Cupboard essentials

M

Macanudo

2,500+ Posts
After trying to piece together a BBQ sauce recipe from what I had on hand, I thought of making a list of the essential items one should have in the cupboard. With the basics on hand, even an average cook like me can whip something together. So here's a start. Add on as you see fit:

Garlic
Onions
Tomatoes
Garlic Powder
Chili Powder
Vinegar (malt and white)
Olive Oil
Vegetable Oil
Salt
Pepper (various kinds)
Sugar
Brown Sugar
Flour
Beef and chicken broth (or bouillon)
Basil
Paprika
Thyme
Rosemary
Worcestorshire Sauce
Soy Sauce
Ground mustard
Mustard
Dijon mustard
Lime juice
Lemon juice
Ketchup
Molasses
Butter/Margarine
Various pastas
Various rices
Shredded (or shreddable) cheeses
Salsa
 
I have recently learned how useful chicken broth is. My wife went on a diet and I started using chicken broth in the place of oil in a lot of cases for 'sautéing' veggies. Also add it to soups and sauces and to use as a base ingredient in marinades with ginger and garlic. Cooking rice in broth instead of water is also a good idea.

Would also add:
Cinnamon
Tomato Sauce
Tomato Paste
Ginger (you can buy ground ginger in jars in produce. Also buy minced garlic the same way to save time)
 
Hulla, I do roasted potatoes quite a bit and I sprinkle olive oil in the pan to keep them from sticking too much. Think I could use broth instead?

Good call on the tomato paste and sauce. I usually have a small can of both on hand. I thought about the minced garlic. Probably should have that too but I really like fresh garlic and it's not too hard to do it yourself. Cinnamon and Vanilla are two other spices that probably need inclusion.
 
Lots of essentials need a cold setting, like the icebox "(r)"
Cider vinegar
we prefer beef, chicken, and shrimp base to bouillon cubes (r)
Balsamic vinegar, red and white wine vinegars
peanut oil
lemons and limes (r)
peanut butter
sardines and crackers (Cowboy fish dinner)
anchovies- or anchovy paste
tomato paste and sauce
Carnation milk
various dried legumes: pintos, split peas, butter beans, etc.
honey
Wick Fowler's chili mix
salted (a/k/a fermented) black beans (r)
various peppers: cayenne, black, chipotle en adobo, ancho, japs
corn meal
cake flour
milk, eggs (r)
bacon, salt pork, ham hocks (r)
mayo (r)
'the Miracle' (r)
buttermilk (r)
bakin' powder
bakin' soda
oatmeal
cumin
oregano
sage
tarragon
Crisco
Tabasco sauce
bay leaves
cloves
cinnamon
curry powder (premade: 'Philistine')
nutmegs
vanilla extract
coffee
Zatarains shrimp & crab boil

not: White Truffle Oil.
 
That's a pretty good list. I would have to add balsamic vinegar and red wine vinegar, as well as just red and white wine for braising or making sauces with fond. I like to have a shallot or two around. Also, oregano is an important dry herb, and although I don't use them much, parsley and bay leaf. And dill.

You can buy dry spices in bulk at central market/whole foods, and they are so much cheaper than buying little spice bottles at heb, and fresher too. Then it's just a matter of having a practical way of storing them, which I am still trying to work out.

Anybody have any thoughts on spice storage? I have some magnetic metal tins that I can stick on the fridge, but the lids are a bit cantankerous, and I don't have nearly enough. I was thinking of getting a set of corked test tubes and a test tube rack from a lab supply place online, since that could fit a whole ton of different spices and wouldn't take up a lot of room.

Other good non-perishable items to have around are dried chiles, dried mushrooms, ritz crackers make a great breading for pan-fried meats, and mayonnaise/sour cream.

If you bake at all, you need baking powder, baking soda, yeast, corn starch, vanilla. Canned foods like tomatoes, beans, corn, tuna etc... Hot sauces, I don't like vinegar based ones, but some can't get by without them. Srirachi is a good one.

Cooking spray could be an essential. Also, white truffle oil is a essential to every pantry ever.
 
Fanny--quite a coincidence with the white truffle oil. If I weren't such a packrat, I would send you the bottle we have. I prefer to call it "Essence of dried mudhole."
 
For storing bulk dry spices, I just use the spice containers from HEB or wherever, and refill them when they run out with the stuff I purchased bulk. Sure you have to buy it once, but after that, you just refill for much less $$.
 
Hate to burst y'all's bulk spice bubble, but if you're buying dried spices/herbs in those institutional-sized containers from Sams/Costco etc. And you're expecting to keep them past 8-10 months w/o replacing them. You might as well just add the contents of your Dust Buster to your recipes, 'cus the taste will be pretty much the same.

Dried spices and herbs pretty much have lost 1/2 their potency before they ever leave the store. After 6 mths, they're all but worthless.
 
Cowpoke speaks the truth. I don't buy big batches of dry spices -- if I measure out oregano from the jar at Central market, for example, I typically buy like 17 cents worth at a time. That's enough to last me 3-6 months, and that's as long as I want to keep it, anyway.

Most of the items listed so far are solid, and are on my list. But it's funny -- recently I noticed that there are 3 items that I pretty much ALWAYS buy when I go to the store, whether they are on my list or not, because I can't risk running out of them (and they are "perishable" enough that you can't keep a 6 month supply on hand);

Fresh garlic
lemons
limes

I nearly ran out of garlic one time. I mean, I was down to 2 cloves. I was antsy until the next day when I got to the store and bought 2 new heads of it. I am just no comfortable having only 2 cloves in reserve. In my mexican coonass kitchen, that's a risk I'm not willing to take.
 
Some great suggestions/lists on here.

I have found that powdered milk (especially buttermilk) can be quite handy in a pinch for cooking.

I must have a jar of pasta sauce at all times for those last minute, don't feel like cooking after work quickly prepared meals. I usually "doctor it up" with carmelized onions, black olives, fresh garlic, mushrooms and spices depending on need. Always keep several types of pasta.
 
Fanny- someone gave us a bottle in about '96. We tried it in a risotto, but it tasted like naturally fertilized soil. I kinda stumbled on it looking for staples in the pantry
 
My only question is that some of these items spoil. I usually think of cupboard items as those things that you can keep for a pretty long time in the pantry. Maybe that is just me. That would change the list just a bit for me, although I can't find much fault with any of the lists on this thread. I just don't know if tomatoes and any other fresh items should be included.
 
Someone gave us the white truffle oil. It was awhile ago and I don't remember for sure, but it may have been a white elephant-type thing.

We rarely know what we are having for supper before we get to the Albertsons' parking lot after work; we don't have a separate freezer. My list specifically referred to staples kept in the icebox.

I can't stand anchovies on pizza, but they are essential (either chopped pretty small or as a paste) in a real Caesar salad. There is a variety of Spanish white anchovies that are surprisingly mild and really good in a Caesar.

Shallots should have been on my list. One of the best things ever is green beans, especially frozen ones, cooked with butter-sauteed shallots and some chicken broth, salt and pepper.

We have Chachere's and Lawry's, Sriracha (and sambal oelek) and some of the other stuff above, I just don't consider it all to be essential.
 
Sorry, when I said buying in bulk, I meant buying herbs and spices from the bulk bins, thus only buying small amounts that won't lose its freshness. So I meant the exact opposite of buying in bulk.
 
Canned tomatoes are mandatory in our pantry. We normally buy the large cans of diced tomatoes because we make a lot of soups and stews that are fat free.

A mandatory item for our freezer are the Pic Sweet or Kroger store brand of seasoning veggies for soups, stews, or whatever you are cooking. You can get diced onions, or packs that have onion, celery, and carrots. There is a three pepper blend (red, green and yellow) with onion that is great. You can also get onion, green pepper, and celery blend.

The seasoning veggies are frozen loose so you can shake out what you need, put the remaining mix back in the freezer, and sautes as usual for your recipe. There is no prep and you do not have seasoning veggies spoiling before you use them..

Another must for the pantry are Rotel tomatoes, diced green chilies, pimentos, cream of mushroom soup, and roasted red peppers. I finally found fire roasted tomatoes in our area and you should keep a couple of cans of them around too.

Did you know you can make your own creme fraiche? 3 c. of cream with 1/4 buttermilk and let it sit out for 12 hours.

Keep in mind if you are trying to reduce fat in your diet that plain yogurt can be substituted for sour cream. I used it in the fruit salad that I make for the holidays and no one noticed the difference.
 
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