I have an awesome worrying habit of looking in people’s pantries (note the “r”) when visiting their homes. What kind of cereal do they buy? Are their herbs past their use-by date? What junk food crap are they trying to hide at the back behind that jar of barley? Mostly I just do it to get ideas so I can go home and make something different.
I once posted a picture of my fridge, and not long after I received an email from a health + wellness blogger asking if she could reproduce it on her blog. She wrote a nice post “How Shithouse People Eat” or “All This Plastic In Your Refrigerator is Slowly Killing You” or “Real Housewives of Australia Refrigerator Secrets are Toxic”, I can’t remember which, but she also offered to help people from suffering the same leftover fate that I was suffering. I think you had to pay.
So to be fair, here’s what I keep in my pantry. I can usually whip up something for when I haven’t been grocery shopping in far too long, but there’s just enough missing that I have to substitute at least one thing in 98% of the recipes I make.
- Corn chips
- Weet Bix
- Oats
- Steel cut oats
- Muesli
- Taco shells
- Lasagna sheets
- Pasta
- Spaghetti/fettuccine
- Nuts (usually walnuts, cashews, pine nuts, and slivered almonds)
- Wholemeal flour
- White flour
- Bread flour
- Pizza flour
- Rice flour
- Cornflour
- Hot sauce (usually a mixture of Byron Bay Chilli Company, Tabasco, Frank’s, Tapatio, and Louisiana Hot Sauce)
- Liquid smoke
- Balsamic vinegar (and balsamic glaze when I’m feeling rich)
- Sesame oil
- Olive oil
- Coconut oil
- Rice Bran oil
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Arborio rice
- Brown rice
- White rice
- Jasmine rice
- Quinoa
- Maldon sea salt
- Peppercorns
- Salsa
- Italian tomatoes (diced, usually)
- Chickpeas
- Kidney beans
- Black beans
- Refried beans
- White beans
- Cocoa
- Dessicated coconut
- Chocolate chips
- Breadcrumbs
- Baking powder
- Cream of tartar (for those moments when I make play dough and feel superior until the kids shove it down the heating vents)
- Bicarb soda
- Almond meal
- Apple cider vinegar
- Red wine vinegar
- Sweet chilli sauce (apparently you’re supposed to keep that in the fridge, oops)
- Soy sauce (light and dark)
- Sherry vinegar
- Massel stock (all three kinds)
- White sugar
- Brown sugar
- Organic raw sugar
- Coconut sugar
- Cornmeal
- Split peas
- Lentils (canned and dry)
- Crackers (all sorts)
- Popcorn kernels
- Dark chocolate
- Sultanas
- Golden syrup
- Honey
- Drinking Cocoa
- Coffee
- Inordinate amounts of tea
- Vegemite
- Peanut butter
What’s in yours?
I read this at 4am while feeding the baby, and then spent the next hour lying awake and wondering things like, what are “steel cut” oats? And liquid smoke? And feeling all inadequate because of what the regular presence of pizza flour and bread flour in your pantry meant. And quinoa. And coconut sugar. We had Old El Paso tacos for dinner last night. The extra-bad crispy-shelled version. I burned the taco shells.
Grateful, however, for the inclusion of the r.
Oh god, why would my pantry items make you feel inadequate? You must have missed the discussions around here lately! We had Mission tacos, which all split. Which meant we had taco sandwiches.
We called ours ‘burnt taco nachos’. Oh and also, pantry moths – what the hell Melbourne! Deeply traumatised by moth LARVAE (caterpillars?) inside the little holes in the open pantry of our old rental. Now EVERYTHING is in sealed containers. Even the things in already-sealed bags.
Oh god, vomit. VOMIT.
Pretty much exactly the same! I have a bomb cupboard too, with stuff we can live on if we all of a sudden become really really poor. Canned corn, peas, beans, tomatoes, baked beans, spaghetti pretty much a shelf dedicated to cans. Once my daughter opened a tin of baked beans from the back and it exploded from the top as soon as she cracked the seal, the stains are still on the ceiling.
My mum had one of those because she genuinely believed the world would end with Y2K. Took us years to eat her stash.
Our pantry looks pretty lean after we discovered a mouse living large at the back of my baking shelf. Had to decant everything we normally kept in original packaging (cardboard, paper, plastic) because it turns out mice eat through that shit. I cried when I had to throw away all the chocolate and a big bag of walnuts because of little nibble marks through the packaging. Now we put walnuts in our mousetraps. Take that, mouse-bastards.
You’ve just brought back the Pantry Moth Memory from 2008. I cried.
Liquid smoke sounds like something that I would have tried to get my hands on back in college!
Is it bad that I have an ‘everyday’ pantry & an ‘other’ pantry? The everyday one has everyday stuff like baby food, oats, vegemite, pasta etc & the ‘other’ has baking stuff like flours, all the jam jars from apricot season etc
Hah if I had the space, I’d have an everyday ROOM for food, and a special occasion ROOM for all my fancy shit.
Liquid smoke is excellent for making grilled things taste smoky (duh) but is extra good for stupid vegetarians trying to make tofu and barbecue sauce taste good.
“Note the r” – love it!
I do my best 😉
almost all of our herbs/spices are out of date. i use them lots, but we inherited a massive collection from a family member a few years ago, who inherited them from someone else!
Hahah I’m pretty sure I’ve got a turmeric from 2002.
Do you really want a whole list? Because I’ve got one, haha. Used your blog post as an excuse to do a ‘stocktake’.
Yeah, hand it over! You might have something exciting I’ve never thought of!
Definitely nothing exciting! And way more junk than your list, haha. I
have a few different areas – like a tea/coffee station and section for
oils but I throw them all in here as they are pantry items.
Starting from the top…
* Sugar-free Cordial
* Cooking wine & wine we’ve won and that I’ll give as a gift one day (I
don’t drink)
* Cereals – Weet Bix, Rolled & Quick Oats, Nutri-Grain, Coco Pops, Sultana
Bran, Rice Bubbles.
* Biscuit jar (currently empty)
* Almond milk, Coconut milk
* Pringles, Light & Tangy chips
* Lasagne sheets, Cannelloni rolls, Pasta of various shapes, Spaghetti/fettuccine
* Fake potato mash (hubby just got braces!)
* A LOT of Herbs & Spices
* A couple of meal base packets
* Beef, chicken and vegetable stock – usually Massel also
* Gravox
* Quinoa
* Breadcrumbs
* Cornflour
* Lentils
* Wheat germ
* Arborio, Basmati, Long Grain & Jasmine Rice
* 2-Minute noodles
* Vinegars – Apple cider, Red wine, White wine, Rice Wine & White Balsamic
* (Unopened) Sweet chilli sauce
* Garlic chilli sauce
* Soy sauce
* Tamari
* Ketjap Manis
* Sauces – Worcestershire, BBQ, Tomato, Tabasco, Nandos Peri Peri – medium
* Passata
* Tomato paste
* Sundried Tomato Pesto
* Pre-packaged baby food, rusks, pre-packaged toddler pasta bowls
* Cruskits
* Coloured popcorn
* Strawberry & coconut bites
* Mix container of dried fruit, nuts, yoghurt covered fruit, etc.
* Ice Magic & Hersheys caramel sauce
* Treacle
* Golden Syrup
* Maple Syrup
* Marshmallow spread – which I assume is years out of date! Oops.
* Bee On Third honey
* Peanut Butter – smooth and crunchy
* Vegemite
* Tuna
* Canned vegetables, beans and diced fruit of various kinds
* Spaghetti & a Big’n’Chunky can
* Italian Diced Tomatoes
* Wholemeal self-raising flour
* Gluten free plain flour
* Plain flour & self-raising flour
* Cakes/pastries flour
* Coconut flour
* Almond meal
* Rapadura sugar
* Brown sugar
* White sugar
* Raw sugar
* Caster sugar
* Icing sugar
* Icing mixture
* Dessicated coconut
* Shredded coconut
* Custard powder
* Milk powder
* Bread improver
* Savoury yeast flakes
* Brewers yeast
* Sultanas
* Medjool dates
* Cocoa powder
* Cacao powder
* Cacao nibs
* Applesauce
* Sesame seeds
* Linseed/Flaxseed
* Chia seeds
* Slivered almonds
* Hazelnuts
* Blueberry & Strawberry-Infused Cranberries
* Dried apricots
* White & Dark chocolate drops
* Dark chocolate
* 100’s & 1000’s
* Marshmallows
* Condensed milk
* Jelly packets
* Muesli bars
* Jatz
* Water crackers
* Pop Tarts
* Popcorn
* Ice cream waffle cones
* Vanilla extract & essence
* Chocolate, Coffee, Orange, Rum & Peppermint essence
* Food colouring
* Pre-made coloured icing tubes – red & white
* Gelatine
* Bicarb Soda
* Baking Powder
* Olive Oil
* Extra Virgin Olive Oil spray
* Canola Oil
* Rice Bran Oil
* Coconut Oil
* Rock salt
* Sea Salt
* Peppercorns
* Nescafe for guests (we don’t drink coffee and rarely do our friends/family)
* Lots of tea varieties (not nearly as many as you VM!!)
* Natvia strawberry milk flavouring
* Natvia hot chocolate flavouring
* Peach iced tea sachets
* Mama’s stash of chocolate and lollies hidden elsewhere. 😉
All the other opened sauces like fish sauce, sweet chilli, plum sauce, etc are kept in the fridge. Same with curry pastes and homemade sauces/marinades.
Hahah don’t be too concerned – my list was just the basics I always have. Junk gets added regularly! I have some weird American corn muffin mix full of HFCS and assorted processed goodies. Although you’ve reminded me we’re out of ketjap manis!
Looks pretty similar to mine.
Except I don’t love lentils.
I usually have couscous and then some miscellaneous polenta or orzo or something along those lines.
The odd box of mac and cheese.
Also so much dried fruit!
And I have spices that are way old.
In somewhat related news, I made homemade baked beans the other day. Game changer. So freaking good. I never ate canned baked beans but I always had some on hand for R and C. But making them myself took 15 minutes and they were seriously amazing! And I made them with all standard pantry items!
Haha I’m a massive fan of baked beans in any situation! I usually add mustard, brown sugar, and barbecue sauce. Holy deliciousness.
Hmm, my pantry or my baking drawers?
Pantry holds infused olive oils, sauces, soy milk, weetbix, oats/porridge, pasta and grains.
Baking station has lots of different flours and sugars and nuts and meals, chia seeds, dried fruit and spices.
Oh and the toaster drawer has nuttelex and peanut butter, honey and jam, and the drawer next to the oven has all the savoury spices.
Basically my food is all over the kitchen in zones.
Not much gets past it’s use by date except things I try and don’t love like quinoa!
I’m coming to live with you.
First up tell me where you get your liquid smoke?! Husband has been liking for yonks to add to his jerky ( yeah he’s a hillbilly who makes his own jerky)!
I won’t list everything but you can be sure that if there is a zombie apocalypse we’re good for food for about a month. Everything is in Tupperware I bought not long after I became a mum because ALL mums have Tupperware!!! ( I’d love to swap it all out for glass jars & make the pantry look pretty but it’s not happening while little people live here)
Also I nearly cry if I accidentally buy chopped tin tomatoes. Whole ones all the way here
Whole ones are disgusting. Liquid smoke from here: http://www.usafoods.com.au/Sauces-and-Spices/BBQ-Sauces-Marinades/Colgin-Liquid-Smoke-Natural-Hickory-4oz
I have most of the staples too. But I stick to basics like basmati rice and penne or spaghetti for pasta. I need to live a little more perhaps.
Haha your pantry looks just like mine! You missed the flaxseed oil ; ) – unless that’s in the fridge. I write a blog on life and being human, with a focus on beauty, food/health and travel: http://littlewhitetruthsblog.blogspot.com.au/. Two blogs for me: http://www.janelawler.net/ (I’m also a writer, editor etc). Can’t wait to read more of your posts!