One of the challenges of setting up a kitchen is knowing what supplies you need. Start by asking yourself a few questions:
- Am I really going to cook, or just bring home food to eat? If you’re going to use your kitchen to microwave takeout food or brew coffee in the morning, you’re not going to need much.
- If I’m going to do any cooking, what am I going to make? Simple stuff or complex? Will it be ethnic food (which type and how adventurous) or standard American chow?
- Will I be doing any baking from scratch, and if so, what? This will influence the types of sugar, flour, and leavening you’ll need.
Now that you’ve answered these questions, you can begin to write a shopping list for staples. You don’t need to get everything at once, but you want to have enough on hand so you can cobble together a quick dinner. Much of what you’ll purchase will depend on any dietary preference or restrictions you may have. Here are a few basics:
- Starches: Rice (long grain white or brown), pasta (spaghetti and another shape)
- Flour, sugar, salt (Kosher), cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder
- Broth (chicken or vegetable)
- Canned and/or dried beans
- Seasonings: Black pepper, cayenne pepper, oregano, basil, cinnamon
- Cooking oil (neutral flavored and light olive oil)
- Extra-virgin olive oil for salads
- Tomato products (sauce, whole or diced, paste)
- Condiments – mustard (Dijon or yellow), ketchup, pickles or olives, soy sauce, peanut butter
These days a freezer can be considered a pantry. Have a few bags of frozen vegetables on hand. In addition, buy a few quick items for nights when you’re too tired to cook but too poor to eat out. Potstickers are a popular no-brainer meal here.
Finally, only buy what you’ll use in 2-3 months. While buying 10 pounds of chicken wings at Costco seems like a good idea, consider how many people you feed at a given time. This rule of thumb goes double for spices and condiments. And date what you buy.
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