Basic and Staple Ingredients in Kitchen

By On November 5, 2011 · Leave a Comment

I received an email regarding what I considered “staple” ingredients/products in my kitchen.

When I figure my dinner budget I do NOT include staple ingredient/product into my calculations because it’s tedious to calculate exactly how much you spent on that product.

For instance, salt and pepper is one of my “staple” products, but I wouldn’t calculate the cost into my budget … silly; right?

For that reason I always have these items in my pantry/cabinets and/or fridge.

Here are my list of staple items … a must have in kitchen and NOT calculated in the recipe budgets.

Bread Crumbs
Butter/margarine
Carrots
Celery
Chicken and Beef Stock
Dried Species and Herbs (Chili powder, Cinnamon, Cumin, Garlic and onion powders, Italian seasoning and etc)
Eggs
Flour
Fresh Herbs (if it is possible such as Basil, Rosemary, and Parsley)
Garlic (I have diced garlic in a jar)
Heavy Whipping cream
Honey
Ketchup
Milk
Mustard (Dijon, whole ground, and yellow mustard)
Oils (Vegetable and Olive Oil)
Onions (both white and red)
Potatoes
Salt and Pepper
Vinegars (red wine, white wine, and rice wine)
White and Brown Sugar

I think that is about it because canned and jar sauces can be easily calculated into the budget meals (and will add more if I think of more).

No matter what is going on or haven’t gone to the grocery store, if you have these basic things you can make anything and everything!  It is amazing how much you can whip up meals and desserts when you have these basic staple ingredients at home.

Let me give you an example … it’s cold outside and you want to bake.  You look in the pantry and see you have a cake mix but you ran out of eggs or vegetable oils … what do you do?  You probably either walk away or go to the store to pick up two lousy things.  Next thing you know you come home with bag full of other “things” you don’t need.

This is a great way to blow your monthly or weekly grocery budget; and great way to waste money on gas!

If you are like me and have stockpiles at home you already have cake mixes, rice mix bags, dinner helpers and etc; so making budget-friendly meals aren’t the problem … it’s the little things we sometimes overlook.

I have noticed since I have these basic ingredients at home I bake more often, and making dinner has become less stressful.

With all that said … Happy cooking or baking!

 

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