The 10 Things I Always Keep In My Pantry

Let it be known that I’m not a fan of grocery shopping.

I never seem to have enough time to do it when I actually need to, and (worse still) I always come back home too exhausted to do anything productive with my day. Lugging groceries back home with me on the bus and up my 3 flights of stairs is never fun (especially because apparently it’s impossible for me to go on a grocery run without coming back home with the entire store in my bags). Based on all of this I try to limit my trips to just about as few as I can get away with before I start having to live on granola bars; the most effective way I’ve found to do this is to stock up on a few non-perishable (or slow-perishing) staples, even as my fresh food runs out. Here are some things I keep on hand:

1. Rice

There are so many ways to eat all the different types of rice out there that it will be a long time before I ever get bored of eating it (I probably won’t ever tbh). If you’re bored of plain white rice, like I sometimes get, a quick recipe search on Pinterest is a good place to start.

1. Couscous

Ready in minutes and an easy addition to salads and bowls, it gets me through my rice-boredom phases.

1. Beans

2. Chickpeas

3. Oranges and apples

Fruits like these last up to 2 or 3 weeks in your fridge, which means fewer trips to the grocery store to restock on them!

1. Spices and condiments

Sriracha and Soy sauce are just two ways you can spice up otherwise dull meals. Whenever I get tired of eating the same thing all the time, cooking it in a different way always helps make me fall in love with it again.

1. Frozen fruit and vegetables

These last months in your freezer and you can use them in so many different ways.

1. Hashbrowns

On days when I have a bit more time in the morning to spend on breakfast I almost always turn to hashbrowns. As a bonus, they stay good in your freezer for months.

1. Canned tomatoes (and tomato paste)

2. Noodles

• food
• groceries