Food Friday | July 3, 2015

Pantry Staples

Disclaimer: please do keep in mind that I have an anaphylactic allergy to fruit and nuts so they will not be featured in this post. Of course if I could eat fruits and nuts I would keep them in my home as I used to love to snack on berries and almonds. But unfortunately I have developed this allergy so they are no longer pantry staples for me.

Veggies

- Lettuce: my favourite type of lettuce to have around is romaine. It's my favourite for salads, wraps, and sandwiches and it's rather inexpensive.

- Tomatoes: in my house there is always fresh on the vine tomatoes. They are so versatile as you can use them to make a sauce, you can put them on sandwiches, in salads, or slice them and eat them with pepper.

- Beans: green beans are my favourite over yellow beans. I like to buy the Green Giant sliced beans and eat them with marinara sauce as they're sliced really thin and can replace spaghetti noodles!

- Peppers: wether you're slicing and eating them with dip or using them for flavour in a dish, having colourful peppers in your fridge is just a must!

- Carrots: carrots are another really versatile vegetable. You can eat them on their own or use them for soups, stews, sauces, even cake!

- Broccoli: my favourite way to eat broccoli is to bake it in the oven with butter, garlic, salt and pepper. Besides being delicious on it's own broccoli is also perfect for stir fry's and such.

- Cauliflower: blend that baby up and avoid your freshman 15! Who needs flour when you have cauliflower? It's also delicious just how it is with dip.
- Asparagus: delicious almost any way you prepare it, asparagus has become one of my favourite vegetables. It's also widely considered a super food!

- Peas and corn: I put these together as I usually use them together to add sweetness to savoury dishes.

Dairy

- Cheese: I like to keep old cheddar, mozzarella, and parmesan in the house at all times. I'm not a huge specialty cheese fan- the intense flavours are really off putting to me, but if I need them for a dish I can always pop out and pick them up.

- Milk: 2% milk is in my fridge at absolutely all times. I use it mainly for making hot chocolate and when I eat cereal, but it's also great for baking and cooking.

- Yogurt: I think having yogurt in the house helps to deter me from eating unhealthy snacks. I love the low fat desert greek yogurts from Liberte!

- Cream: I always keep half and half as well as whipping cream in my fridge for my homemade ice cream recipe. Making ice cream yourself cuts out excess sugars, fat, and preservatives that you'd find in store bought ice creams.

- Butter: everybody needs butter in their fridge. I'm not one to eat it on toast or anything but I use it for baking and cooking.

Meat

- Chicken: my favourite cut of chicken is the thigh, but breast meat is the healthiest for you.

- Fish: you don't have to spend tonnes of money on specialty fish to be able to make a healthier meat choice. You can buy boxed fish in the frozen food section (no, not fish sticks) that is unaltered and unseasoned at a fraction of the price. Same thing, just frozen.

- Ground beef: try to get lean ground beef, but if it isn't in your budget just make sure you cook it a little bit longer and drain the fat off before using. I love ground beef for burger patties and meatballs.

- Ground turkey: I like to have ground turkey for meat sauces, tacos, fajitas, etc as I usually do prefer it to ground beef- except when it comes to burgers and meatballs.

- Bacon: need I say more? Bacon is my all time favourite meat. I think people tend to shy away from bacon because it's known as one of the fattier meats, but in actuality bacon has no more fat in it than say a pork chop. I recommend buying low sodium bacon as it's curing process usually does involve quite a bit of salt. 

Starches

- Whole wheat pasta: avoid the empty carbs that come along with white pasta; whole wheat pasta is more filling and tastes just as good (if not better).

- 12 grain bread: white bread is just not a good idea for the same reason as white pasta- empty carbs. My favourite 12 grain bread is by Country Harvest. It's delicious!

- Lentils: lentils are amazing to use for soups and as a pasta alternative. They are really delicious and nutritious!

- Potatoes: I think potatoes are just one of those foods that are very versatile. You can make fries, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, scalloped potatoes, hash browns and so much more. They go a long way.

Spices

- Pepper: I always keep both black pepper and white pepper. The taste is so similar that it doesn't make a difference but I like to have white pepper for pasta dishes or macaroni/potato salads so that there isn't ugly black flakes in it.

- Salt: there are many options for salt; I prefer to keep sea salt as I tend to use less of it over traditional table salt.

- Garlic: I keep garlic in my home two ways- garlic powder and minced garlic. I buy minced garlic in a little 8oz jar from Wal-Mart in the fresh produce section and it is so full of flavour!

- Cinnamon: great for baking, amazing for making healthy recipes taste more indulgent and as a topping on oatmeal.

- Parsley: I love using parsley to season meats as well as macaroni and potato salads. It's a really fresh spice.

- Oregano and basil: I put these two together as I usually use them together for seasoning tomato based, Italian inspired dishes.

Randoms

- Eggs: eggs are high in protein and good cholesterol while being low in calories. They are widely considered one of the best superfoods out there.

- Oatmeal: oatmeal is my favourite thing to eat for breakfast. It's also got a million other uses including baking, face masks, and bath bombs.

- Baking soda and powder: as I love to bake, I always have these two things in my cupboards.

- Brown sugar: I always seem to prefer brown sugar over white. I think it adds more flavour to things instead of just sickly sweet like white sugar and I find I need less of it in comparison to white sugar.

- Popcorn: instead of chips, keep popcorn in your pantry. There are a million different ways to season popcorn- salt, caramel, hot sauce, chocolate- that you can have a different flavour for any mood or craving.

- Favourite cereal: multi-grain Cheerios are my cereal of choice and I love to have them at all times as they are my favourite evening/bed time snack.

- Frozen dinners: no they aren't the best thing for you, but having some frozen entree Lean Cuisines in your freezer for those days that you're in a rush or don't want to cook is a much better option than skipping a meal or ordering take out.

So that's all the things I think are "pantry staples". If you have anything to add please do let me know!

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn