Helpful Pantry Tips To Get You Cooking + What’s In Our Freezer!

We want to share with you our pantry tips so that you will know what to expect from our recipes and have what you need to get cooking the Tasty, Thrifty, Timely way!

Download our free pantry e-book for a convenient pdf version of this page.

Before we started cooking and eating this way, our pantry was full of items we bought for one recipe, rarely went back to, and were mostly out of date. But not anymore! Now our pantry is full of helpful ingredients that make it possible to always whip up a great meal!

How did we get started? We found it really useful to begin with a concise list of pantry items to have on hand. We have to thank Minimalist Baker’s guide for stocking a pantry as our helpful starting place! Over time, we have developed our own list of go-to’s and drawing from these ingredients is what makes our cooking Tasty, Thrifty, and Timely.

Spices

Less Frequent: Garam Masala, Fenugreek, Thyme, Rosemary, Coriander
Nice Add-Ins: Cardamom, Celery Salt or Old Bay Seasoning, Bay Leaves, Pumpkin Pie Spice, Seaweed (dulse flakes if you can find them, seaweed snack sheets, or large Nori sheets), Kala namak (black salt).

*Nutritional Yeast is a super handy flavour booster! It is a flaked, deactivated yeast with a very long shelf life. It has a cheesy, nutty, savoury taste and really deepens the flavours of a dish. Being one of the more expensive pantry items we buy, we try to get it on sale from our bulk store. It can also be found at most large grocery stores. The extra cost is absolutely worth it for us since nutritional yeast adds so much flavour!

Nuts

• Walnuts (raw)
• Cashews (raw)
• Almonds (raw)
• Pecans (raw)
• Peanuts

Less Frequent: Hazelnuts, Pistachios, Sliced Almonds

*The best price for nuts will likely be found wholesale (i.e. Costco in Canada). But we like to wait for these to go on sale at our bulk store, which they do often, to save the packaging.

Seeds

• Flax (whole, grind into flaxseed meal as needed)
• Chia
• Hemp
• Sesame
• Pumpkin (raw, unsalted)
• Sunflower (raw, unsalted)

*Best price for chia and hemp will be wholesale. The others are likely best purchased at your bulk store.

Nut & Seed Butters

• Peanut Butter
• Tahini (sesame)

*We only stock peanut butter since almond is pricier and we prefer the taste of natural peanut butter. Best price for peanut and almond butter will be wholesale but the difference is marginal compared to local grocery store options. If a wholesale subscription isn’t possible, wait for a sale at your grocery store and your savings will be comparable. You can also refill jars at bulk stores when the butters are on sale there!

Condiments

• Tamari (gluten-free soy sauce) or Soy Sauce
• Chilli Garlic Sauce
• Liquid Smoke
• Miso Paste
• Homemade Pickled Red Onion
• Hummus (homemade or store-bought)

Good to have: Green Curry Paste, Vegan Worcestershire Sauce, Dijon Mustard or Wasabi

*Tamari is a gluten free soy sauce and is our preferred soy sauce. It is darker in colour, richer in taste, and less salty than regular soy sauce. It will usually be a little pricier than other soy sauces so we find the best price to be at a wholesale store. Liquid smoke is an amazing flavour booster! The two ingredients should just be water and smoke. It is used to flavour things like hickory BBQ sauce, smoked salmon etc. It can be very expensive online but should be much less expensive at your grocery store (a bottle typically costs us around CAD $2.49 and lasts months). Miso Paste is another go-to flavour booster for us. It is a fermented soy bean paste that has a savoury and salty flavour. It too, will last us months.

Baking Essentials

• Dairy Free Butter
• Baking Powder
• Baking Soda
• Cocoa Powder (unsweetened)
• Unsweetened Coconut Flakes
• Dairy Free Chocolate Chips
• Dried Fruits (Cranberries, Raisins)
• Active Dry Yeast or Instant Yeast (store in fridge for longer life)

Good to have: Applesauce, Pure Vanilla Extract, Rice Puffs
Fun add-ins: Candied Ginger, Sprinkles, Peppermint Extract

Pantry tips: Dairy free chocolate chips can be pricey. Check your bulk store! We find the best price and best tasting dairy free choc. chips there.

Flours & Meals

• Whole Wheat Flour
• Unbleached All Purpose Flour
• Almond Flour (made from ground blanched almonds)
• Arrowroot Starch/Flour or Cornstarch
• Cornmeal
• Chickpea or Garbanzo Flour (great for thickening dishes that are typically made with eggs).

Less Frequent: Tapioca Starch/Flour (used primarily to create a thick, chewy texture for some cheesy dishes)

*Almond flour will be cheapest wholesale as it is a more expensive option. Whole wheat, all-purpose flour, and cornmeal can be cheapest at your local grocery store. Arrowroot and tapioca starches are best bought in bulk. 

Pantry tips: Arrowroot starch has no taste and leaves things glossy and clear. Cornstarch is marginally cheaper but does have a slight taste and can add a cloudiness to the dish.

Sweeteners

• 100% Pure Maple Syrup
• Organic Cane Sugar
• Coconut Sugar
• Icing Sugar
• Medjool Dates
• Pitted Dates

Good to have: Molasses

Pantry tips: Coconut Sugar tastes less sweet than cane sugar and can have more of a caramel/toffee taste. It also has a darker colour so if you’re making a light coloured cake it will darken it. Both organic cane sugar and coconut sugar retain some nutritional properties as opposed to white granulated sugar.

*If a recipe calls for coconut sugar and you sub cane sugar it will be noticeably sweeter so you may want to reduce the amount of sugar used. Vice versa, coconut sugar will make a recipe less sweet tasting if you are used to using granulated or cane sugar. 

Pantry tips: Medjool dates are large and juicy with the pit still inside. They are fantastic for snacking but are more expensive than purchasing pitted (or deglet noor) dates .We have both on hand and reserve the medjool dates for snacking and the pitted dates for baking.

Grains

• Quick Cooking or Rolled Oats
• Quick Cooking Steel Cut Oats (thicker cut, nuttier taste, and require longer cooking time)
• Quinoa (although it’s actually a seed)
• Brown Rice or Wild & Brown Rice Mix
• Homemade Breadcrumbs

Less Frequent: Short Grain White Rice, Jasmine or Basmati Rice, Buckwheat, Pearled Barley

*We find the best price for steel cut oats and quinoa is wholesale. Best price for rolled oats and brown & wild rice is bulk.

Pastas & Noodles

• Penne
• Macaroni
• Spaghetti or Fettuccine
• Rice Vermicelli Noodles
• Buckwheat Soba Noodles
• Sweet Potato Glass Noodles

Legumes & Pulses

*Tofu is made of condensed soy milk. Extra firm tofu has less water and will stay firm. Silken tofu has lots of water and is great to blend into sauces and dishes typically made with eggs. You can buy Firm and Medium tofu but we tend to only have extra firm and silken. We find tofu to be like chicken; not tasty unseasoned, but lots of tastiness to be had with the right seasonings!

Oils, Vinegars & Acids

Good To Have: Vegetable Oil, Coconut Oil, White Vinegar.

*We find the best price for olive oil and apple cider vinegar to be wholesale. Otherwise, there will likely be frequent sales at your local grocery store.

Canned, Jarred & Cartoned

Nice To Have: Capers, Olives

In Our Freezer

• Peeled Garlic
• Chopped Onion
• Red Chilli Peppers (and Scotch Bonnet Peppers)
• Ginger (whole root – peel and grate or slice as needed)
• Tomato Paste (freeze leftovers in a jar and scrape out as needed)
• Sliced Bell Peppers, Green Beans, Corn, Peas
• Bananas (ripe bananas torn into smaller chunks and frozen in pairs)
• Berries, Apple Slices, Mango, Pineapple
• Spinach, Cucumber, Celery
• Herbs with stems (Dill, Mint, Thyme, Parsley)
• Cooked Beans (Chickpeas, Black Beans)
• Breads (Naan, Sliced Wholegrain or Seed Bread)
• Edamame
• Veggie Scraps For Broth
• Citrus Zest
• Frozen into Cubes: Veggie Broth, Leftover Pumpkin Puree, Coconut Water/Milk
• *As per the helpful comment below: you can store nuts and seeds in the fridge or freezer if you don’t use them very often. They can go rancid if kept for too long in your pantry and we don’t want spoiled hazelnuts!

We hope these pantry tips were a helpful starting place. Now head to our Tasty Recipes to get cooking!