments

• Soy sauce
• Ketchup (you can make your own)
• Grainy mustard
• Dijon mustard
• Yellow mustard
• Mayonnaise
• Hot sauce
• Worcestershire sauce

Cans and Bottles

• Diced tomatoes
• Tomato paste
• Sliced jalapenos
• Cooked chicken (here’s how to can chicken yourself!)
• Canned tuna
• Canned beans (black, cannelini, kidney, and chickpea)
• Chicken stock or bouillon cubes
• Beef stock or bouillon cubes
• Peanut butter
• Orange marmalade
• Your favorite jams and preserves
• Capers
• Olives (Kalamata, black and green)
• Salsa

Dry Goods

• Spaghetti noodles
• Penne pasta
• Rolled oats
• Dried bread crumbs
• Brown rice
• Quinoa or couscous

Baking Needs

• All-purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Dutch-process cocoa
• Baking chocolate
• Chocolate chips
• Sugar
• Molasses
• Vanilla extract
• Honey
• Maple syrup
• Raisins
• Cornstarch
• Corn meal

Refrigerator Staples

• Milk
• Butter
• Eggs
• Cheddar cheese
• Mozzarella cheese
• Wedge of Parmesan cheese
• Greek yogurt
• Bacon
• Packet or jar of active dry yeast

Freezer Staples

• Peas
• Corn kernels
• Berries
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 lb. shrimp

Using Your Well-Stocked Pantry

There’s no need to keep a bunch of different sugars on hand. You can make your own brown sugar with white sugar and molasses! Need powdered sugar? Whir 1 cup of white sugar and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in your blender at high speed. BOOM!

Need to make cupcakes, cookies, or bread? You’ve got the ingredients. Brownies? No problem. Want pancakes for breakfast? You have everything you need to make your own pancake mix.

Use the diced tomatoes to make my Easy Marinara Sauce, add some Kalamata olives, and pour it over spaghetti noodles with a little shaved Parmesan for a quick dinner. Or toss it with the penne pasta, diced black olives, and some frozen peas, top it with shredded mozzarella and bake it as a casserole. (For more ideas, check out my Pinterest boards for casseroles and one-pot meals.)

Eating low-carb? Cook bacon in the oven, crumble it and add it to some beaten eggs with a handful of grated cheese, and a little salt, pepper, and onion powder. Pour that into a greased casserole dish and bake it at 400°F until done and you’ve got a frittata. (Here’s my Low-Carb Pinterest board for more ideas.)

The sky is the limit when you know what pantry staples you should always have on hand. So go forth and stock that pantry!

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