How to stock your cabinets & freezer/fridge for easy home cooking and clean eating.

This is part two of a series I started here.

The rice:

• Long grain white

• Long grain brown

• Basmati

• Jasmine

The legumes:

• Dry red lentils

• Dry brown lentils

• Dry pinto beans

• Dry black beans

• Dry dark red kidney beans

• Dry black eyed peas

• Dry chickpeas

• Canned black beans

• Canned chickpeas

• Canned cannellini beans

• Canned black eyed peas or dark red kidney beans

Why some canned? Because some days, you need a convenience meal, and canned beans make that easy. See my No Effort Pantry Food Ideas For One post for more details.

Other canned goods:

• Coconut milk (coconut)

• Green Chiles (nightshade)

• Pumpkin purée (nothing added)

• White hominy (corn)

• Canned/packaged tuna (fish)

• Canned/packaged salmon (fish)

• Canned sardines (fish)

• Smoked oysters (seafood)

Other pantry goods:

• Pasta of choice (wheat or gluten free), would recommend something that would make a good pasta salad or casserole, and a ramen or pad Thai noodle.

• Tahini (seed)

• SunButter (seed)

• HFCS-free fruit preserves

• Raisins, or other dried fruit

• White onions (allium)

• Garlic cloves (allium)

• Baking potatoes (nightshade)

• Sweet potatoes

Be sure to store the onions and potatoes separately!

For the freezer:

• Frozen peas

• Frozen corn (corn)

• Frozen green beans

• Frozen broccoli

• Frozen mixed veggies (corn)

• Frozen stir-fry veggies (corn, nightshade)

• Frozen fruit mix

• If you eat fish, frozen salmon, tilapia, and catfish fillets.

• If you eat chicken, frozen boneless breasts and thighs, or bone-in quarters if you prefer.

• If you eat beef or venison, mid-grade steaks, stew meat, and ground beef re-packaged if needed into 1 lb portions before freezing. Nitrate-free hot dogs.

• If you eat pork, pork steaks, pork chops, pork butt, sausage, and bacon.

Don’t forget your microwave’s defrost function for quickly and safely thawing meat!

For the fridge, at a bare minimum:

• Oat milk

• Celery

• Carrots

• A snacking fruit (apples, oranges, grapes, bananas - don’t store bananas in the fridge!)

• A salad mix or greens of choice

• Nitrate-free deli meats

Hot tip for the meat eaters - if you go to your local supermarket’s deli at closing time, they’ll put out the close-to-dating deli meats at clearance prices. Whatever you can’t eat before it dates, you can freeze for later.

Breads:

Whether you buy them or make them, having these in the fridge means you’re ready for all handheld food experiences -

• A sandwich loaf (make sure you check the ingredients for soy and egg even if you’re like me and you can have wheat, both are common commercial additives)

• a flatbread for wraps or a burrito-sized tortilla

• Corn tortillas for tacos (corn)

Where should I shop for all of this? Again, international supermarkets are going to have the best quality and price on these items, but places like Walmart and Aldi also have all of this for good prices and conveniently located in a lot of areas.

Do I have to buy everything you recommend? No, I’ve marked items in both posts that are common allergens, obviously skip those if they’re your allergens. And buy what you know you’ll use, you have your own likes and tastes. Many items up there come with lots of options to pick and choose from to suit your needs.

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