By Yvonne Stephens

Your basic and certainly ideal pantry contains mostly store brands. Invest in these items, or in the items you do not have already in your pantry, and make many recipes with only little money to spend. When shopping for produce, check your local produce stand, farm market and Asian markets. Their prices are often much less, they sell produce loose, so you can buy 1 zucchini, if you only need 1, not a package of 4.

Instead of having parsley, oregano, basil, rosemary, our basic pantry has Italian Seasoning, because it has all 4 of these herbs, and can be used in lasagna, pasta, salads, pizza, marinades, vegetable dishes etc. As an advocate for sea salt, we understand being reluctant when you have to make ends meet, so our budget pantry has kosher salt. Much cheaper than sea salt, but much better than regular table salt. Store brands, and cheaper brands of dried herbs and spices are just as great to use, you just have to keep an eye on the expiration date, because they will lose their flavor when getting too old.

Especially people who haven’t been cooking much, and don’t have a lot of experience, being overwhelmed by all the different herbs and spices, ingredients and different version of an item, we have crated this basic pantry.

A big thing to remember is that cheaper items, usually of the same quality of the products on eye-level are located either very low or very high. Be wary of products placed at children’s eye-level, because those shelves often hold attractive items you do not need.

Here are the basics, and we shopped around online to compare prices of different grocery stores. Your basic pantry comes to a total of $ 60.60, but supplies you with a wide variety of basic ingredients for lots of different food types.
All-purpose flour, 5 lbs $ 2.49
BBQ sauce, 18 oz $ 3.50
Bay leaves, 0.22 oz $ 0.99
Breadcrumbs, 15 oz $ 2.19
Brown sugar, 32 oz $ 1.99
Butter, 16 oz $ 1.99
Canola oil, 48 oz $ 2.99
Cayenne pepper, 1.75 oz $ 1.59
Chicken broth, 32 oz $ 2.99
Cornstarch, 16 oz $ 1.79
Curry powder, 1 oz $ 4.29
Extra virgin olive oil, 8.5 oz $ 2.49
Garlic, minced, 7.5 oz $ 2.49
Ground black pepper, 2 oz $ 1.79
Hot sauce, 12 oz $ 1.29
Italian seasoning, 1.75 oz $ 1.49
Kosher salt, 48 oz $ 1.59
Lemon juice, 15 oz $ 2.29
Long grain brown rice, 32 oz $ 1.49
Mustard, 8 oz $ 1.29
Oil spray, 6 oz $ 2.00
Paprika powder, 3 oz $ 1.20
Taco seasoning, 1 oz $ 0.77
Thyme, 0.18 oz $ 2.19
Tomato paste, 6 oz $ 0,79
Red crushed pepper, 1.75 oz $ 1.99
Red wine vinegar, 16 oz $ 0.89
Soy sauce lite, 15 oz $ 2.59
Sugar, 5 lbs $ 2.69
Vegetable bouillon cubes, 6 $ 1.49
Worcestershire, 5 oz $ 0.99

So for a total of $60.60 you have the basics to create a lot of home made food, and remember to serve them family style, because your family deserves it.
Article by Chef Yvonne Stephens

Yvonne Stephens – http://www.recessioncooking.net

Article Source: Yvonne Stephens == Your-Basic-Pantry-Items

Categories : Cooking