Basic Foods Checklist: How to Stock Your Kitchen for Simple Meals (2024)

FAQs

Basic Foods Checklist: How to Stock Your Kitchen for Simple Meals? ›

Pasta, grains, canned goods, spices, and baking staples are the types of pantry essentials everyone should keep in their kitchen.

Pasta, grains, canned goods, spices, and baking staples are the types of pantry essentials everyone should keep in their kitchen.

Always: Eggs, rice, flour, sugar, onions, fresh garlic, canned tomatoes, canned and dried beans of several varieties, dried pasta in various varieties. These staples will make the beginnings of a number of healthy, inexpensive meals.

Ensure free traffic movement by placing the most used items, like a fridge, in an easily accessible area and out of the way of preparation and cooking stations. If your space allows, use the golden work triangle (between the fridge, stove and sink) to create an efficient kitchen area.

Always wash your hands before you start handling food, and when handling raw meat or poultry, wash your hands again before handling other ingredients to avoid cross-contamination. Also, remember to wipe or kitchen surfaces and sinks after cooking.

Each number corresponds to a specific food group that you'll purchase for easy, balanced meals every week. Following Coleman's method, you'd buy five different vegetables, four different fruits, three different proteins, two different sauces or spreads, and one grain—plus a special treat for yourself.

How to stock a pantry for the first time? ›

Chicken has recently superseded beef as the most pounds per person eaten. Potatoes and tomatoes are the most popular vegetables while oranges and apples are the most popular fruits, but those are mostly consumed as juice.

Today I'll be showing you how to make all four basic broths or stocks that you'll find in any kitchen or restaurant. We'll be making a chicken stock, a beef stock, a fish stock, a vegetable stock and I'll also show how to clarify a stock.