What Do You Keep In Your Pantry?

[SunnyCait]

Hey all!

My father just flew out to Virginia, and from there he'll fly to Georgia and then off to Afghanistan for his job. Me, my sister, a friend, and the GF are all staying in the house that he owns, alone, for the length of his job (1-2 years).

Okay, with three of us being 20, maybe we should have some experience with buying groceries and keeping a stocked pantry, but we don't. Beside dorm living, none of us have ever lived without parents. 0.0

Now, I've basically been the domestic/"mom" of our house since I was 12... But I've never had to worry about doing much grocery shopping, as my dad did that. Now that it's just us "kids", I'd like some input from you guys.

What is ALWAYS in your pantry? What do you keep "stocked", like extras and things? And, lastly, what's on your grocery list most often, like the basics? Fruits and veggies are a once a week trip to the farmers market venture, and meat we always have from our own animals, so no need to mention those things. Help a girl out!

 

[SweetSassy]

In my pantry I have:

cereal, bread, rice, soup, canned veggies, crackers,sugar, flour, doughnuts, Spaghetti sauce and noodles, tomatoe sauce, tomatoe juice, pop tarts, fruit snacks, cookies, chips, Hambuger helper, stuffing, bag of pinto beans, oil.



I'm sure there's more. But that's all I can think of right now. Lol. I have a big pantry.



Fridge: Milk, orange juice, cheese, eggs, yogurt, water, pop.

Good Luck and Have Fun

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

well i would say something that is always stocked in my house is ketchup, mayo, and mustard, Ramen noodles, spaghetti sauce, spaghetti's, stewed tomatoes, (for the kids) Beefaroni, canned raviolis, spaghettis O'S yuck ),Augratin potatoes, lipton rice sides (like spanish rice, chicken rice and things like that)

Things that are ALWAYS on my list is lunch meat, bread, milk, cookies, ice cream, veggies of course.

Other things that you want to make sure that you have that you arent always going to have to get on a weekly basis are things like laundry detergent, dish soap, toilet paper, shampoo and conditioner, body soap, tooth paste, frozen veggies

hope this helps i shop for a family with four kids and two adults and spend about 250.00 a week easy. You could try bulk shopping at those clubs like BJ warehouse, or costco, or sams club to get some things in bulk like trash bags, toilet paper , paper towels and things like that

 

[irishbunny]

What's a pantry? :?

 

[degrassi]

In our pantry we always have canned beans(chickpeas, kidney etc), spaghetti sauce, Boxes of Chicken and beef broth, Cans of mushroom soup, tomato soup, Ramen noodles, Coconut milk, Jars of thai curry paste,cans of Crushed tomatoes, Rice, flour, cornstarch, sugars(white and brown), various spices, Various pastas

Then in the condiments pantry we keep things like rice wine vinegar, ketchup,mustard,soy sauce, Hot sauces, Salad dressing, Miracle whip(or mayo).

Things we buy on a weekly basis are milk, eggs, bread, cheese and veggies.

 

[SweetSassy]

irishbunny wrote:

What's a pantry? :?

It's just like a big closet to hold food.

 

[irishbunny]

Oh right I think we just have cupboards here

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

Being 20 also

We keep cereal, Bread, lunch meat, oil we frie alot, mac and cheese, Canned vegys, romain noodles, suger flour, ketchup, mustard,mayo,hot sauce,

make sure you always have enough laundry soap and dishwasher detergent.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Good luck with fending for yourself! I hope you have fun with all the cooking

Here's what I keep in my pantry: canned tuna (water packed and the fancy italian oil packed, the latter is good for pasta dishes), packets of cooked salmon (salmon patties are really easy to make), those little tins of herring snacks (it's herring with lemon pepper or tomato and basil, they're great for a quick snack), canned beans, peanut butter, canned beets, corn & green beans, canned chili, our favorite canned soups, assorted canned tomato items, boxed mac and cheese (my favorite is the Annie's brand Parmesan Peace Pasta), boxed couscous, box of quick cooking brown rice, granola bars, little fruit cups, little apple sauce cups, almonds, spaghetti noodles, macaroni noodles, egg noodles and penne noodles (or some other small noodle), assorted oils and vinegars, olives, dried beans, dried lentils, a couple packets of stir fry seasoning and taco seasoning. Then for baking and desserts, a giant bin of flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch, shortening, a box of brownie mix, and a couple boxes of cook and serve pudding. We make pudding when our milk is about to expire since it cooks for several minutes and we usually eat it right away. We also have like a 25 pound bag of jasmine rice and buy the things like pasta and canned tuna at Sam's Club.

If you keep your fridge stocked with milk, eggs, cheese, fresh veggies (which you already mentioned), lemon and lime juice, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, jelly and capers, and also have a lot of spices and herbs, you can make just about anything with what you already have! If it's too busy for us to get to the store for a few days, I almost always have plenty of things on hand I can cook.

Do you need any cook book suggestions?

 

[Brandy456]

• Cooking oil
• Coffee
• Soup
• Instant oatmeal
• Crackers
• Cereal
• Mac & Cheese (the box)
• Diffrent sorts of pasta - Spaghetti, elbows, bows, spirals -
• Pasta sauce - Jar of spaghetti sauce, alfredo sauce, rose sauce)
• Canned tuna, ham and chicken (or turkey..but they taste the same).
• Potatoes
• Rice
• Instant mashed potatoes ( Ex. Potatoe flakes )
• Peanut butter
• Beans
• Tortillas
• Popcorn
• Muffin/cookie mix
• Pudding/Jello mix
• Granola Bars
• Juice mix
• Cookies
• Flour
• Sugar (plain and brown)
• Baking sugar
• Corn starch

And I always have baby food around, I've had stomach problems for the longest time and baby food is actually somthing you can eat without erm, yeah. So, keep a few jars around too, great for when your sick and soup takes to long

 

[mouse_chalk]

I dream of one day having a proper pantry, but for now my poor overloaded kitchen cupboards hold:

Pasta- penne, shells and spaghetti
Rice
Lentils- puy, red split lentils and yellow lentils
Cous-cous
Tins of tomatoes, and passata
Tinned kidney beans and 'baked beans'- good for a quick lunch
Egg noodles and rice noodles of different sizes
Couple of packets of instant noodles, or pasta with sauce etc for dire emergencies and quick lunches!
Couple of jars of stir-in pasta sauce and stir-fry sauce- again for dire emergencies because I tend to cook everything from scratch
Spices- I have a whole rack of about 20 different spices that I use all the time- was such a bargain at £4!!!
Soy sauce
Fish sauce
Rice vinegar
Red and white wine vinegar, malt vinegar and balsamic vinegar
Groundnut oil, extra virign olive oil and sesame oil
Vegetable, chicken and beef instant stock cubes, plus little sachest of concentrated stock for quick use
Regular table salt and sea salt
Peppercorns
Sweet chilli dipping sauce (a MUST for making sweet chilli mayo!)
Mustard- wholegrain, dijon and english, plus the hotdog kind for BBQs
Ketchup
Mayo
Plain and self-raising flour
Baking powder (for cakes)
Brown sugar for tea/coffee, muscovado sugar for baking, and caster sugar and icing sugar for baking
Honey
Gravy granules
Tins of cocunut milk and coconut cream
Tinned tuna for sandwiches
Coffee
Various kinds of tea for guests etc


That's about it I think! I also keep a well-stocked mecidine cupboard with painkillers, cold/flu remedies, allergy tablets, a thermometer, and various other stuff that's good to have on hand, plus all the usual cleaning stuff.

Oh, and I always have plastic bags on hand to freeze portions of meat etc in (I freeze in one-portion bags, so I only need to take out what we'll eat) and a marker pen to write the date and what's in it!

 

[SunnyCait]

You gyes are amazing! Half of this stuff I wouldn't have even thought of! *bows down*

Brandy, we usually have babyfood around... But for the rats! LOL They get breakfast every morning and it usually consists of something mixed with babyfood.

Shiloh, any cook book suggestions you have would be wonderful! I LOVE to cook, and do so every weeknight. It's harder with 4 of us trying to find things we all agree on, and sometimes there are nights someone is eating something they don't particularly like but because it may be someone else's favorite, they suck it up. It'd be nice to have more common ground type foods!

Kat, thank youuuu for mentioning the laundry detergent! That's one thing I can never remember. >.<

Jen, medicine cabinet!! It seems so obvious! Right now all we have are a few first aid kits, some Tylenol, and a thermometor. We should really be more prepared.

Fran... Toilet paper should have been on the list already, right? LMAO. Another thing I don't even ever think about. 0.0

With your guys' help I've been able to compile a nice lengthy list! Now to go shopping!! Thank you all!

 

[katt]

i to am in my early 20s, but i love to cook, so i keep things rather stocked

i always keep cans of beans (normally black and white, as they are my fav), cannedtomato stuff (sauce, diced, stewed, paste), chicken and veggie broth, ramen noodles, pasta, rice, oatmeal (life saver, you can always whip up a quick bowl of oatmeal), olive oil, instant soup (chicken noodle, tomatoe, veggie noodle, ect)

i also always make sure i have sweet potatoes and reg. potatoes, onions, butter, milk and soy milk, eggs, lettuce, tomatoes,sliced andshredded cheese,and a loaf of bread.

we also keep our freezer packed with soy products. morningstar stuff. as my roommate doesn't eat meat, and i only once in a while. these are like fast food to us, as i literally cook everything (down to slow simmered red sauce, i don't like pre-made food that much), and my roommate bakes (we have to keep the sliced store bought bread in the freezer cause it goes bad to fast for us) bread weekly during the summer, almost daily during the winter.