Stocking Your Pantry

I guess this post should be called "stocking your cupboard," huh? Who really has a pantry these days, anyway?

Buying food might seem like the easiest part of cooking, right? Buy some meat, buy some vegetables, whatever. But when you look at a recipe you might find it needs a whole slew of spices and things, and all that can add up. But here's how to avoid that:

Spices: the bulk store is your friend. There are absolutely spices that you will need a lot of. Personally, I use cumin, chili powder, rosemary, and thyme fairly frequently, so I buy big containers of it. But if a recipe calls for a whole bunch of spices, it can all add up, since spices are pretty expensive. So check out your bulk store and buy just what you need for a recipe. You can also substitute a lot of spices - if you don't have a spice that you need for a recipe, check it out on Wikipedia - it will usually list similar spices and you might have one! Maybe your recipe calls for cayenne and you only have chili powder? No big D, you can just go ahead and substitute away. Lastly: BUY A PEPPER GRINDER. Do not use any of that pre-ground shit. You might as well use nothing if you're going to do that. Buy whole peppercorns and a grinder (you can even buy disposable pepper grinders with the pepper in them, but those are a terrible idea because they will cost more in the long run, both to your wallet and the environment) and work for your pepper! Your tastebuds will thank you.

Pasta, Rice, Grains, etc.
A lot of great meals are based on a starch. Its cheap, and its filling. And did I mention cheap? You can get a giant bag of rice for only a couple of bucks, and a pound of pasta (a couple of meals worth) is usually about a dollar. Its a good idea to keep this stuff in your cupboard so its around - even if you haven't been to the store in a few days, you can always make a tasty meal with a pot of pasta and some herbs. Same thing with rice! And sometimes you'll want couscous, or quinoa, or whatevs. Though to be honest, if I'm going to teach you how to cook quinoa, I will have to learn myself.

Oils and Vinegars
Once you're cooking for a while, you'll find you have an entire shelf full of oils and vinegars. I've got a few different types of olive oil, hazelnut, truffle, sesame, vegetable, and probably some others, and then balsamic, white, red wine, apple cider, rice wine, and MORE balsamic vinegar. But you don't need all that. You would put yourself out a couple hundred bucks if you filled your cupboard with all that right away! You can make due with just a bit: for oil, start with olive oil and vegetable oil. If you're really into Asian food, you can get yourself some sesame oil too! I love sesame oil more than pretty much anything, myself. For vinegars: white vinegar and balsamic vinegar is all you really need. And to be honest, you'll probably use the white vinegar for cleaning more than cooking.

Sauces and Condiments
This is another list that can grow, and grow, and grow, but doesn't need to start huge! It's pretty reliant on the type of cooking you do: if you do a lot of Chinese or Thai cooking, you will find yourself wanting an array of chili sauces and delicious things. But again, start small: soy sauce is always good to have. I like to head to Sanko for my soy sauce because you can get good Japanese brands instead of the grocery store, stuff, but its not hugely necessary. What I WILL say, though, is do not skimp on soy sauce. Do NOT buy the grocery store brand. I did that once and it was the most disgusting stuff I've ever eaten. Kikkoman is perfectly acceptable, but to be honest I would not go any lower end than that. Anything cheaper just tastes like salt instead of the actual flavour of soy sauce. A good chili sauce is also important: the current darling of the culinary world is Sriracha (pronounced "sri-hat-cha") and with good reason, it is delicious! Get the one with the rooster on the bottle. Regular condiments are always good to have: dijon mustard (not ballpark mustard!) and mayonnaise will both be used pretty frequently.

Baking Needs
Okay, I know, I know, we're talking about cooking - but baking is sort of like cooking, and honestly, you'll use a lot of baking stuff in your regular cooking. Truth! Flour is your FRIEND. Want to make gravy? You need flour. Macaroni and cheese? That needs a roux, which needs flour! Unless you're planning on baking, buy a little bag - you wouldn't think it, but flour can go rancid. And you do not want to be eating ANYTHING that is rancid, trust. Corn starch can be good to have around too (for many of the same reasons as flour), same with sugar and baking soda (which, like vinegar, can be handy for cleaning! A bowl of baking soda in your fridge will clear up any gross food smells in there).

Staples
Keep a couple of things in your fridge/cupboard and you'll never go hungry: eggs, onions. Garlic and ginger. Butter, if you like things to be extra delicious. Everything else you can buy meal to meal - meat and vegetables don't last forever, so you don't want them sitting around for ages before you get to them.


Obviously, there are things I'm missing. sometimes you'll need other food, obviously, and you will buy them when you need them! But you could buy all of these things, spend about a hundred dollars, and be able to cook delicious food for a couple of months. It's an investment, yes, but not nearly as large as it might seem, and you will be able to save so much money in the long run, and eat healthier!