Like it or not, food is a major money drain on the average American. Month in and month out, people spend hundreds of dollars to keep their bellies full.
One of the most effective ways to trim those hundreds of dollars is to cook at home more often, but that comes with its own set of problems. How can you cook a variety of meals at home without buying tons of ingredients and breaking the bank?
A solution to this problem is to fill your pantry with a handful of staples that can be used in thousands of recipes so you only have to add an item or two — a few fresh vegetables or some meat — to produce a diverse menu of meals.
Here are 12 staples that take up a lot of space in my family’s pantry. All of these items are nonperishable (or close to it) and can be bought in bulk, which will save you even more money.
Rice is the backbone of many cuisines, forming a significant part of savory Asian meals while also being right at home with many European and African dishes. It can be a plain backdrop to more interesting foods, or it can be seasoned to become a centerpiece. Not only that, rice is pretty cheap if you buy it in large quantities.
Beans have virtually all the same benefits as rice. They work in countless dishes from sturdy stews to casseroles. Beans come in a variety of shapes, sizes, flavors and densities, allowing them to cook in light dishes just as well as heavy dishes. Our pantry always has a few bags of different types of dried beans.
Pasta, much like rice and beans, can be a great supplement to almost any ingredient you throw at it. Pasta pairs well with almost every vegetable and meat, most sauces and countless spices. It just works.
Onions are a perfect vegetable to store in a dry, dark spot in your pantry. Onions can be added in countless dishes, producing a subtle savory flavor when caramelized to perfection or a sharp bite when lightly cooked. They work in soups, casseroles, stir-frys and almost everything else under the sun.
Potatoes offer just as much diversity as onions, as they can hang in the background as a subtle filling ingredient (in a soup, for example) or right out in the forefront (in the form of hash browns or mashed potatoes). They can stand well on their own or provide a base for other ingredients — think baked potatoes loaded with cheese and veggies.
Tomato sauce and/or canned tomatoes can form the base of sauces that suit different cuisines all around the world. Tomato sauce works wonderfully as a pasta sauce for an Italian meal, as an ingredient in meat loaf or in stuffed cabbage rolls or stuffed bell peppers, in casseroles and enchiladas and soups … the list just goes on and on.
Peanut butter shows up in all kinds of foods such as Vietnamese entrees, simple sandwiches, smoothies, soups, cookies and can be spread on vegetables or fruits. It works well in sweet treats, but it’s also a great addition to savory dishes as well. It’s one of those staples always worth having on hand.
Garlic cloves provide an extra flavorful kick in countless dishes, from hamburger patties to stir-frys. You can use garlic with tomato sauce to make a pasta sauce, or you can cook it with rice to add a bit of flavor.
Stock or broth can be stowed away in almost any pantry, whether in liquid or in bullion form. It forms the backbone of virtually any soup you can imagine and shows up in many casseroles. You can, of course, make your own stock by boiling scraps and leftovers, but a sealed container of liquid can often come in handy.
Flour is a fundamental ingredient for anything you want to bake, from cakes and dinner rolls, to loaves of bread and breakfast scones. It provides the base for countless sweet and savory items and other dishes you’ll want to make.
Yeast goes hand in hand with flour, providing the key element that causes breads to rise. I use it to bake loaves of bread, dinner rolls, pizza crusts, scones and countless other bread-related items. I haven’t bought bread at a store in ages.
A spice rack is a bit of a cheat to finish the list, but it’s also the hardest one to clearly specify. Why? Everyone likes different flavorings. For example, someone who loves Italian food may just want oregano, basil and parsley, while a Spanish cuisine aficionado might be happy with cayenne, cilantro and paprika. We have a well-stocked spice rack on the wall of our pantry that serves a wide variety of needs.
If you have these 12 items in your pantry, you can cook almost anything from breads to pasta-based meals to casseroles. Challenge yourself to see how many different recipes you can whip up!
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12 Pantry Staples You Can Turn Into Thousands of Meals originally appeared on usnews.com
