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Must Have Essential List to Stock Up Your Pantry: Quarantine Edition

  • Parenting, Sanity Savers
  • April 17, 2020
  • Glenda By Glenda
  • 4 Comments
Stock Up Your Pantry

By now, you probably know the drill: wash your hands thoroughly after touching anything, only leave your home for essentials, and stay well away from all other living beings except for the ones you live with.

Every time I need to leave the house to stock up the pantry, I plan like crazy. Starting from planning of what to eat for days ahead, budgeting, and then make a concise shopping list.

My husband is shaking his head whenever I went Momzilla on organizing and planning things, but we agreed on one thing.

Making a comprehensive list of groceries will cut down the number of trips you have to make to the grocery store.

So with that in mind, I made the must-have essential list to stock up the pantry. This list is also useful for a general kitchen stock up, when you just move to your new house, or when you are new to cooking at home and don’t have an idea of what to store in your pantry. Don’t worry, we have been there!

Before we start though, there is something that needed to be said first.

Being Prepared to Stock Up Your Pantry Does Not Mean Stockpiling or Hoarding

The US Department of Homeland Security is recommending two weeks worth of supplies.

Naturally, stocking shelf-stable cans and non-perishable foods will allow you to be prepared without the worry of your groceries going bad for a short amount of time. But sometimes we can go way overboard and ends up with more amount of food than we actually need.

So to avoid that, we need to remember two things:

1. Don’t go into a panic mode. Buy things that you know your family will eat. Make sure that it’s NOT something you and your family have never tried before, or don’t already enjoy, and might go to waste.

2. Instead, look at what you already keep in the house. Find out which items are your family’s favorite and replenish those things first.

Please remember that other people need food too, and not everyone can afford to load up their cart all at once.

Now onto the list! I categorized them based on food types, with some tips on what and how to store your groceries so they last longer.

Pantry Basics

Grains, Starches, Beans, and Legumes
Rice (white or brown rice)
Pasta (wheat based or bean based)
Bread (white, wheat, or whole grain)
Noodles (rice or egg noodles)

Quinoa

Farro

Barley

Couscous

Beans (cannellini, white, navy, black, or chickpeas)

The dry grains are mostly nutritious, can last forever without refrigeration, relatively cheap and easy to cook. So if you usually cook with these grains, stock up plenty. For bread and butter, you can freeze them to extend their shelf life.

Oils and Vinegars
Cooking oil (grapeseed, corn, coconut or canola oil)
Olive oil
Butter or butter subtitute
Balsamic Vinegar

Red wine vinegar

Apple cider vinegar
Canned Foods
Coconut milk
Tomato sauce or tomato puree
Tomato paste
Broth or stock (vegetable, chicken, beef, or seafood)

Olives (black or green olives)

Chiles

Tuna
Tortillas
Chiles (chipotles or pickeld jalapenos)
Salsa
Nuts (almonds, ground peanuts, walnut, etc)
Canned fruit (peaches, pears, pineapple, grapefruit, etc)
Canned pasta or pasta sauces
Canned soup

When it comes to canned foods, it’s always preferable to look for low-sodium one and be mindful of the fat content of cream based options (like canned soups). For the fruit ones, look for products that has no added sugar.

Breakfast Staples
Oatmeal
Kids' and your favorite cereals
Granola
Dried fruit and seeds (chia, flax, or hemp)

Applesauce

Peanut butter or almond butter

Jams
Pancake mix
Maple syrup
Honey
Baking Essentials
Flour (all purpose, whole wheat, or pastry)
Baking soda
Baking powder
Vanilla extract

Brown sugar

Granulated sugar

Icing sugar
Chocolate (chips or bars)
Cornstarch
Cocoa powder

These ingredients are staples to make hundreds kinds of cookies, cakes, brownies, breads and other bake goods.

Kids Snacks
Crackers
Chips
Popcorn kernels
Protein Bars
Other favorite cereal. Make sure to look for healthy options if you can.
Drinks
Coffee
Tea
Juices
Electrolyte drinks
Alcohol

Sport drinks, pre made protein shakes, and  shelf stable juices can help to replenish electrolytes and energy if someone in your house become ill.

Baby food and formula
Food pouches
Formula

Refrigerator and Freezer Basics

Fresh produces
Veggies (bell pepper, leeks, carrot, bell pepper, potatoes, salad mix, peas, broccoli, spinach)
Onion
Garlic
Ginger
Tofu
Fruits (bananas, berries, avocado, watermelon, etc)
Long-lasting fresh fruit (apple, orange, pomegranate, lemon, lime)

You can freeze almost any fruit or vegetable, as long as they don’t have a high water content (like celery, lettuce, and cucumbers). For fresh produces, try to choose whole produce when possible instead of pre-cut, they will last longer.

Freezer
Meat (beef, chicken, turkey, pork, seafood)
Frozen ready to eat meals (pasta, pizza, burrito, casserole)
Dough (pizza, pie, puff pastry)
Frozen trats (ice cream or ice pops)
Dairy
Milk
Eggs
Cream
Yogurt
Cheese (cheddar, mozarella, parmesan, etc)

Hard cheeses, such as permesan or pecorino, last the longest. Also look for shelf stable boxes of milk if you can.

Dried Herbs, Spices, and Condiments

Dried Herbs and Spices
Bay leaves
Cajun seasoning
Cayenne pepper
Chile powder
Crushed red pepper
Ground cinnamon
Ground cumin
Ginger
Curry powder
Garlic
Oregano
5 spices
Paprika
Rosemary
Thymes
Whole nutmeg
Condiments
Ketchup
Mayonnaise
Mustard
Soy sauce
Toasted sesame oil
Tahini
Hot sauce (tabasco, sriracha, or sambal)

Whew that was a long list! Remember, these are basic pantry staples for your kitchen needs. Make sure to see which one is needed to replenish and which one is enough so you don’t end up overstocking.

With the right ingredients on hand you can easily throw together last minute dinner when you are trying to limit takeouts during the social distancing period.

Stay healthy and be safe everyone!

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4 thoughts on “Must Have Essential List to Stock Up Your Pantry: Quarantine Edition”

  1. Alyssa
    April 22, 2020 at 11:44 pm

    I really enjoyed this article. I agree it is so important to stock up on the basics! I love how you broke it all down into neat sections for us to follow. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    1. Glenda
      April 24, 2020 at 11:53 am

      Thank you, Alyssa. Hope you find this post helpful to you

      Reply
  2. Anne Bratton-Jeffery
    April 23, 2020 at 12:35 am

    I am loving how clear and organized you have this post set up – especially keeping inventory and not hoarding. I tried to do my normal “planning” schedule but I think you are right…in these times it’s what you need in the future when you can’t say “oops, need more baking powder”

    Reply
  3. Tiffany @ Tiffany Writes Things
    April 24, 2020 at 1:13 am

    What a helpful and comprehensive post! I really appreciate that you highlight that we should NOT hoard groceries but rather plan better and use what we have. Definitely going to use this as a guide for planning my grocery buying/meal planning. Thank you!

    Reply

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