Stock Your Pantry To Cook Anything In A Pinch

Not sure what you need to pick up from the store? Need recipes for non-perishable ingredients so you can eat like you usually do? Here is how you can stock your pantry for a crisis, plus some easy recipes to make using these pantry ingredients!

Were you caught off guard by the sudden need to practice social distancing with an empty pantry? Before you go running out to buy 100 rolls of toilet paper (not that you can even buy that much!), take a deep breath and read this post.

This post will help you select just what you need to make cooking easier for the next few weeks and beyond.

My hope is that by showing you how easy it is to cook with just pantry essentials and kitchen staple ingredients that you ALREADY have in your house, I can help eliminate some of your anxiety and stress.

Yeap, it’s entirely possible to make food your family loves with pantry staples you’ve already bought. No need to rush to the market – learn to shop your pantry first.

Helpful Pointers and Tricks

  • Shop your pantry first before hitting the market, you have more than you realize. 
  • Know your storage space availability to make efficient use of everything. 
  • Be open to swapping and substituting ingredients, it’s part of being creative in the kitchen. 
  • Don’t write off all fresh fruit, some lasts longer than you think.
south Indian tomato rice ingredients - recipesfromapantry.com. #tomatorice #tomatoricerecipe #howtomaketomatorice #southindiantomatorice

Benefits of Cooking with Pantry Essentials

  • Pantry Staples. You’ve already got these ingredients in your pantry, so there’s no need to add them to your grocery list or make a trip to the store.
  • Cost-Effective and Frugal. Since you’ve already spent the money to put these ingredients in your pantry and kitchen, why not make sure you use them? During this time, it’s best to minimize waste and avoid unnecessary expenses.
  • Learn New Recipes. I’m not just sharing what you should stock up on or what kitchen staples you should always have on hand. I’m also sharing some of my favorite easy to make pantry recipes.

What is a Pantry Recipe?

Pantry recipes are recipes where the main ingredients are shelf-stable. That means we’ll be using a lot of canned or frozen vegetables, ingredients that can be stored at room temperature, and not as many fresh ingredients that could go bad in the fridge after a week.

Remember, you can always leave certain ingredients out of these recipes. Think of them as suggestions instead of rules. Be sure to check your cabinets first to see what you have to cook around that. Cook with flexibility when you’re cooking with pantry essentials and kitchen staples.

And don’t hesitate to skip ingredients if you’re running low on them and need them for other things, especially if when a recipe calls for a small quantity. Focus on the primary ingredients in the recipe and then substitute things like herbs and spices as needed.

One of the biggest tips is that where a recipe calls for cooking some fresh veggies or meats you can most likely substitute in their frozen equivalents. Especially the more commonly used onions, peppers, sweetcorn, shrimps, chicken breasts, ground beef etc.

the ingredients needed for making creole seasoning

Staple Ingredients You Should Have On Hand

Dried and Canned Items

These staples are great to have on hand, as when stored correctly, they will last for months, and some even up to a year, in your pantry.

  • Beans and Legumes
  • Grains (such as rice or quinoa)
  • Canned vegetables (sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, sweetcorn)
  • Canned fruits (such as tropical fruit, pineapple, mangoes, peaches, pears, oranges, olives)
  • Canned meats (such as tuna, salmon, or mackerel)
  • Canned stocks and broth (vegetable, beef, chicken)

Use your Dried and Canned Goods to make these recipes:

finished greek rice with olives sundried tomatoes and lemon

Shelf-stable Ingredients

  • flours
  • cooking oils and vinegars
  • pasta
  • cake mixes
  • sugars
  • oats
  • peanut butter and almond butter
  • jams and jellies
  • condiments and sauces (pickles, olives, hot sauce, soy sauce, etc.)
  • seasonings (such as salt, pepper, garlic powder, dries herbs, etc.)
  • spices and extracts (cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, etc.)

Use your shelf-stable ingredients to make:

close up of almond butter granola in a glass jar

Hardy Vegetables

Hardy vegetables that last longer than a week in the kitchen will, in general, take longer to spoil. Skip the leafy vegetables and fresh tomatoes as they don’t have a long shelf life and DO NOT freeze well.

  • potatoes
  • pumpkins
  • onions
  • garlic
  • butternut squash
  • spaghetti squash
  • carrots

Use Hardy Vegetables to make these recipes:

Frozen Foods

  • frozen vegetables
  • frozen fruits
  • frozen meat
  • freezable perishable ingredients (such as butter and yogurt)

Chef’s Tip ==> Did you know you can freeze butter? It’s true! So when your local store has butter on sale, go ahead and stock up, then stash the extra in the freezer. Do make sure to actually freeze butter by the SELL BY date. Stored properly, butter can be frozen up to 4 months. Any longer and the butter could lose flavor or taste. Also, it must be used within 30 days of removing from the freezer.

Use your Frozen Foods to make these easy recipes:

Close-up of one serving of Instant Pot Sloppy Joes r

How To Meal Plan

Have you checked to see if your pantry already has some of these ingredients? Awesome! The next step is to plan your meals for the next two weeks.

Pick meals that share common ingredients so you can easily make more than one meal at a time. For example, cook these Black Eyed Beans, and use them to make Hoppin John Soup and this Chorizo, Black Eyed Beans and Butternut Squash Stew.

Knowing your plan for the next couple weeks and using common ingredients helps you have a bit of variety even when you’re sticking to a plan.

Ingredients for how to cook black-eyed beans (black-eyed peas, black eyed beans) from scratch with pictures. recipesfromapantry.com #blackeyedbeans #blackeyedpeas #howtocookblackeyedbeans #howtocookblackeyedpeas

What you may have planned for Monday, may end up being swapped out for Thursday for whatever reason, but since you already have the ingredients and many are common, you’re all set and don’t have to stress or fret out about it.

Swapping Ingredients

When you’re cooking from your pantry, swapping ingredients for things you already have is key.

If a recipe calls for fresh herbs, use dried ones from your spice cupboard. Or if a recipe calls for black beans but you have white beans, use those instead. The name of the pantry staple game is mix and match; so get creative when putting together your upcoming meal plans!

Black bean recipe @ Recipes From A Pantry

Plus, getting creative gives you the opportunity to discover new flavors and even create some new favorite recipes for your family to use in the future.

Stocking Up on Pantry Essentials and Pantry Staples Tips

  • Tip 1. Take inventory of what pantry essentials you have in your pantry, refrigerator, freezer, and cupboard first. See what you can make with these ingredients as you meal plan and BEFORE you make your list to go to the market.
  • Tip 2. Think of the storage space you have as you make your grocery staples checklist. Know how much space you have in your pantry, freezer, and refrigerator to hold the quantities of foods you plan to buy.
  • Tip 3. Buying pantry staples in bulk quantities can cost more upfront, but end up cheaper in price per servings. Think bags of dried beans over canned beans. Also, these bulk bags will also take up less space than all of the equivalent cans.
  • Tip 4. Think powdered versions of things. Like bouillon cubes or stock cubes that may last longer and take up less room in your valuable storage spaces, or have a shorter shelf life if bought in a fresh form (like milk). If you can’t do powdered milk, try nut milk over cow’s milk as the shelf life lasts MUCH longer.
  • Tip 5. Use freezer space effectively. As you may know, I have two freezers, as I love to meal prep. But, I’m aware that not everyone has that luxury and freezer space may be limited. Keep that mind when making selections on what to freeze. Think of what’s worth your freezer space versus pantry space – like frozen vs. canned vegetables. I even recommend chopping your own fresh veggies to store more efficiently than buying the already frozen vegetable bags. If freezer space is really tight, take things out of boxes; i.e. store frozen waffles in a Ziploc bag inside of the box they come in. Eliminating the box frees up more space.

Chef’s Tip ==> 1 tsp of chicken (or beef) stock powder or 1 bouillon cube mixed with 1 cup (250ml) of hot boiling water will give you 1 cup of stock or broth. This is a huuuuuuge space saver when it comes to storing pantry staples.

two measuring vessels filled with water showing how many cups in a pint
  • Tip 6. You can’t go wrong stocking up on spices, seasonings, and herbs either. You’ll always use them now and in the future when cooking. If you aren’t looking to stock up on store-bought spice bottles, check out my 8 homemade spice blends.
  • Tip 7. Shredded cheese is always good to have on hand. It has a decent shelf life in the refrigerator and can always be tossed in the freezer before the sell by date. FYI, Shredded cheese holds up better than block cheese in the freezer.
  • Tip 8. Don’t forget about smaller, slimmer cuts of meat that do well in the freezer, like sausage links, both Italian and breakfast links, and bacon. Easy to thaw and use quickly without taking up too much space.
  • Tip 9. Don’t forget your super basic pantry staples like oil (can’t go wrong with extra virgin olive oil – quite versatile) and vinegar (apple cider vinegar is pretty easy to substitute when any vinegar is called for in a recipe).
  • Tip 10. Grab some flour and baking essentials to help stock up your pantry with kitchen essentials. At the very least, make sure to have All-Purpose flour, white and brown sugar.

Chef’s Tip ==> Did you know that you can freeze flour and it can be used right from the freezer? That’s pretty cool! (pun intended).

  • Tip 11. Don’t write off fresh produce. Quite a bit of fruit will last up to 4 weeks in your refrigerator – think apples and oranges. You can buy frozen fruit bags, or chop your own fruit and freeze it. Frozen fruit is great for snacking and making smoothies for breakfast on the go.

Chef’s Tip ==> Did you know? It’s possible to regrow certain veggies in water. Save money and reduce waste by regrowing lettuce, cabbage, boy chow, celery, leeks, and green onions. It’s as simple as placing a small piece in a container with about 1/2” of water. New growth will start to appear as quickly as a couple of days, and be ready to start utilizing in about a week. 

Specific Pantry Staple Ingredient Checklist

Fruits

Some of these may have been mentioned in earlier sections.

  • Fresh apples
  • Fresh oranges
  • Fresh grapes (they freeze quite well and make amazing treats and are the perfect “ice cube” in your glass of wine).
  • Fresh bananas (only if you have freezer space, as peeled bananas can be frozen).
  • Canned: pineapples, peaches, pears, oranges, mangoes, tropical fruit blend, etc.
  • Frozen fruit: strawberries, blueberries, berry blends, pineapple chunks, or fresh fruit that you can chop and freeze yourself.
  • Dried fruit.

Use your fruit to make these easy recipes:

Vegetables

Some of these may have been mentioned in earlier sections.

  • Potatoes, both white and sweet
  • Spaghetti squash
  • Kabocha squash
  • Pumpkins
  • Butternut squash
  • Cabbage
  • Canned veggies: peas, sweet corn, carrots, green beans, beans, tomatoes, etc.
  • Frozen vegetables: spinach, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.

Use your vegetables to make these easy recipes:

a lovely bowl of instant pot broccoli

Dairy

Some of these may have been mentioned in earlier sections.

  • Powdered milk or nut milk or creamers (last longer than cow’s milk and some don’t have to take up refrigerator space)
  • If you have the freezer space, cow’s milk can be frozen. It just takes up a lot of space and you need to make sure you leave a bit of room in the container for expansion.
  • Shredded cheese (freezes better than blocks of cheese).
  • Many yogurt choices can be frozen and make for great kids snacks.
a print jug filled with milk showing how many cups in a pint

Meats and Fish

Some of these may have been mentioned in earlier sections.

  • Smaller cuts of meat like chicken thighs, breasts or wings instead of the whole chicken.
  • Shrimps and smaller cut of fish like salmon fillet etc.
  • Canned meats like tuna, mackerel or salmon.
  • If freezer space is limited, skip the big meat and roasts as I have plenty of vegan and vegetarian dishes you can whip up.

Use your meats to make these easy recipes:

ingredients to make instant pot chicken tortilla soup

Dried Pantry Essentials and Kitchen Staple Snacks

Some of these may have been mentioned in earlier sections.

  • Grains like rice (white, jasmine and brown) and quinoa
  • Pasta
  • Dried beans
  • Lentils
  • Nuts
  • Flour

Use your dried ingredients to make these easy recipes:

2 Ingredient Easy Flatbreads. (no yeast)

Even More Easy Pantry Recipes

Thank you for reading my Stock Your Pantry To Cook Anything in a Pinch post. And please come visit again as I continue dreaming up recipes, traditional African recipes, African fusion recipes, Sierra Leone recipes, travel plans and much more for you. Thanks for supporting Recipes from a Pantry, UK food blog.

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

15 Comments

  1. Excellent suggestions Bintu. You are assisting others in providing for themselves and loved ones as the food shortage (fresh food first) and restrictions (non-perishables) go to the next level. I usually stock up during sales and filled my pantry with 40-50% discounts on non-perishable items. People may want to stock up now rather than wait.

  2. So many fab tips! It’s so hard now isn’t it? I feel like we have to make the most of what we have.

  3. Some great tips here. I’ve never actually had a pantry, so if I was going to start I would definitely need some tips in what to put in it

  4. That sounds like a great idea. It’s nice to know pantry recipes and they can actually help you as well as help save a couple of bucks.

  5. I think you’re right – it’s all about being able to be flexible when it comes to making the most of the ingredients you have in the pantry. Being able to switch things in/out to make a recipe work is ideal 🙂

  6. Shopping your pantry is SO important! I once ended up with 5 bottles of Mirin in the cupboard!

    This is a fabulous guide, I’m pinning it so I can keep coming back.

    Katie xoxo

  7. Some great tips here, I try and keep my cupboards stocked with as many staples as possible but struggle with space

  8. Some useful tips in here thanks! I do make sure my cupboards are stocked thankfully. It was the fresh meat and veg that affected us mainly but i always have frozen veg too thankfully 🙂

  9. I’m trying to really plan my meals and only buy what I need as I don’t want to overspend. For us the difficulty is we don’t have any freezer space at my parents so I have to buy fresh meat and veg and can’t freeze anything to make it last longer x

  10. You’ve put together some really good tips here. I try to keep certain things stocked all the time, so some things I never had to look for. One of the things that surprised me about this whole situation is seeing how many people apparently don’t keep things stocked and therefore shop often.

  11. I am always swapping and changing ingredients in recipes because either we don’t have it or don’t like one of the ingredients. I have been on slimming world in the past so have rather a big amount of herbs and spices. I don’t have a lot of storage though and hate clutter so I am glad that supermarkets are finally starting to get some stock because I was running low

  12. These are great tips, thanks for sharing! This is something I really need to do. I never seem to have a store of stuff that I can use to whip up meals when I need and frustratingly I always find myself having to pop to the shop almost every other day sometimes! I am going to implement some of your tips here so I can be well stocked and organised in the future!

  13. I like to keep full stocked at home as I never know how busy I will be with work. There are times where I don’t have much time to go shopping for food so having supplies in works out well. I normally have quite a few of the products suggested so I’m doing well.

  14. Great post especially for a the moment when you have no idea what is on the supermarket shelves, with having these in the cupboard you can always make a meal.