What should I keep on hand in my pantry?!
What should I keep on hand in my pantry?
I am a college student, living outside my parents' house for the first time, learning to cook, and building up my kitchen supplies from the ground up. I have a limited budget, but what kind of ingredients or gadgets should I always have available?
Answers:
Ooh, that's a good question.
1) Spices: salt, pepper, saffron, etc.
2) Medicine: very very important. Even though it's not related to cooking
3) Pasta: macaroni, spaghetti, linguini. One of the easiest meals to make and still tastes good :)
4) Spaghetti Sauce- to go with your pasta, of course.
5) Oil- believe it or not, oil runs out fast.
6) Soda- great to have extra on hand
7) Water- better than soda, great to grab on the go when heading to a class.
Here's a tip:
Always buy stuff on sale that you know you will eat. Look online for weekly sales at Giant and when something is on sale, like cereal, stock up. It all adds up, and you save money from it. It's great. If chips are on sale, stock up on chips. You get the idea. Although, since you're living on your own, you will probably be tempted to go out to eat at McDonalds or fast food places since you don't have a lot of money (I assume) and have little time. MAKE SURE TO STAY HEALTHY. Buy some fruits and eat them for every time you go to a fast food. You don't want to get out of college and be addicted to junk food!
Good luck. I hope this helped!
a can opener of course. as far as ingredients: salt, peppar, sugar, ketchup, mustard, spaghetti sauce(spaghetti is so easy to make), I'm mexican so I need cumino all the time too(cumin, to you). and always have bread for sandwhiches, bottled water(NOT an expensive brand), and frozen food is your new best friend! fries, tater tots, corn dogs, etc.
pretty soon you're going to start getting a bunch of junk mail, look through it for coupons. when you go shopping, scrutinize everything you put in your cart. ask your self if you really need it. and ALWAYS buy the store brand or generic version of everything. most of the time it tastes the same as the more expensive version. and if you buy a generic brand of something and it doesn't taste good, then you can allow yourself to buy the bit more expensive brand next time.
Dont' forget about utensils! I'm going to give you my most important advice: DO NOT go super cheap when buyin utensils! my boyfriend and I bought a cheap package of utensils at walmart it was like 1 million utensils for 50cents. well not really but you get the point. anyway, everything got all rusty and gross and we had to throw them out. we went back to walmart and got a nice pack of 20 utensils for 15 dollars and those were great!
oh and your new medicine cabinet is important! make sure you buy generic medicine, it's the exact same thing, trust me(my bf is a pharmacy tech.). get the generic versions of pepto bismol, tylenol, and vicks.
canned food, bottled water, boxed goods. Not sure what kind of cooking appliances you have but it is good to use coupons to save you money. Make a list of the foods that you like and a budget that you can live with and stick to it. Dont go to the store hungry or you will buy things that you dont need or want just for the fact that you are hungry. Find sales like buy 1 get 1 free. they really are good deals. Compare prices and sizes. like a 19 oz box of cereal for $4.95 is it really worth it? Im a mother. an excellant shopper!
Staples like, salt, pepper, sugar, flour. Then you can add in spices as needed.......
A medium wire whisk.... those great big ones are over kill. You can use the wire whisk in a nonstick pan without fear of scratching.
Measuring spoons,
spatula
measuring cups. Both dry and liquid. Using dry to measure liquids is just not the same.
two good paring knives. One larger knife.
Spoons to stir with in pots and pans. If you have nonstick pans be sure the spoon is suitable for them, be sure the spoon has no sharp edges, I've even had spoons that were suppose to be for nonstick scratch because they had sharp edges.
pancake turner.
Timer.
Steamer basket if you like to steam fresh veggies.
Start with anything that won't spoil. A big bag of rice, flour, bags of dried beans, canned goods, boxes of pasta, frozen and canned veggies. Buy meat on sale and in bulk if you can. Then portion the meat up and put it in ziplocks for the freezer. Grated cheese can be frozen (it's cheaper if you buy a block and grate your own). Buy spices as you need them. And keep a jar of garlic in the fridge. Along with milk and butter/margerine. Buy fresh veggies only as needed. And bread keeps better in the fridge.
It's fun to be on a budget, isn't it?? :)