How to Stock Your Pantry

Seasonings

• Kosher salt, coarse sea salt, fine salt
• Black peppercorns
• Onions
• Fresh garlic
• Fresh ginger
• Anchovies or anchovy paste for flavoring pasta sauces and salad dressings
• Dried herbs: bay leaves, dill, crumbled dried sage, dried thyme leaves, oregano, tarragon, Italian seasoning blend
• Spices: allspice (whole berries or ground), caraway seeds, chili powder, cinnamon sticks, ground cinnamon,coriander seeds, cumin seeds, ground cumin, curry powder, ground ginger, dry mustard, nutmeg, paprika, cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper, turmeric
• Lemons, limes, oranges. The zest is as valuable as the juice. Organic fruit is recommended when you use a lot of zest.
• Granulated sugar
• Brown sugar
• Honey
• Pure maple syrup
• Unsweetened cocoa powder, natural and/or Dutch-processed
• Bittersweet chocolate, semisweet chocolate chips

Canned Goods & Bottled Items

• Canned tomatoes, tomato paste
• Reduced-sodium chicken broth, beef broth and/or vegetable broth
• Clam juice
• "Lite" coconut milk for Asian curries and soups
• Canned beans: cannellini beans, great northern beans, chickpeas, black beans, red kidney beans
• Canned lentils
• Chunk light tuna and salmon

Grains & Legumes

• Whole-wheat flour and whole-wheat pastry flour (Store opened packages in the refrigerator or freezer.)
• All-purpose flour
• Assorted whole-wheat pastas
• Brown rice and instant brown rice
• Pearl barley, quick-cooking barley
• Rolled oats
• Whole-wheat couscous
• Bulgur
• Dried lentils
• Yellow cornmeal
• Plain dry breadcrumbs

Nuts, Seeds & Fruits

• Walnuts
• Pecans
• Almonds
• Hazelnuts
• Dry-roasted unsalted peanuts
• Pine nuts
• Sesame seeds
• Natural peanut butter
• Tahini
• Assorted dried fruits, such as apricots, prunes, cherries, cranberries, dates, figs, raisins (Store opened packages of nuts and seeds in the refrigerator or freezer.)

How does your pantry look?  My plan is to make one big trip to the grocery store to get a bunch of it bought, and then to get into the habit of buying an extra can of everything I buy at the store for food storage.  How do you do it??