What are your kitchen staples?

[luvs]

what is always in your fridge or cupboards or pantry, without fail?
i always have these:
canned cream of mushroom and canned tomato soup, chips or crackers, beef/ham/chicken base, macaroni and cheese (stouffer's and the blue box kind), rice krispies, special k, and a few other kinds of cereals, canned peas, olive oil, pasta, garlic, whole milk, heavy cream, cheese, good hearty German mustard and the cheap yellow kind and several others, A-1, worcestershire, olives, eggs, butter, red and yukon gold taters,
and some other stuff.
and the packages of pasterized process cheese food product and the packages of ramen noodles and the chef boyardee spaghetti and meatballs that i eat when no one's looking.
what do you always have around?

 

[kitchenelf]

I always have:

canned whole tomatoes
canned petite diced tomatoes
tomato sauce
all sorts of pasta shapes
green chilies
green and red enchilada sauce
low sodium chicken broth
low sodium beef broth
low sodium vegetable broth
Ancho chilis in adobo
cornmeal
flour
sugar
garlic
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
white, red, sherry vinegar, apple cider, etc
a really good EVOO
Chilula hot sauce
red peppers
onions
carrots
mushrooms
eggs
butter
some kind of "diet" butter
12-grain bread
Canadian bacon
whole wheat English muffins
(we make our own Egg McMuffins - they are very healthy and filling)
fresh cilantro
fresh Italian parsley
limes
spring onions
shallots
ketchup mustard
Worchestershire
low sodium soy sauce
kalamata olives
frozen peas
frozen corn
rice paper for summer rolls
nori for sushi
wasabi
masago (in freezer)
pickled ginger
sake
dry sherry
Vermouth
port
burgundy
chardonnay
beef base
chicken base
vegetable base
milk
half and half
horseradish
chili sauce
hoisin
oyster sauce
red pepper, chili sauce
hot mustard
sweet hot mustard
Dijon
grain mustard
a wide variety of cheese:
ricotta
ricotta salata
aged Parmesan
aged Gouda
good ol' American cheese slices
mayonnaise
salad dressing
pine nuts
I usually have some frozen pesto
black beans
navy beans
Arborio rice
sushi rice
long grain rice
Israeli Couscous


I could go on with more staples but it might be kind of boring especially when I get into the herbs and spices I am never without - more things are popping into my head but I'll stop.

 

[Andy M.]

Can I come shopping at your house?

 

[kitchenelf]

lol Andy M. It does kind of look like a grocery store! I'll see if I can take a picture of my one shelving unit.

 

[kitchenelf]

http://www.discusscooking.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=242&c=5

One day I'll learn how to size pictures

 

[luvs]

awesome, elf! it looks like the shelving that's built into the wall of the cold cellar at my other house but yours has even more staples in it- mours is only packed mainly with canned goods and stuff, though.

 

[KAYLINDA]

I'm with you on the canned spaghetti and meatballs....and I eat them straight out of the can-cold....lol

 

[-DEADLY SUSHI-]

Elf, I LOVE the strawberries in the chocolate tuxedos!!!!

 

[kadesma]

I was lucky when we built our home, I have a very large walk in pantry that I love. My girls will often say they are going grocery shopping at mom's I keep

chocolate, all kinds
all pasta shapes
evoo, walnut oil, veggie oil, peanut oil
jams, jellies
sauces both liquid and dry
rice, arborio,long grain, brown
bread flour, self rising flour, a/p flour, semolina, rice flour,rye and wheat flour
canned fruit and a few veggies
crackers
anchovies, tuna,
several soups
chix, beef, fish, and veggie broth
clams, clam juice
worcestershire
various mustards, mayo, miracle whip
freezer has home made chix and veal stock, chicken, beef, pork, veggies homemade bread, pot pies, ,pasta and ravioli sauce, ravioli and fresh homemade pasta..
refrigerator, milk, cream, mascarpone, creme fraice, eggs, fresh veggies several days worth of meats, chicken, fish, pork maybe one day each
herb both fresh and dry, salts kosher, coarse, fleur de sal, grey salt..peppercorns.marsala, rum, tequilla, vermout, wines, beer, sparkling water..Geez, enough already...I guess you've guessed by now, I'm a food NUT!!!
kadesma

 

[kitchenelf]

Elf, I LOVE the strawberries in the chocolate tuxedos!!!!

Sorry Sush - actually Floridagirl made those! I've made something similar but not NEAR as detailed - that takes patience and talent.

 

[luvs]

I'm with you on the canned spaghetti and meatballs....and I eat them straight out of the can-cold....lol

i so did that earlier but i ate the canned raviolis cold instead of the spaghetti this time. tee-hee.

 

[middie]

salt
pepper
garlic powder
garlic bulbs
milk
bread
eggs
bacon
ramen noodles
canned goods (veggies, soups)
flour
sugar
vanilla
applesauce
potatoes
french fries
cereal (varies every week)
fruitolive oil
vegetable oil
jello
water

that's all i can think of right now

 

[AllenOK]

I guess I'm going to have to go take a picture of my pantry downstairs, where the brunt of my dry goods are stored. However, I do have some dry goods stored in the stairwell leading to the basement, and some stored in the kitchen itself. I really need to organize it more.

Please don't ask me to list everything I always have on hand. Basically put, I'm basically running a small restaurant out of my home kitchen, trying to feed seven people.

 

[Brooksy]

Ditto Middie!!

Have you been looking in our pantry have you?

Except we rarely have pasta stored because I make ours fresh as required, plus heaps of different sauces, chilli, soy (light & dark), worsty etc and loads of herbs & spices.

And don't forget the beer! Fish do funny things in water.

Nearly forgot the "children" - a variety of dog, cat, fish and bird food. 5 cats, 3 dogs, a bird and fish (too numerous to count).

 

[licia]

I try to keep some of everything - I suppose that is one of my problems. I really have to work on keeping a good turnover. Luckily our church has a food pantry and I take some of it there before it expires. When we lived in town and had lots of company for dinner, I kept a bowl of 3 bean salad made and a precooked ham in the fridge so I could make a meal in short order. Usually I would made au gratin potatoes and in just a few minutes we would have a nice dinner. I keep lots of chicken, steak, burgers, etc that can go on the grill to have a meal done quickly. I'm thinking about starting on the once a month cooking and use up some of the stuff I now have to prepare meals and casseroles for the freezer since I need to clean one of the freezers soon.

 

[luvs]

Please don't ask me to list everything I always have on hand. Basically put, I'm basically running a small restaurant out of my home kitchen, trying to feed seven people.

i know, it gets overwhelming to think of all of the stuff you keep in the cupboards/pantry/fridge/etc. there's so much you store in it.
elf had the best idea by putting up a photo of her pantry.

 

[kitchenelf]

That shelving unit is sitting in my kitchen luvs - I'd love to have a real pantry - I think - I kind of like having it right there handy where I can see everything. I got used to seeing everything out in the open when cooking professionally.

 

[kitchenelf]

AllenMI - I bet you are well-stocked!!!!!!!!! Seven???? I should live near you - I cook for the two of us and can still feed 7 or more! I'd pass you the left-overs!

 

[bluespanishsky]

I keep way too much on hand for my tiny kitchen!

EVOO
all sorts of vinegars
all shapes of pasta
pasta sauce
rice
flour
whole wheat tortillas
refried beans
variety of cheeses (cheddar, goat, feta are my fav's)
milk
instant pudding
pie crusts
veggie burgers
salmon burgers
cans of tuna
chicken broth
baby spinach
whole wheat bread
light cream cheese
fat free 1/2 and 1/2
light butter
canned cut tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, stewed tomatoes
canned beans- callelini, garbanzo, kindey, black beans
pesto (freezer)
hummus (freezer)
garlic
onions
tomatoes
fat free plain yougert
instant oats
frozen mixed berries
eggs
gray poupon
miracle whip

 

[Claire]

I, too, keep a full pantry.

Two carousels of spices, so I won't mention them individually. What is necessary is: kosher salt, telicherry pepper corns (don't even own a pepper shaker, which freaks out some friends!), Cavendar's Greek seasoning, and some form of Lawrey's. There's easily 50 others, but let's not go there.

Condiments: A couple kinds of mustard (flavor of the day), a bottle of catsup (which can last us a year, but you need it), horseradish, Vietnamese hot pepper sauce, soy, worcestershire, bitters, (gee, can you tell we like bloody marys?), and a variety of vinegars.

A gallon jug of olive oil (I find that locally Tasso's Greek meets most of our needs). A small bottle of veg or peanut oil.

In the regular pantry: Always at least one can of tomatoes and one of tomato paste. At least a few cans of varying kinds of beans. I can make home-made soup on the drop of a dime. Always a package of Liptons noodle soup and one or two of Liptons instant cream of chicken soup. It is amazing what you can do with the latter. I tend to prefer dried chicken and beef boulion -- hate cubes, every time I move I have to find a new brand, but always have a jar of both on hand. Lately I've started to stock canned potatoes ... sometimes diabetic hubby needs to "beef up" the carbs in a soup or something else he's eating, and a can of potatoes can be added to a can of his favorite soup for a quick lunch.

Always a selection of pasta: at least three packages of "long" pasta and at least one of "macaroni" type pasta. Also a package of couscous and one of instant taboule.

Meat: In the freezer is always a bag of chicken breasts, and usually a pork loin roast I've cut very thin, then frozen in a manner that allows me to take one thin slice to make a stir fry, or a few to make schnitzels .... or ... you name it. Usually there's at least one kind of sausage. It used to be more when I had a separate freezer, but now I just have the little one on top of the fridge. It is packed!

my real "secret'? a package of instant mashed potato flakes. I rarely .. make that close to never, actually use them to make mashed potatoes. But you'd be amazed at what a great coating they make for baked or fried foods, and how well they thicken a soup, stew, or gravy.

at least two kinds of rice.

I'm sure I'll think of more, but this is off the top of my head. And I don't have a huge amount of storage space.

Oh, dear, I forgot. The freezer always has some egg beaters or other frozen egg product. We aren't breakfast people, so seldom actually have eggs unless we're doing it for a specific reason. So egg beaters come in 4's, scramblers in 2's, and I usually have a package of each so that when I need them for an ingredient, they are at hand.