Whether you consider you have an “ingredients only home”, you want to cook more at home or you just want to feel like you’ve got your bases covered, having staples in your home is essential.
Kitchen staples is going to be different for everyone based on taste preferences, your location, allergies and your budget.
I’m going to give you my kitchen staples so you can use it as a guide to come up with your own staples.
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Stick around, I’ve got this all, and more, on a printable just for you!
KITCHEN STAPLES IN THE FRIDGE
Milk: You can use this for drinking, baking and for making sauces and gravies stretch.
Eggs: Whip these babies up for a quick, easy and nutritious breakfast. They can be used in baking, meatloaf and numerous breakfast dishes.
Sauces: Food can get boring pretty quickly so having BBQ sauce, salad dressings, steak sauce etc can help enhance a meal.
Cream Cheese: It’s great to add richness and flavor to dishes.
Condiments: Ketchup, mustard, mayo etc. They are great to have on hand if you eat sandwiches, hot dogs or burgers. Also, ketchup and ranch are a MUST with kids eating proteins.
Cheese: Cheese can be added to breakfast, lunch or dinner. Not to mention it’s just so yummy!
Yeast: Since 2020, I’ve kept yeast in my fridge so I can make homemade bread or rolls. Which are just the best and you get bread without all the extra preservatives.
Butter: ok seriously, doesn’t butter just make everything better? I use butter in place of oil in many of my recipes.
KITCHEN STAPLES IN THE FREEZER
Chicken: Chicken is so versatile! It’s one of my favorite things to keep in my house. I like to buy the fresh chicken, place each breast in a plastic bag and then freeze them. I just bought a Food saver so I’m excited to be able to use that when I freeze my meat now. I’ve also been known to cut chicken and then freeze after it’s cooked.
Ground Beef: Another favorite of mine. A super easy way to cut down on mealtime is to cook your ground beef and then freeze it. Or can it yourself!
Frozen Veggies: These make for an easy side dish at dinnertime. Spruce up your California veggies (broccoli, cauliflower and carrots) by throwing some cheese and bacon bits on them and throw them in the oven. Sure, not as healthy, but super delicious. Or just cook some frozen corn (our go to usually) to help your family get their veggies in.
KITCHEN STAPLES IN THE PANTRY
Vinegar: I use vinegar in sauces, with cleaning and when I’m making salsa. I go through so much vinegar in my home. It’s a must.
Peanut butter: You can use peanut on sandwiches, in homemade protein bites, in protein shakes or just eat it by the spoonful.
Honey: I love using honey in place of sugar in recipes, in oatmeal, on sandwiches or even to sweeten up a protein shake. If you have access to local honey that would be even better.
Pasta: Some of my favorites are egg noodles, shells and angel hair pasta. It’s versatile and we love using it.
Flour: Between making bread, muffins, pancakes and other delicious things, I need flour.
Baking essentials: baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder, vanilla extract and corn starch. Even if you don’t bake often, these are always good to have on hand.
Sea salt: An essential for any household.
Seasonings: Chili powder, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, basil, cinnamon, ginger, red pepper flakes, taco seasoning, dry ranch dressing, dry onion soup, dry italian seasoning and any other seasoning your family likes.
Broth: It’s a base for many soups, you can cook rice in it to give it more flavor and add to gravies and sauces.
KITCHEN STAPLES IN THE CANTRY
Having home canned food in your home is convenient and you also know exactly what is in the can of food. Highly recommend learning how to can food.
Chicken: Having canned chicken is a time saver when it comes to meal prepping. I use it in soups, casseroles, salads, in gravies to go on top of rice or mashed potatoes; there is so much to do with it. Dinner in 5 minutes.
Ground Beef: Like canned chicken, canned ground beef is so convenient. I use it in tacos, sloppy joes, cottage pie and casseroles.
Broth: Like having it in your pantry, when you make your own the flavor is so amazing!
Potatoes: You can can your own potatoes. I make cheesy potatoes, soups, salads and casseroles with them. You can make mashed potatoes with them but I haven’t tried that yet. Cuts time down drastically!
Strawberry jam: Talk about controlling the sugar content in your jams. It’s amazing and the flavor is so awesome!
Carrots: For soups, stews or even when making your own broth.
Pineapple: Canning your own pineapple is so yummy! And so easy. I use it in dishes quite often.
Mandarin oranges: The perfect side dish for little ones.
Beans: Canned beans is awesome to have but when it’s your own, it’s even better.
Stew meat: You can make beef tips with mashed potatoes, stew, casseroles or anything else with this versatile protein.
Ghee: Shelf stable butter. Need I say more?
Here is a printable with all this to help you spark some ideas to help you keep an ingredients home.
Thanks!
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