Kitchen Pantry Essentials

If you are just learning how to cook and or moving into a new home with a fresh kitchen and want to fill up its cabinets. You should continue reading!

As a kid, I use to hate organizing the kitchen. My family and I would organize all the pots and pans, sorting out our secret stash of store bought mix match Tupperware to Chinese take-out containers. The only part I did enjoy organizing was the pantry, our dry storage. Everything in the cabinets had old spices, oils, bottles and packets of some sorts. It felt like being an old witch cleaning out her vials of potions, and jars of foreign ingredients. I never realized there was immense amounts of recipes you can do with a good pantry. I know for sure my family had a good pantry, since my mom’s the cook of the household and my older sister who likes to bake desserts and also cooks when she has time, who I call her Ate. (Ah-Teh: means older sister in Tagalog).

It’s funny that I never saw myself to be cooking as a career. I always thought I would work my way up in my coffee shop jobs or just some chick at a desk job who’s counting down the minutes to get the hell out of work. Since moving from California to Florida, it has been a long journey from home. Made me appreciate the environment that my family built for me. So it’s new beginnings living in an apartment with seven roommates it is intense but I love it all the more because I cook a lot and I can’t eat all my food.

The Following are spices that I use for my everyday cooking:

Kosher Salt/Sea Salt

Whole Black Pepper

Bay-leaf

Cumin

Paprika

Onion Powder

Chili Powder and Flakes

Lemon Pepper

Coriander

Pickling Spice

Garlic Powder/Salt

Nutmeg

Cinnamon

Cream of Tartar

Cloves

Ginger

Italian Seasoning

Cardamom

Tumeric

The other dry goods that I use for cooking and baking:

Oil

Olive oil

Coconut milk

Diced Tomatoes

Pasta

Rice

White/Brown Sugar

Confectioner’s Sugar

Dark Chocolate Chips

All Purpose Flour

Bread Flour

Active Yeast

Baking Powder

Baking Soda

Distilled Vinegar

Apple Cider Vinegar

Balsamic Vinegar

White/Red Wine

Fish Sauce

Bouillon Cubes

Soy Sauce

Nuts (my favorites are walnut and pecans)

It did not take a whole day to have what I have now in my dry storage, unless you can totally afford everything in one shot then go ahead. This took me 6 months… Every month I bought couple of things here and there. Most of my items I bought at a Publix and Walmart. Just make sure when you buy spices you gotta look at the opportunity cost if you are broke as hell. Choose which is more affordable and if its the only spice you can find and its more than $4. Question yourself if it's worth it. Spices may seem cheap but if you think about it they all add up and there will be holes in your pocket before you know it! Currently I have 26 spices and if each cost about $2 then multiply that it be $52! If you stop by a ROSS or Bed Baths & Beyond and or even visit Amazon, you can buy spice racks that already has spices! You'd probably save a whole lot of money. Like coriander, I could not find a cheaper item and I felt really torn about it but I ended up buying it because I needed it in several recipes that I will make in the future. That, I just gave into my wants versus needs. My pantry is still building and if you have any advice like if you have a recommendation on having an ingredient let me know! Just comment in the comment box!

Thanks for reading, happy cooking!

Sincerely,

KSM