6 Healthy Food Staples Every Kitchen Pantry Should Have
Is your New Year’s resolution to make home-cooked meals rather than eating out? If so, then that’s wonderful! With just a few basic ingredients and healthy food staples from a well stocked kitchen can help you prepare quick and nutritious meals.
While some items are highly perishable, there are other healthy cooking staples that you can store in your pantry, fridge, or freezer for extended periods of time.
It is so great to have healthy food staples on hand to create healthy delicious meals for yourself and your family. I have always loved learning about foods and how to make healthy meals.
There is so much research that backs up healthy food choices, it is just wonderful. Make sure to take a look at this list from WebMD on healthy eating through the decades!
Here are a few items that are great to have in your pantry.
HEALTHY FOOD STAPLES
Having basic ingredients on hand in your cupboard, pantry and freezer allow you to quickly plan delicious meals.
Without further ado, let’s jump in and have a look at some healthy food staples to have on hand to make instant nutrient-dense meals and snacks. Also, make sure to keep a goodly supply of superfoods available in your kitchen to help boost overall health.
Make Sure to Grab the Free Printable Checklist at the bottom of the article.
Nuts, Seeds and Butters
It’s time to add nuts, seeds, and their butters to your healthy food staples’ list. Nuts and seeds are a source of healthy fats, protein, fiber, and a whole other lot of vitamins and minerals.
Not only can nuts and seeds be stored at room temperature for a few months, but they can also be eaten raw or included in various dishes such as yoghurt, oatmeal, and salads, making it a smart addition to your pantry.
Look for more natural peanut butter as well as other nut and seed butters that have less amounts of added sugar and oils. These natural butters can be added to sauces, spread onto fruits and veggies, and can also be added to smoothies.
Consider keeping a variety of seeds and nuts on hand for added nutritional value to cookies, homemade energy bars, snacks and trail mix!
- Whole Raw Almonds
- Sunflower Seeds
- Cashews
- Walnuts
- Pecans
- Hemp Seeds
- Chia Seeds
- Buckwheat
GRAINS & FLOURS
Every kitchen should have at least a few choices of grains such as basmatic rice, spelt, oats, cous cous and quinoa that can be stored at room temperature for months and years.
Grains are fantastic sources of fiber and micronutrients such as manganese and magnesium. Try to keep a ample supply of unbleached and whole wheat flour on hand.
Also, consider using Einkorn Flour for all your baking! Einkorn flour is the new (ancient kid on the block as flour goes) flour that everyone is just learning about.
This flour is truly amazing in that it has never ever been hybridized. It is nutrient rich and delicious! You can even make your own homemade diastatic malt for all your bread making.
Studies show that consuming certain healthy grains in specified quantities can help protect your body against heart diseases and certain types of cancer.
FRUITS and VEGETABLES
Most fresh fruits and vegetables, such as greens and berries, are highly perishable. However, buying the foods in frozen form provides you with nutrient-dense produce on hand.
Make sure to keep plenty of the following on hand at all times:
- Potatoes
- Sweet Potatoes
- Apples
- Oranges
- Carrots
- Onions
- Garlic
Alternatively, make sure to keep either home-canned or commercially canned fruits and vegetables in your pantry at all times. Make sure to watch the expiration dates on all canned foods and rotate your pantry supply.
And, as one reader commented, keeping dehydrated foods in your pantry is a must. Dehydrated fruits and veggies do not require electricity during storage.
Consider vacuum packing your dehydrated foods for longer storage.
Also, if possible plant a garden and grow as many vegetables as possible or buy fresh vegetables and fruits when on sale and then freeze all extras!
Frozen fruits and veggies are quite similar to fresh produce in terms of nutrition as they contain high quantities of micronutrients. There is evidence that frozen fruits and vegetables are an excellent choice for overall health.
While frozen veggies such as greens can be added to soup, sautés, and smoothies, frozen berries can be added to smoothies, oatmeal, yogurt, etc.
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Also, consider keeping sprouting seeds on hand to have fresh homegrown sprouts for sandwiches and salads! Learn more about growing sprouts here.
HEATHLY OILS and FATS
You should most certainly always have an ample supply of healthy fats such as olive oil, ghee, and coconut oil in your kitchen. Depending on the type, these healthy fats can be safely stored at room temperature for a year or more.
This is why you must be these pantry staples in larger quantities so that you always have a supply of healthy fats to cook food. Remember that cooking with healthy fats is much better than cooking with normal vegetable oil.
Healthy oils not only add flavor to food, but also increase the absorption of fat-soluble minerals, vitamins, antioxidants from food.
SPICE and HERBS
A well-stocked spice rack is a key to making flavorful dishes so you must most certainly add them to your healthy food staples’ list.
Spices and herbs help elevate the flavor of any dish that you’re cooking, and can even help you make MasterChef-worthy foods.
Also, adding spices and dried herbs to food is also quite beneficial for your health. Certain spices and herbs such as cinnamon, turmeric, rosemary, and cumin offer a number of impressive spice health benefits such as reduced inflammation.
MEATS and FISH
Having an additional supply of frozen meat and fish are health cooking staples that can never hurt anyone. Fresh meat, fish, and poultry are highly perishable.
However, storing these products in the freezer or purchasing their frozen versions from the store ensures that they stay edible much longer. With high protein levels, frozen fish, meat or poultry can help you prepare healthy meals.
Just as with canned fruits and vegetables, make sure to keep canned meats and tuna fish in your pantry as they offer important proteins and amino acids for a healthy diet.
Watch expirations dates on all canned foods. Make sure to continual rotate your inventory to keep your supply within the expiration date.
BASIC PANTRY CHECKLIST OVERVIEW
THE BOTTOM LINE
Stocking your pantry, fridge, and freezer with healthy foods helps ensure that you always have a good supply of ingredients to prepare a healthy, home-cooked meal.
With these healthy food staples on hand your meal planning will be easier for a long time!
I like to dehydrate as much food as I can rather than freeze. If we ever were to lose the grid, our freezers and fridges would be worthless. Dehydrated foods can last for years if stored properly and when re-hydrated are just as good as fresh. You can even powder them up and add little amounts to scrambled eggs, quick breads, smoothies, etc. I love adding a handful of dried kale to a soup. Wonderful taste and texture.
This is so true. Dehydrating is a great way to preserve foods. Thanks for your comments!