Pantry

I love the house we live in now and we live in a wonderful small rural town. But I know, one day, we will build our own house. I'm already dreaming of the pantry I would like to build then. It will be a cool storage room, full of shelves, an extra refrigerator and a large freezer. The purpose of that pantry will be, to have a reasonable amount of food available, so that I can cook what I want whenever I want. The pantry I have now, is not that small and hubby and I built it ourselves. The only disadvantage is, that the shelves are too deep and too many other things are stored in the pantry as well. Those things - like the waffle iron, baking trays, food containers, clothes pins, .. - require their own space.
I believe my pantry is already full of good ingredients and I do real well keeping up with supplies. I love to have people over and I can always cook a meal from the storage room.

Things one should always keep in its pantry:

* pasta in all different shapes and colors, ramen noodles, rice noodles, ..
* canned tomatoes (whole, diced, with herbs, passata, paste, sauce, ..), good pesto (red and green), roasted peppers, salsa, fresh tomatoes (plump tomatoes as well as cherry tomatoes), ..
* rice in all different shapes (jasmin, basmati, Greek rice, dessert rice, risotto, brown rice,..)
* flour: all purpose, whole grain, self raising flour, 00 Italian flour, corn flour, home made pancake mix, ..
* good dark chocolate and chocolate chips, good cocoa, côte d'or milk chocolate (for night time cravings), ..
* milk, condensed milk and condensed sugared milk (to make chocolate spread or some kind of dessert)
* all kinds of nuts (pine nuts, pistachios, pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, ..)
* sugar: brown sugar, packed brown sugar, granulated sugar, icing sugar, sweetener, liquid sweetener, honey, molasses, ahorn syrup, dextro (only if you are a diabetic), ..
* dried bread crumbs (seasoned and plain)
* soft bread (to make French toast and grilled cheese/ham sandwiches), pre-baked ciabatta, pre-baked French bread, flat bread (pita bread), tortilla, ..
* coffee and tea
* coca cola light.. loads of coca cola light! (small cans, regular cans, small bottles, large bottles, extra large bottles)
* legumes: wax beans, cannelini beans, black beans, kidney beans, string beans, borlotti beans, chick peas, split peas, dried and canned lentils,..
* chicken stock cubes and vegetable stock cubes as well as liquid stock
* Asian foods like good soy sauce, fish sauce, wasabi, lemon leaves, sliced ginger, coconut milk, curry paste (green and red), ..
* onions (red, white, sweet, shallots, ..), garlic, ..
* oil: extra virgin olive oil, vegetable oil (I prefer Isio4 oil), sesame oil, walnut oil, wok oil, ..
* vinegar: apple vinegar, plain vinegar, rice vinegar, ..
* mustard, Belgian pickles, sweet and sour onions, gherkins, tabasco, worcestershire sauce, ..
* dried herbs: oregano, parsley, chives, basil, sage, bay leaf, coarse salt, black and white pepper, coarse pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, all spice, ..
* avocados, lemons, limes, apples, bananas, fresh pineapple, ..

Contents of your fridge:

* 24 eggs (free range, of your own chickens)
* cheese (blue cheese, sharp cheddar, young gouda, a hump of parmesan (not the powdered substitute!), emmenthaler to grate, good mozzarella, feta (full fat and 10%), ricotta, mascarpone,..
* vegetables: celery, leeks, spring onion (out of your own garden of course), cabbage, carrots, peppers (I hate the green ones!), zucchini, ..
* butter (the real stuff) and vegetable shortening
* serrano ham
* puff pastry
* anchovy stuffed green olives or garlic olives (for late evening munchies)
* double cream, cream, soy cream
* fresh ginger
* smoked salmon, shrimp, surimi crab
* two bottles of white wine (you never want to run out of white wine)
* two bottles of lime/lemon juice (it's gone before you know it)
* Greek 0% yogurt, sour cream

The freezer:

* sliced stale French bread to make crostini
* French fries for emergency meals
* first class ice cream (pick your favorite taste and brand: Ben & Jerry's will do perfectly well)
* egg whites in small containers or ziploc bags
* home made meringue (they don't actually freeze and they are great on ice cream)
* home made spaghetti sauce, full of veggies that are good for you
* home made chili con carne (in case you need instant comfort food)
* home made chicken ragout (for the same reason)
* home made cookies that are ready to be baked (double chocolate chocolate chip cookies, nothing less)
* scallops and large prawns
* left over white and red wine for sauces (use the ice cube tray)
* berries (never freeze cut up strawberries, they will be soggy when defrosted) of all kinds
* peeled and sliced ripe bananas (for milkshakes, smoothies, banana bread, ..)
* peas, leeks, ..
* ice cubes
* boxed orange juice (to use as a cooling element for unexpected picnics - you can drink it afterwards)
* home made chocolate pistachio fudge (it keeps wonderfully well in the freezer and it will not really be frozen, so you always have a nice chocolate treat for unexpected guests)
* your best home made tomato soup (freeze it in ziploc bags, so you can break off any piece you instantly need for a quick meal)
* home made and precooked meatballs in all different sizes (for soup, for pasta, to be baked, ..)

I hope you're still with me. Otherwise, you probably just left to run some errands. I promise you, you will be able to cook fresh and express meals if you have these things in your pantry.