The Well-Stocked Pantry

A well-stocked pantry is a thing of beauty and extremely practical. Having a pantry stocked with all the essentials makes meal planning and grocery list making easier. It makes meal preparations flow smoothly. It equips you to be more creative in the kitchen when you have a host of the basic pantry items on hand at a moment’s notice. And a well-stocked pantry makes your family happy! Everyone enjoys being able to find their favorite snack quickly and easily. And personally, I’m completely tickled when I find extended family or friends foraging around in our pantry for something good to eat. I’m glad they feel at home and welcome to help themselves. It always makes me smile!

WHAT FOODS SHOULD EVERY PANTRY HAVE?

The backbone of every good pantry should be: the items you eat the most, the items that enable you to cook and bake, and the items that enable you to entertain at a moment’s notice.

In this post, I’m going to focus on the first two, because they are the most helpful for how we use our pantries on a daily basis. Pondering what to stock in a pantry evolves as we grow. When we are setting up a first apartment, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and confused about what one really needs. If you are at that stage of life, you will find the items marked with an asterisk(*) to be the absolute basics of any pantry, and they should go on your first grocery list. Given time and years of experience, we understand that “the basics” and “well-stocked” are two different things, and so we start to include more items that we would deem necessary. In that case, the full list is for you.

The list is divided into: dry goods, canned/bottled goods, baking items, and produce.

PANTRY LIST - DRY GOODS

• spaghetti*

• fettucini

• other pastas

• rices*

• dry beans*

• farro

• teas*

• coffee*

• cereal*

• oatmeal*

• granola

• graham crackers

• wheat crackers*

• soda crackers*

• pretzels

• popcorn*

• artisan crackers

• potato chips*

• tortilla chips*

• dried fruit

• dip mixes

• bread crumbs (plain, seasoned, or Panko…or all)*

PANTRY LIST - CANNED/BOTTLED GOODS

• jams*

• honey*

• corn syrup

• maple syrup*

• molasses

• tomatoes (diced, whole, etc.)*

• tomato paste*

• soups*

• diced green chilies

• peanut/nut butter*

• mustard*

• olive oil*

• canola oil*

• white vinegar*

• red wine vinegar

• white wine vinegar

• balsamic vinegar

• chicken broth*

• beef broth

• spaghetti sauce*

• pizza sauce*

• coconut milk

• wine

• sodas

• juices

• bottled water

PANTRY LIST - BAKING ITEMS

• flour*

• cake flour

• bread flour

• granulated sugar*

• light brown sugar*

• dark brown sugar

• raw sugar

• caster sugar

• powdered sugar*

• cornstarch*

• baking soda*

• baking powder*

• salt*

• kosher salt*

• ground pepper*

• peppercorns

• cocoa powder*

• semi-sweet chocolate chips*

• dark chocolate

• shredded coconut

• vanilla extract*

• almond extract

• peppermint extract

• cornmeal*

• pudding mixes

• cake mixes*

• brownie mixes

PANTRY LIST - PRODUCE ITEMS

• potatoes*

• garlic*

• onions (yellow, sweet, red, etc.)*

• shallots

If you’d like this list in a handy, printable form, just click below. It’s a good reference for adding to your growing pantry. If you want to slowly stock your pantry, simply add one or two items to your grocery list every week, and at the end of the year, you’ll have a well-stocked pantry.

If you’d like to pin this to a Pinterest board, here’s a photo with graphic to help jog your memory, so you can access it when you need it.