Pantry, store cupboard, larder – call it what you like, it’s the heart and soul of your kitchen, where most good meals begin! A plentiful pantry brings peace of mind!
Dry ingredients
Keep these items in airtight containers! (The Lock & Lock range is hands-down the biggest and most reliable range.)
- Pasta (We use fusilli and macaroni the vast majority of the time)
- Rice – basmati, arborio and “pudding rice”
- Egg noodles
- Couscous
- Quinoa
- Oats
- Red split lentils
- Dried ‘broth mix’
- Fine cornmeal/polenta
- Semolina
- Masa harina
- Cornflour
- Fine sea salt
- Bisto vegetable gravy granules
- Oxo vegetable cubes
- Coconut milk powder
Tins, jars and bottles
Tins
- Tomatoes – plain, chopped tinned tomatoes and tins of tomato puree.
- Beans – cannellini beans, butter beans, kidney beans, chickpeas
- Sweetcorn
- Baked beans
Jars
Make life easy for yourself. Have a few jars on standby such as good quality pasta, curry and and chilli sauces. Sometimes you just don’t want to chop onions! Also:
- Sun-dried tomatoes
- Chutneys and pickles
- Mustards – Dijon, wholegrain and of course Colman’s!
- Thai green curry paste
- Golden syrup
- Black treacle
- Honey
- Peanut butter
Bottles
- Olive oil
- Rapeseed oil
- Sunflower oil (excellent in any cake that calls for oil rather than butter)
- Soy sauce
- Sweet chilli sauce
- Heinz tomato ketchup
- HP sauce. No other brown sauce will do. Even if you don’t care much for it, a slosh of this really adds a nice oomph in a shepherd’s pie base and the like.
- Cider vinegar
- Malt vinegar
- Balsamic vinegar
- Lemon juice
- Lime juice
Herbs & Spices
The sheer choice in the supermarket is fairly daunting. These are the ones that I absolutely use the most, the ones I consider essential. Keep your spice rack organised! I tend to keep stuff in three sections: herbs, spices for savoury dishes and spices for sweet dishes. And you can keep that pesky jar of ground ginger somewhere in between…
Spices for savoury dishes
- Ground cumin
- Cumin seeds
- Mustard seeds
- Ground coriander
- Turmeric
- Dried chilli flakes
- Chilli powder
- Nigella (black onion) seeds
- Paprika
- Garam masala
- Ras al Hanout (Moroccan spice mix – Sainsbury’s sell this in little tubs alongside the herbs and spices).
Spices for sweet dishes
- Ground ginger
- Ground cinnamon
- Mixed spice
- All-Spice
- Nutmeg
- Ground cardamom
Herbs
- Basil
- Parsley
- Mint
- Coriander
- Rosemary
- Herbs de Provence
Baking Ingredients
Flours:
- Plain flour (preferably very fine “00” grade flour) / all-purpose flour
- Self-raising flour (cake flour)
- Strong white bread flour
- Strong wholemeal bread flour
- Rye flour
- Fast-action yeast
Sugars:
- Caster sugar (used most frequently)
- Soft light brown sugar
- Soft dark brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Muscovado sugar
- Demerara sugar
Flavourings
- Vanilla bean paste
- Almond oil extract
- Orange oil extract
- Lemon oil extract
Dried fruits:
- Cranberries
- Sultanas
- Apricots
- Nuts – I like to use a lot of pecans, brazil nuts and macadamias
