The Pantry
A well-stocked pantry with a good store of basic ingredients is essential for the preparation of quick and easy meals or to give that ordinary dish an extra-special zing. I try to make sure that all my tinned / pre-prepared items have as few ingredients as possible with no preservatives, additives or various other chemicals that may be used in the preparation of packaged food, e.g. tinned tomatoes should just contain tomatoes and tomato juice.
Here are some of the items that I usually have on hand ~
Store Cupboard
- Oil ~ Extra virgin olive oil, sunflower or canola (make sure it's not GM)
- Rice ~ Basmati, Jasmine, Arborio, brown & wild, long-grain white rice
- Pasta ~ Various shapes such as penne, macaroni, fusilli, lasagne, spaghetti - both wheat and gluten-free
- Tinned tomatoes
- Sundried tomatoes
- Kalamata olives
- Small capers
- Tinned tuna
- Store-bought tomato sauce
- Store-bought tomato paste
- Coconut cream
- Tinned beans & pulses ~ cannellini beans, borlotti beans, chickpeas, lentils
- Nuts & seeds, raw ~ pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, whole almonds, whole hazelnuts, flaked almonds, pine nuts
- Organic Arrow Root
- Mustard ~ English powdered, Maille Dijon
- Seasonings ~ salt, black pepper corns, white pepper
- Herbs ~ a selection of both fresh and dried such as rosemary, thyme, oregano, bay and coriander
- Spices ~ a selection of both whole and powdered such as cinnamon, cardamom, paprika, cayenne, smoked chilli flakes, nutmeg, cloves, coriander, cumin and ginger
- Sauces ~ Organic tamari (conventional soy sauce is 50% wheat), Tobasco, fish sauce
- Vinegars ~ Balsamic, red wine, white wine, apple cider
- Sugar ~ Sticky brown such as demarara or muscavado, white granulated
- Honey - preferably raw, unfiltered and definitely non-irradiated
- Good quality cocoa powder
- Good quality chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
- Filter coffee - 100% Arabica, both caffeinated and decaffeinated
- Tea ~ a selection of black and herbal
Refrigerator & Freezer
- Store-bought vanilla ice cream
- Frozen baby peas
- Home-made chicken stock
- Gluten-free pizza bases