If you want to cook, you must have a pantry with the basic ingredients you need for most of the recipes and also some long-term products that allow you to improvise a dinner at the last minute without having to go to the grocery store every day.
I’m used to do a good weekly shopping, thinking about those six / seven main recipes that I want to make. In this way I can buy fresh products (milk, eggs, vegetables, meat and fish) in the right quantity avoiding waste. And I can even check if I have to restock some canned or frozen food, essentials for cooking and baking.
The following is my standard pantry, although I don’t normally have all the frozen meat and fish that I have listed in the table, and if I have, I try to use them before buying new ones. For frozen vegetables, I usually buy the fresh product, then I wash them, cut everything to the size I need and store them in freezer bags.
The last thing that can’t be missing in the kitchen is aromatic herbs, such as parsley, rosemary, basil, sage, mint, bay leaf etc. I now consider myself lucky because I have a nice garden and a greenhouse where I can always keep fresh herbs, but even when I didn’t have a garden, I always preferred to buy plants (at least basil, rosemary and parsley) to grow on the kitchen windowsill. They don’t cost much and even if they don’t last forever they still last longer than the herbs already cut in a bag. And there’s honestly nothing better than the scent and colour that they give to the kitchen.
| Tins, cans and packets | ||
| Extra Vergin Olive Oil | Borlotti Beans | Wheat Plain Flour |
| Sunflower Oil | Cannellini Beans | Wholemale Strong Flour |
| Vinegar (normal and balsamic) | Green Lentils | Spelt Flour |
| Cooking Salt | Chickpeas | Baking Powder |
| Coarse Salt | Anchovies in oil | Dark Cocoa Powder |
| Black Pepper | Capers in salt | Dark Chocolate chips |
| Chilli Flakes | Black and Green Olives | Granulated Sugar |
| Dried Pasta in different shapes | Tuna in oil or in spring water | Soft Brown Sugar |
| Canned Tomato (passata, chopped, cherry) | Spices (Nutmeg, Ginger, Cinnamon, Paprika …) | Cornflour or Potato Starch |
| Vegetable Stocks | Rice (Arborio, Basmati, brown rice) | Vanilla Extract |
| Polenta | Dried Porcini Mushrooms | Dried Yeast |
| Frozen Vegetables | ||
| Onions | Cauliflower Florets | Celery |
| Carrots | Petit Pois Peas | Courgettes |
| Frozen fish/meat | ||
| Prawns | Mussels | Minced Beef |
| Dicec Beef | Italian sausages | Sliced Chicken Breast |
| Dairy and eggs (with a long life) | ||
| Unsalted organic butter | Smocked Scamorza | Organic Eggs |
| Parmigiano Reggiano o Grana Padano | Halloumi Cheese | Oat Milk |
| Pecorino Cheese | Mature Cheddar | Semiskimmed Milk |
| Fresh vegetables (with a long life) | ||
| Garlic | All purpose Potatoes | Butternut Squash |
The Stove Diaries 