How to stock the perfect pantry

How many times have you stared aimlessly into the pantry thinking you can't possibly create a meal with anything in there? With some well-chosen staples and a few extra ingredients you can!

Stocking the perfect pantry

What’s in a well-stocked pantry? It can depend on your preferred style of cooking, but always having a few carefully chosen items on hand ensures you’ll have the ingredients for a delicious emergency dinner. If you have a large pantry, it pays to keep it fully stocked. Rotate items, and keep an eye on ‘best-before’ dates. Buy canned tomatoes, fish, soup and pulses on special in bulk so there’s always a meal base handy – plus you’ll save money and shopping trips.

Storage

Couscous, pasta and rice are versatile and easy-to-prepare pantry staples. Make sure all dry ingredients are stored in airtight containers, and cut out the instructions from the packet and put them inside the container, too, as it’s no good having a handy array of ingredients if you don’t know how to cook them.

Freezer and fresh foods

Think about the kinds of dishes you make often and always keep common fresh and frozen ingredients on hand. A packet of frozen peas has many great uses. To make these recipes, see the essentials checklist, below.

Be prepared! Your recipe essentials checklist:

PANTRY ITEMS

Canned

• Tomatoes
• Pulses
• Tuna
• Salmon
• Liquid stock or stock cubes
• Soups
• Evaporated milk

Dried herbs/spices

• Moroccan seasoning
• Mexican chilli powder
• Chilli powder

Jars/bottles

• Olive oil
• Olives
• Semi-dried
• tomatoes

Dry ingredients

• Pasta
• Rice
• Couscous
• Breadcrumbs
• Mexican wraps
• Cornflour
• Flour

OTHER ESSENTIALS

Fruit/veg

• Potatoes
• Onions
• Carrots
• Parsley
• Tomatoes
• Garlic
• Green onions
• Lemons

Fridge/freezer

• Cheddar/ parmesan cheese
• Eggs
• Frozen vegetables
• Milk
• Mayonnaise

What are the best things to cook with pantry staples?

Not sure what to make from your well-stocked pantry? Take a look at our 50 ‘just in case’ dinners you can make without leaving the house as a starting point.

Stocked up on rice but unsure what to do with it? Try our 100 ways with rice that will never get boring.

Originally published as How to stock the perfect pantry