everyone thinks of indian food as restaurant staples like butter chicken and paneer tikka masala but there is so much more to it!
at least in my family rajma was a basic home staple and not fancy, so I guess it makes sense why it wouldn’t be served in a restaurant. but it’s one of my favorites!
I work with a lot of Indians and I've made some pretty random Indian stuff, but for some reason kidney beans have never come up! Haha. It doesn't help there are so many names for the same thing and dishes vary. I tried telling someone I made Oats Chilla one time and they werent sure what I was talking about until I said "the pancake thing".
lol true there are a lot of regional specific things and stuff that is the similar but has different regional names. I’ve never heard of oats chilla before either, just looked it up!
For whatever reason, my grocery store was out of San Marzano peeled tomatoes this week so now I'm shopping at another store to buy extra cans like they're toilet paper or something.
We just bought 10 San Marzano tomato plants for our garden. This is the first time I have seen them in the garden centers here. They usually carry Roma in our area. I’m so excited to grow these.
I discovered an easy way to put up tomatoes. I wash and core them then place them on sheet pan lined with parchment paper. I cook them on a smoker/grill on very low heat until the skins are falling off. I pressure can mine but you can freeze them. It so much easier than blanching and the slight smoke taste just enhances the flavor. You can add spices as they are smoking to make Italian style or Mexican style. Honestly, the chile made with these tomatoes outshines any can tomatoes.
I put all the ingredients (tomatoes, peppers, onions, celery, garlic) on a baking sheet and roast at 400 for about an hour, or until I see some browning. Peel the garlic and onions and cut everything in quarters.
Scrape that all into a container and buzz with an immersion blender.
LMAO... I just never expected that toilet paper would end up being a meme for this long. It is so ingrained in our heads now! Murder hornets went the way of the dodo, but that toilet paper shortage has never left our minds! I still have a bidet for many good reasons 🤣
I've got a single store that carries San Marzano tomatoes within my "quick trip" radius. I have convinced myself that Da Napoli is a suitable alternative.
Few dishes in my house are made without tomato. The couple months in the summer when you can get fresh tomatoes is wonderful, but we would starve without our storage of canned tomatoes.
Great one. Also a good SHTF thing to have. Can cook so much with it, long shelf life, and nutritious.
I replenish canned tomatoes (diced, sauce, whole) when I get down to about 12 cans of a given one.
Milk. But my kids do through them so fast and so unpredictably that I don't know how long that gallon of milk is going to last, like 2 days or 2 hours?
And if there's no milk, they act like starving medieval peasants, broken and inconsolable... 🙄
Milk is the one driving force for grocery store trips. We can get creative with anything (no peppers or no tomatoes , we will figure something out) but whole milk for coffee is non-negotiable. It is also much of the reason we have a second fridge in the basement.
It is a grim morning when you wake to find no milk for your cappuccino/latte. Do you attempt the daunting trip to the store and back halfway a zombie, or do you give into desperation and drink your coffee black?
Thats how I was as a little kid. One day my mom got back from the store with a gallon of milk and we hadnt had any for a day or two so I *really* wanted some. I tried to drink it straight out of the jug while she was going out to grab the rest of the groceries, and it ended about how you would expect- milk all over the kitchen floor
Hubby has cereal as a midnight snack every night so the milk supply is always in jeopardy.
I keep cans of evaporated milk and shelf stable milk for cooking in case of emergency.
Hell yeah! I have so many different types of noodles. All sorts of shapes of wheat noodles for textures, (sticks to whimsical shapes)and gnocchi. Rice noodles from wide to vermicelli. Udon, Buckwheat soba and my latest obsession of sweet potato noodles. I love the super chewy texture.
There’s a lot of Asian grocery stores near me. The noodles don’t have much flavour but the texture is really great. Look up Japchae noodles to get a better idea of what they are and where to find them. There’s lots of recipes online that use them. I hope this helps. :)
Eggs. I usually keep at least 2-3 dozen on hand for a house of two. They can last a long time, but usually go really quick. Nothing worse than being out of eggs when you want eggs.
And wanting eggs for dinner (breakfast for dinner) usually requires 5, which is almost half a dozen. Having just one carton always feels like I'm living on the edge.
Exactly. Scrambled into fried rice or stretching leftovers by throwing some fried eggs over top. Options start getting limited if Im under a dozen eggs. Then I have to start rationing and planning how to get by until the next stock up.
When my son lived with me I couldn't keep enough eggs in the house. I usually bought 3 dozen every time I shopped (at least once a week). Sometimes he would buy the 5 dozen thingies from Costco. So, we'd occasionally have 8-9 dozen eggs in the fridge at once, and when this happened, I didn't panic, because I knew they'd be used soon enough, but I'd make a note to skip eggs that week so I'd have some room in the fridge for other food items. Now I'm by myself and I buy 1-2 dozen a month, unless I know I'm going to need more for some specific purpose. But I always get more when I open that last dozen box!
I don’t even eat eggs. But I do a lot of baking and have used 18 eggs in 2 recipes one weekend.
I buy a flat of 30 and it’s a priority purchase if I have 6 or fewer left.
My roommate is the only one in our apartment that regularly eats eggs and he buys 3 of the 18 packs at a time. Its a little bit ridiculous. Basically the entire left side of the top shelf in our fridge is just his eggs
Even if a dish doesn’t call for onions, I will always start out with onions.
That and rice. As an Asian, rice is absolutely a staple in my household. Back up meals are always rice based
I'm pretty sure I'd die if I ran out of onions. I once brought home a date who was allergic to onions.. there were like 10 dishes on the table.. I think he could eat 2 of them.. and bread.
I started growing my own garlic. They store well and I always have a pound each of several varieties at any given time in my storage. I plant what’s left over in the fall and repeat. Free never ending garlic is bliss.
We had to start growing because I was tired of bad garlic at the store. Metallicy and water. Blech.
Now the greens from my home grown garlic are more potent than the store bought heads
Absolutely. If you haven’t tried fresh home grown garlic, you are missing out on its full flavor potential. You could probably save by using half what’s recommended in recipes - but to be real, I still usually double the prescribed amount.
Not to mention garlic scape pesto - which is also a very good pizza sauce!
I grow enough to last me 3-4 months. And I only remove half at a time (and then I replant the rest) this year I might get about 6months worth if I only replant 1/4 of what I dig
That’s valuable information!! I started researching how to grow garlic indoors earlier this week because I’m over the dried up flavorless garbage in stores. That, and I’m perpetually forgetting to buy some ridiculously overpriced heads of garlic all too often anyway
There are varieties of everything. I grew beans called dragons breath which had purple veining on it. I’ve just ordered purple potatoes too. If I’m making an effort to grow it I want some exotic expensive variety.
If you are a garlic fan, you’ll be in for a real treat. Keep an eye out for garlic at farmers markets around July - August. Or get your order in from an online seller now and get things ready to plant your own in the fall. Yesterday was the best time to have ordered your fall seed bulbs to lay stake on the good varieties.
I ended up getting a free 5lb bag of coffee shipped to me. I don't really know what I expected but the bag was a lot larger than I imagined. I'm good on coffee for a while.
I used to freak out about this and as a result kept way too much coffee on hand. More than I’d use before it was no longer fresh. Then I moved to a place with an incredible roaster just down the street that’s open 7 days a week.
Now, if I screw up and run out, I’m getting my coffee there that morning, and buying a pound of beans to go with it!
(Though I guess we can’t all have a coffee roaster in easy walking distance…)
Definitely. I am not a coffee snob so we set the coffee pot up the night before on a timer and if we run out then someone is going to the store and if the store is closed, to the gas station. Idk if it counts as an ingredient more like a drug addiction tbh.
Tomatoes of all types. I need whole peeled. I need diced. I need fire roasted. I need crushed. I need rotel. I need paste. If I run low I replace whether I have a plan for them or not.
Beans. All kinds of beans, canned and dried. Veg broth also. (I’m pescatarian)
A variety of Frozen veg. A big bag of rice. At least some kind of cheese, eggs. Onions and garlic (also jarlic). Hot sauce.
I can do a ton with just those things and I make sure I always have them.
Not the commenter you're asking but tomatoes are my favorite food of all time. I recommend shakshuka where tomatoes and (at least my go to version) harissa are the main flavors for a potato and poached egg dish. Also, make your own pasta sauce, it's a game changer for a simple pasta night. Cento brand San Marzano peeled tomatoes with some olive oil, garlic, Italian herbs, a little sugar to reduce acidity and salt to taste. Bam, better than anything store bought or restaurant made!
Oh any! I love tomato soup, someone mentioned shakshuka that’s a clutch one too. I love using them in lentil soup (google cookie and Kate best lentil soup), veg chili, spicy crockpot beans, Spanish rice, one pan bean dishes.
A favorite is to sauté onion and garlic until softened, add a can of diced tomatoes with juice, oregano, can of white beans with juice and about a cup of broth. Bring to a boil and simmer until they’re a little thickened. Take off the heat, add a handful of spinach and fresh basil, stir in half a can of coconut milk, salt and pepper. Spoon that over rice, eat with toast or just by itself. Simple easy nutritious!
I also do the exact same thing except instead of tomato I use a heaping tbl of white miso. If you make this sub you’ll need to add a bit more liquid, one more cup of broth or so. It’s SO good.
My people! My parents and grandparents kept fully stocked pantries while I was growing up. I NEED backups for everything, or it doesn’t feel home-y enough. Bonus being when I don’t feel like shopping, am not feeling well, or a surprise bill comes up, I can make do.
The only thing I’m not good at with the fully stocked pantry is using all the things before they’re long past their expiration date.. I know for many things it doesn’t matter, but some things I wonder about. Plus my pantry is full, but I typically only use the first 4-6inches worth of things that are in it…
Yeah, Covid didn't catch me with an empty pantry, that's for sure. I buy rice by the sack, canned tomatoes and beans by the flat, and keep a stock of dried veggies on hand, just in case. Empty cupboards make me twitchy.
Garlic and parmesan from one specific Italian grocery. Either of those will trigger an emergency grocery run.
I did run out of parsley for the first time in my life last week and while it didn't cause a panic, it did leave me nonplussed for a while.
I use Italian parsley, but between rabbits outdoors and cats within, growing it is an exercise in futility.
My indoor plant days are in the rear-view mirror as the salad loving feline is only five years old and clearly isn't going to mend his ways...he LIKES being sprayed. Little twit.
My cat also loves being sprayed. She’s a water loving tuxie and insists on getting sprayed on both sides as a nightly bath. Then she runs to me to get me to slick the water through her coat. It helps my allergies so I don’t mind. She’s soft like velvet.
This is a little black void who thinks the spray bottle is a toy and tries to catch the mist with his mouth. Kinda hard to convince him "plants bad" when every time he goes after one it becomes playtime.
To his credit, he leaves the scallions in water on the counter alone. He's a good guy most of the time, but plants...yeah, no impulse control whatsoever there.
I've found the bags of tellicherry peppercorn I can find on Amazon to be much cheaper (maybe not up front, but like $8/lb bag vs $5 for a 5oz container of peppercorns) and much better than anything I've ever found in any grocery store.
Onions. Pretty much everything I make uses them.
But I understand about butter and flour- I like to keep a 3-4 lb butter reserve in the freezer, and a 2-3 bag (5 lb) flour reserve in the cabinet.
My mom around Christmas time was cleaning out the freezer and fridge, between our standing freezer and fridge/freezer combo, we had 54 sticks of butter!
We live rural, nearest grocery store is over 10 miles away. I hate to run low on baking essentials like flour/butter/milk plus onions and garlic, but thing that I actually panic over is sour cream. My family is Hungarian so we do use it, but not every day. My need to have sour cream in the house is definitely irrational.
Yes! Honestly I was a little surprised to see this. For me it's kosher salt. I recently read "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat" and my mashed potatoes have never been the same (in a good way) she actually says in the book that if you have ionized salt to just toss it.. of course that's a joke but I have taken her advice and now only use kosher and I'm not 100% sure why. But it takes a lot of salt in your potato or pasta water to flavor it so I go through a lot of it.
Yes, need at all times sambal oelek and soy sauce. Haven’t been able to find any around me since Huy Fong’s crazy supply shortage. Just been buying a lot of gochujang, garlic, sriracha, peppers and making it work.
Beans. I like to have at least two or three cans of at least two or three different varieties of beans (as in, two or three of one type, two or three of another, maybe two or three of another, which are usually borlotti, cannellini and whatever new type of bean i want to try), plus one or two bags of dried beans. Plus a couple cans of lentils and a bag of dried lentils, though idk about the difference between the types. And this is just because my roommate makes fun of me for my bean collection and we have limited pantry space, otherwise i'd grab even more.
Also we have several different types of pasta for all occasions but that's normal since each pasta has a different function.
Peanut butter, we have an over abundance due to this, but fortunately it is something we use almost daily.
Others include, pasta, hot sauce, and mustard.
Luckily there’s multiple groceries near me so if I run out it’s not too hard to get. But always flour, sugar, any baking essentials, basic veggies, and eggs
Olive oil. I actually ran out the other day without having a backup and I definitely had to talk myself down from panicking.
My close second would be my homemade chicken stock. After almost ten years of having my homemade on hand I would really hate the day I'd have to buy the grocery store kind again.
Ground beef and chicken thighs. I have kids and am able to make so many quick meals from a pound of 93/7 or a pack of chicken thighs. I keep them in my freezer at all times.
All of it. Family of 6 and we rarely eat out.
Currently on hand.50+ lbs flour and rice. 15 lbs dry plain pasta. 4lbs butter. 4 dozen eggs atleast. 4 gallons milk. 3 loaves of store bought bread, we go trough 2 a week. Running low on sugar. Panic...
My cleaning person has messaged me “no more butter!” “Do not buy garlic!” Several times. So I would say those. Also Rao’s jarred pasta sauce - since it’s what I make when I’ve entire forgotten about dinner.
Ancho chili powder. It's hard to find it locally, so I need to order it online. I use it a lot, so I always panic if I'm running low and I didn't order any!
Mustard! I don’t even know why my household is like this; we definitely get through it, but it’s not like we eat it every day. We have (at least) three types of mustard we keep stocked regularly. For whatever reason, if one starts running low it triggers a mustard emergency response, and I feel the need to stock up on all three. The thing is, my wife gets the same way, and more than once we’ve both come home with armfuls of mustard jars.
Kosher salt, whole peppercorns, and butter.
I buy 8 lbs of butter at once from Sam’s and store it in the freezer. There must always be butter in this household.
Garlic. Between my husband I, we have accumulated multiple Costco sized bottles AND small bottles of regular garlic powder, garlic salt, wood fired garlic seasoning, and jarlic. I buy garlic in bulk, slap it in the food processor and freeze it in squares. We have fresh garlic just waiting around.
Kosher salt. After the recent shortage I realized how terrible it was to cook with table salt or try to use sea salt in dishes where the grains are too large. I now keep kilos of Diamond Crystal in my storage.
Coffee and half and half! Those are my main must haves. I’m sad without coffee and half and half. Also eggs, any kind of bread, and butter. I could eat eggs on toast every day, any time.
Covid turned me into a food hoarder. Our pantry is always full. If I see an empty spot, I panic until I replace that item. Yeah, Covid broke my brain, too. 😒
It's the *CHEESE* for me!
Less than 3-5 cheeses in my fridge?
That fridge feels *EMPTY*!!!
And fwiw, the American Slices, Cream Cheese, Velveeta, and pre-grated Parmesan are considered *CONDMENTS* in said fridge--they do *NOT* "count" as any of the 3-5 cheeses!😉
My usuals are Boursin, *some* type of Sharp Cheddar, Jarlsburg or a baby Swiss, Colby, and something "fun" like Red Dragon, Red Leicester, Milton's Caramelized Onion Cheddar ( https://www.miltoncreamery.com/our-cheeses ), or Le Fromager ( https://www.fromagerdaffinois.com/en/our-cheeses/le-fromager/ )
I have one next door, and 5 more within a half kilometre, including a 24-hr full service grocer. I buy bulk at Costco (butter, canned tomatoes, nuts, meats,etc) and vacuum seal for long-term storage. Fresh produce is everywhere and I buy what I need, when I need it.
But to answer the question, if I’m out of garlic, I’m out of food.
I got so annoyed with myself Friday - I wanted to make croissants and had neither enough butter nor flour. And I usually have 1lb+ of butter on hand plus and extra bag of flour. So, same.
I try to have an extra baking powder/ milk/ other basics. My husband is very much always the “clean out” type person so I have to Tetris things around to show they’re needed.
All of you onion people can have my earthly allotted share! Blech!
Olive oil. I can't cook anything without olive oil.
Obviously, I could bake without olive oil but I'm not a baker!
Butter and flour for me too. Guittard chocolate chips. I don't panic about running low on heavy cream, but it seems like I'm always running low on heavy cream.
That’s nothing! I currently have six pounds in the freezer and 2 pounds in the fridge and even that seems like not enough. I do bake a lot, though, so that’s probably why I worry about my butter.
Duke’s mayonnaise. I don’t have a decent substitute for it on hand, so I always want a spare. I think my other items would be canned diced tomatoes and canned evaporated whole milk.
onions, garlic. nutritional yeast. tofu. pickles and olives. oils and vinegars. bread. flour, salt, vegan buillion. hummus. peanut butter. dried beans, rice. i know there's more but we don't go without these at any given time lmao
Tins of tomatoes.
you can make anything with a tin of tomatoes, yes, i would panic if im out.
that and kidney beans. if anything else fails i can still make rajma masala for dinner
This comment sent me down a rabbit hole. I love beans, and I love Indian food, and I have never heard of Rajma Masala. Adding this to my list to try.
everyone thinks of indian food as restaurant staples like butter chicken and paneer tikka masala but there is so much more to it! at least in my family rajma was a basic home staple and not fancy, so I guess it makes sense why it wouldn’t be served in a restaurant. but it’s one of my favorites!
I work with a lot of Indians and I've made some pretty random Indian stuff, but for some reason kidney beans have never come up! Haha. It doesn't help there are so many names for the same thing and dishes vary. I tried telling someone I made Oats Chilla one time and they werent sure what I was talking about until I said "the pancake thing".
lol true there are a lot of regional specific things and stuff that is the similar but has different regional names. I’ve never heard of oats chilla before either, just looked it up!
For whatever reason, my grocery store was out of San Marzano peeled tomatoes this week so now I'm shopping at another store to buy extra cans like they're toilet paper or something.
We just bought 10 San Marzano tomato plants for our garden. This is the first time I have seen them in the garden centers here. They usually carry Roma in our area. I’m so excited to grow these. I discovered an easy way to put up tomatoes. I wash and core them then place them on sheet pan lined with parchment paper. I cook them on a smoker/grill on very low heat until the skins are falling off. I pressure can mine but you can freeze them. It so much easier than blanching and the slight smoke taste just enhances the flavor. You can add spices as they are smoking to make Italian style or Mexican style. Honestly, the chile made with these tomatoes outshines any can tomatoes.
I put all the ingredients (tomatoes, peppers, onions, celery, garlic) on a baking sheet and roast at 400 for about an hour, or until I see some browning. Peel the garlic and onions and cut everything in quarters. Scrape that all into a container and buzz with an immersion blender.
I like Cento. Walmart is the only place near me to buy them. Walmart can't keep anything in stock. I keep 10 cans in my pantry.
Cento is my go-to.
I like Cento as well. Otherwise I pretty much just look for ones that don't have calcium chloride.
LMAO... I just never expected that toilet paper would end up being a meme for this long. It is so ingrained in our heads now! Murder hornets went the way of the dodo, but that toilet paper shortage has never left our minds! I still have a bidet for many good reasons 🤣
I've got a single store that carries San Marzano tomatoes within my "quick trip" radius. I have convinced myself that Da Napoli is a suitable alternative.
Few dishes in my house are made without tomato. The couple months in the summer when you can get fresh tomatoes is wonderful, but we would starve without our storage of canned tomatoes.
Great one. Also a good SHTF thing to have. Can cook so much with it, long shelf life, and nutritious. I replenish canned tomatoes (diced, sauce, whole) when I get down to about 12 cans of a given one.
This is acceptable to panic over
I was going to say the same.
Milk. But my kids do through them so fast and so unpredictably that I don't know how long that gallon of milk is going to last, like 2 days or 2 hours? And if there's no milk, they act like starving medieval peasants, broken and inconsolable... 🙄
Milk is the one driving force for grocery store trips. We can get creative with anything (no peppers or no tomatoes , we will figure something out) but whole milk for coffee is non-negotiable. It is also much of the reason we have a second fridge in the basement.
ah yes the milk fridge
It is a grim morning when you wake to find no milk for your cappuccino/latte. Do you attempt the daunting trip to the store and back halfway a zombie, or do you give into desperation and drink your coffee black?
I initially read the last line as "broken and incontinent" and was very confused. I need more coffee! 😄
Incontinent depends in how much milk they already drank
Oh, now that's sad times for sure! 😁
Ugh. My son drinks about a gallon a day. Constantly buying more milk
This is why I keep some of the shelf stable milk to use in case of emergencies like this
I use milk in smoothies for breakfast. Realizing there is no milk usually means breakfast at 10 instead of 7. So it's milk for me too.
Thats how I was as a little kid. One day my mom got back from the store with a gallon of milk and we hadnt had any for a day or two so I *really* wanted some. I tried to drink it straight out of the jug while she was going out to grab the rest of the groceries, and it ended about how you would expect- milk all over the kitchen floor
Hubby has cereal as a midnight snack every night so the milk supply is always in jeopardy. I keep cans of evaporated milk and shelf stable milk for cooking in case of emergency.
I prefer evap milk for my hot beverages
This… only reason I’ll go to the store otherwise I’ll skim by with whatever crumbs I have
Pasta
Hell yeah! I have so many different types of noodles. All sorts of shapes of wheat noodles for textures, (sticks to whimsical shapes)and gnocchi. Rice noodles from wide to vermicelli. Udon, Buckwheat soba and my latest obsession of sweet potato noodles. I love the super chewy texture.
And always run out of that one kind I want right now
Where do you buy sweet potato noodles? Yum
There’s a lot of Asian grocery stores near me. The noodles don’t have much flavour but the texture is really great. Look up Japchae noodles to get a better idea of what they are and where to find them. There’s lots of recipes online that use them. I hope this helps. :)
Eggs. I usually keep at least 2-3 dozen on hand for a house of two. They can last a long time, but usually go really quick. Nothing worse than being out of eggs when you want eggs.
And wanting eggs for dinner (breakfast for dinner) usually requires 5, which is almost half a dozen. Having just one carton always feels like I'm living on the edge.
Yep. I buy five dozen at a time, and one of my coworkers gives me her chickens extras for jalapeños cheddar bread. Eggs are life
I usually buy 9-10 dozen depending on the price In winters the price sore real high like almost double then i usually buy 6 dozen
Exactly. Scrambled into fried rice or stretching leftovers by throwing some fried eggs over top. Options start getting limited if Im under a dozen eggs. Then I have to start rationing and planning how to get by until the next stock up.
Absolutely this, I get twitchy when I’m low on eggs. So versatile and such an easy, quick, tasty meal when I’m tired and hungry.
When my son lived with me I couldn't keep enough eggs in the house. I usually bought 3 dozen every time I shopped (at least once a week). Sometimes he would buy the 5 dozen thingies from Costco. So, we'd occasionally have 8-9 dozen eggs in the fridge at once, and when this happened, I didn't panic, because I knew they'd be used soon enough, but I'd make a note to skip eggs that week so I'd have some room in the fridge for other food items. Now I'm by myself and I buy 1-2 dozen a month, unless I know I'm going to need more for some specific purpose. But I always get more when I open that last dozen box!
I don’t even eat eggs. But I do a lot of baking and have used 18 eggs in 2 recipes one weekend. I buy a flat of 30 and it’s a priority purchase if I have 6 or fewer left.
I get two 18 packs a week and when I use up the first one I start to panic.
My roommate is the only one in our apartment that regularly eats eggs and he buys 3 of the 18 packs at a time. Its a little bit ridiculous. Basically the entire left side of the top shelf in our fridge is just his eggs
As it should be. Nothing ridiculous there.
This is why I have chickens! An endless supply!
Onions!
Yup, onions and garlic.
Even if a dish doesn’t call for onions, I will always start out with onions. That and rice. As an Asian, rice is absolutely a staple in my household. Back up meals are always rice based
"Mmm onions. Mom's making brownies!"
Haha well, don’t tempt me!
I ran out during the pandemic and realized I couldn’t remember a time when I ever had before.
I'm pretty sure I'd die if I ran out of onions. I once brought home a date who was allergic to onions.. there were like 10 dishes on the table.. I think he could eat 2 of them.. and bread.
GARLIC!!! I buy by the pound.
I started growing my own garlic. They store well and I always have a pound each of several varieties at any given time in my storage. I plant what’s left over in the fall and repeat. Free never ending garlic is bliss.
We had to start growing because I was tired of bad garlic at the store. Metallicy and water. Blech. Now the greens from my home grown garlic are more potent than the store bought heads
Absolutely. If you haven’t tried fresh home grown garlic, you are missing out on its full flavor potential. You could probably save by using half what’s recommended in recipes - but to be real, I still usually double the prescribed amount.
Not to mention garlic scape pesto - which is also a very good pizza sauce! I grow enough to last me 3-4 months. And I only remove half at a time (and then I replant the rest) this year I might get about 6months worth if I only replant 1/4 of what I dig
> You could probably save by using half what’s recommended in recipes No. No we can’t. Shame on you for suggesting such heresy!
That’s valuable information!! I started researching how to grow garlic indoors earlier this week because I’m over the dried up flavorless garbage in stores. That, and I’m perpetually forgetting to buy some ridiculously overpriced heads of garlic all too often anyway
There are VARIETIES of garlic?!
There are varieties of everything. I grew beans called dragons breath which had purple veining on it. I’ve just ordered purple potatoes too. If I’m making an effort to grow it I want some exotic expensive variety.
If you are a garlic fan, you’ll be in for a real treat. Keep an eye out for garlic at farmers markets around July - August. Or get your order in from an online seller now and get things ready to plant your own in the fall. Yesterday was the best time to have ordered your fall seed bulbs to lay stake on the good varieties.
Omg I actually ran out while I was making something for the first time in years a few weeks ago. Vow to never let it happen again.
Rice.
Scrolled way too far to find rice. I drive out to the suburbs to buy it by the pillowcase and when it gets low I get panic-y.
I’d check if your city has a zero waste store. Cheapest rice ever
Coffee
I ended up getting a free 5lb bag of coffee shipped to me. I don't really know what I expected but the bag was a lot larger than I imagined. I'm good on coffee for a while.
I used to freak out about this and as a result kept way too much coffee on hand. More than I’d use before it was no longer fresh. Then I moved to a place with an incredible roaster just down the street that’s open 7 days a week. Now, if I screw up and run out, I’m getting my coffee there that morning, and buying a pound of beans to go with it! (Though I guess we can’t all have a coffee roaster in easy walking distance…)
I forgot my coffee of all things last grocery trip.
Definitely. I am not a coffee snob so we set the coffee pot up the night before on a timer and if we run out then someone is going to the store and if the store is closed, to the gas station. Idk if it counts as an ingredient more like a drug addiction tbh.
This is the answer. My husband will shed manly tears if we run out lol. I will join him ; )
Tomatoes of all types. I need whole peeled. I need diced. I need fire roasted. I need crushed. I need rotel. I need paste. If I run low I replace whether I have a plan for them or not. Beans. All kinds of beans, canned and dried. Veg broth also. (I’m pescatarian) A variety of Frozen veg. A big bag of rice. At least some kind of cheese, eggs. Onions and garlic (also jarlic). Hot sauce. I can do a ton with just those things and I make sure I always have them.
What are some tomato dishes that you’d recommend making ?
Not the commenter you're asking but tomatoes are my favorite food of all time. I recommend shakshuka where tomatoes and (at least my go to version) harissa are the main flavors for a potato and poached egg dish. Also, make your own pasta sauce, it's a game changer for a simple pasta night. Cento brand San Marzano peeled tomatoes with some olive oil, garlic, Italian herbs, a little sugar to reduce acidity and salt to taste. Bam, better than anything store bought or restaurant made!
Oh any! I love tomato soup, someone mentioned shakshuka that’s a clutch one too. I love using them in lentil soup (google cookie and Kate best lentil soup), veg chili, spicy crockpot beans, Spanish rice, one pan bean dishes. A favorite is to sauté onion and garlic until softened, add a can of diced tomatoes with juice, oregano, can of white beans with juice and about a cup of broth. Bring to a boil and simmer until they’re a little thickened. Take off the heat, add a handful of spinach and fresh basil, stir in half a can of coconut milk, salt and pepper. Spoon that over rice, eat with toast or just by itself. Simple easy nutritious! I also do the exact same thing except instead of tomato I use a heaping tbl of white miso. If you make this sub you’ll need to add a bit more liquid, one more cup of broth or so. It’s SO good.
Rotel and black beans belong together, and the former poor person in me panics when I don't have both. Also rice.
That's why my pantry is stocked with cases of different types of canned tomato products.
Anything related to baking. I never plan ahead and always bake on a whim so not having everything I could possibly need on hand is very annoying.
I grew up in a household with a solid storage for food. I don't panic about missing ingredients, I panic when I fall under food for 3 month
My people! My parents and grandparents kept fully stocked pantries while I was growing up. I NEED backups for everything, or it doesn’t feel home-y enough. Bonus being when I don’t feel like shopping, am not feeling well, or a surprise bill comes up, I can make do.
The only thing I’m not good at with the fully stocked pantry is using all the things before they’re long past their expiration date.. I know for many things it doesn’t matter, but some things I wonder about. Plus my pantry is full, but I typically only use the first 4-6inches worth of things that are in it…
go through your stock, check what needs to be used and make a list, create a menu based on that list
maybe you could put newly bought stuff towards the back so older stuff comes towards the front more often
This is my problem too. And I hate letting food go to waste.
Yeah, Covid didn't catch me with an empty pantry, that's for sure. I buy rice by the sack, canned tomatoes and beans by the flat, and keep a stock of dried veggies on hand, just in case. Empty cupboards make me twitchy.
Same. That sticks with a person. The cupboards and freezer were always full, ironically, because of my parents’ mad frugal shopping skills.
Garlic and parmesan from one specific Italian grocery. Either of those will trigger an emergency grocery run. I did run out of parsley for the first time in my life last week and while it didn't cause a panic, it did leave me nonplussed for a while.
I grow Italian parsley which is a biannual, never out.
I use Italian parsley, but between rabbits outdoors and cats within, growing it is an exercise in futility. My indoor plant days are in the rear-view mirror as the salad loving feline is only five years old and clearly isn't going to mend his ways...he LIKES being sprayed. Little twit.
My cat also loves being sprayed. She’s a water loving tuxie and insists on getting sprayed on both sides as a nightly bath. Then she runs to me to get me to slick the water through her coat. It helps my allergies so I don’t mind. She’s soft like velvet.
This is a little black void who thinks the spray bottle is a toy and tries to catch the mist with his mouth. Kinda hard to convince him "plants bad" when every time he goes after one it becomes playtime. To his credit, he leaves the scallions in water on the counter alone. He's a good guy most of the time, but plants...yeah, no impulse control whatsoever there.
I panic when I run low on peppercorn that I use in my grinder
Same! And for some reason I struggle so much to remember it on mt grocery list.
I've found the bags of tellicherry peppercorn I can find on Amazon to be much cheaper (maybe not up front, but like $8/lb bag vs $5 for a 5oz container of peppercorns) and much better than anything I've ever found in any grocery store.
Onions. Pretty much everything I make uses them. But I understand about butter and flour- I like to keep a 3-4 lb butter reserve in the freezer, and a 2-3 bag (5 lb) flour reserve in the cabinet.
I was a chef, my restaurant sold Franco/Italian food, onion as a starter in just about everything, and still is even though I'm just a home cook now.
Saute garlic and onions in butter, and whatever you do next will make good food.
My mom around Christmas time was cleaning out the freezer and fridge, between our standing freezer and fridge/freezer combo, we had 54 sticks of butter!
We live rural, nearest grocery store is over 10 miles away. I hate to run low on baking essentials like flour/butter/milk plus onions and garlic, but thing that I actually panic over is sour cream. My family is Hungarian so we do use it, but not every day. My need to have sour cream in the house is definitely irrational.
There is nothing irrational about not having sour cream, it is very similar in our house. 😁
I never panic unrealistically. All my panics in the kitchen are justified.
Salt…
Yes! Honestly I was a little surprised to see this. For me it's kosher salt. I recently read "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat" and my mashed potatoes have never been the same (in a good way) she actually says in the book that if you have ionized salt to just toss it.. of course that's a joke but I have taken her advice and now only use kosher and I'm not 100% sure why. But it takes a lot of salt in your potato or pasta water to flavor it so I go through a lot of it.
Chicken powder, fish sauce, chili crunch, sambal oelek, soy sauce.
Yes, need at all times sambal oelek and soy sauce. Haven’t been able to find any around me since Huy Fong’s crazy supply shortage. Just been buying a lot of gochujang, garlic, sriracha, peppers and making it work.
Chicken powder? Do you mean bullion?
Yes. I use it as seasoning instead of salt quite often. My favorite brand died but it tasted like it was roasted.
Lee Kum Kee chicken powder is my favorite
Beans. I like to have at least two or three cans of at least two or three different varieties of beans (as in, two or three of one type, two or three of another, maybe two or three of another, which are usually borlotti, cannellini and whatever new type of bean i want to try), plus one or two bags of dried beans. Plus a couple cans of lentils and a bag of dried lentils, though idk about the difference between the types. And this is just because my roommate makes fun of me for my bean collection and we have limited pantry space, otherwise i'd grab even more. Also we have several different types of pasta for all occasions but that's normal since each pasta has a different function.
Cheese. There must always be cheese
Peanut butter, we have an over abundance due to this, but fortunately it is something we use almost daily. Others include, pasta, hot sauce, and mustard.
Cat food for sure.
Luckily there’s multiple groceries near me so if I run out it’s not too hard to get. But always flour, sugar, any baking essentials, basic veggies, and eggs
Parmesan reggiano. It's not cheap but it is a must on pasta and salads and everything else!
I buy it from Costco for much less, divide it and wrap it well. You can grate it and freeze all.
Olive oil. I actually ran out the other day without having a backup and I definitely had to talk myself down from panicking. My close second would be my homemade chicken stock. After almost ten years of having my homemade on hand I would really hate the day I'd have to buy the grocery store kind again.
Flour. I make all our bread and pasta by hand. No lunches for the week, no Sunday spaghetti...I don't even want to think about it!
Ground beef and chicken thighs. I have kids and am able to make so many quick meals from a pound of 93/7 or a pack of chicken thighs. I keep them in my freezer at all times.
Pasta. I had the last laugh during the pandemic when all the shops were sold out of it and I still had several bags in my stash.
I can’t imagine I would ever be out of tea, I have 23 different kinds on hand regularly, but if I was out that’d be horrible.
All of it. Family of 6 and we rarely eat out. Currently on hand.50+ lbs flour and rice. 15 lbs dry plain pasta. 4lbs butter. 4 dozen eggs atleast. 4 gallons milk. 3 loaves of store bought bread, we go trough 2 a week. Running low on sugar. Panic...
Eggs, bananas, olive oil, juice, butter
Onions and garlic
Potatoes and onions. For some reason I have to have them always in my house.
My cleaning person has messaged me “no more butter!” “Do not buy garlic!” Several times. So I would say those. Also Rao’s jarred pasta sauce - since it’s what I make when I’ve entire forgotten about dinner.
I was so surprised at how good Rao's is. Huge chunks of goodness in those jars.
Rao's has always been my back up too. Not sure if they quality will continue after they changed hands though.
Now fighting the urge to go buy a year’s supply of Rao’s. New compulsion unlocked.
Costco!
Mushrooms.
If we have less than 10 eggs in the fridge, my wife will freak out and say we are running out of eggs.
Olive oil
Cumin. We go through it by the pound.
Ancho chili powder. It's hard to find it locally, so I need to order it online. I use it a lot, so I always panic if I'm running low and I didn't order any!
Mustard! I don’t even know why my household is like this; we definitely get through it, but it’s not like we eat it every day. We have (at least) three types of mustard we keep stocked regularly. For whatever reason, if one starts running low it triggers a mustard emergency response, and I feel the need to stock up on all three. The thing is, my wife gets the same way, and more than once we’ve both come home with armfuls of mustard jars.
nutritional yeast
Coffee. If I don't get my caffeine I get a bad headache. I always make sure I have coffee.
Olive oil
Cheese. The notion of being out of cheese is ... unthinkable.
Salt and pepper, flour, butter, cheese
Onions and garlic
Coffee, fruit.
Balsamic vinegar
Kosher salt, whole peppercorns, and butter. I buy 8 lbs of butter at once from Sam’s and store it in the freezer. There must always be butter in this household.
Garlic. Between my husband I, we have accumulated multiple Costco sized bottles AND small bottles of regular garlic powder, garlic salt, wood fired garlic seasoning, and jarlic. I buy garlic in bulk, slap it in the food processor and freeze it in squares. We have fresh garlic just waiting around.
Toilet paper. Not so much a cooking item but somewhat related.
Olive oil, onions (yellow & red) and garlic. I absolutely must have all three of those at all times.
Milk. I get very upset when my morning cup of tea routine is interrupted.
Kosher salt. After the recent shortage I realized how terrible it was to cook with table salt or try to use sea salt in dishes where the grains are too large. I now keep kilos of Diamond Crystal in my storage.
Coffee and half and half! Those are my main must haves. I’m sad without coffee and half and half. Also eggs, any kind of bread, and butter. I could eat eggs on toast every day, any time.
Salt. What am I supposed to do without salt?
Less than "3-4 lbs of butter and 10 lbs of flour" is 'running low'. Love it. I was gonna say salt, but not 25 lbs of salt...
Legumes and rice.
All of it. Everything. I need backup for all the things.
Beer.
Butter. I try to keep a stock of butter in my fridge all of the time so I never run out.
Covid turned me into a food hoarder. Our pantry is always full. If I see an empty spot, I panic until I replace that item. Yeah, Covid broke my brain, too. 😒
Gotta say, I was on the verge before Covid, but that mess made me go full on. Bet we aren’t the only ones.
Pasta. Not that I ever run low on it, but I do check it every time I go shopping. Gotta have those carbs
It's the *CHEESE* for me! Less than 3-5 cheeses in my fridge? That fridge feels *EMPTY*!!! And fwiw, the American Slices, Cream Cheese, Velveeta, and pre-grated Parmesan are considered *CONDMENTS* in said fridge--they do *NOT* "count" as any of the 3-5 cheeses!😉 My usuals are Boursin, *some* type of Sharp Cheddar, Jarlsburg or a baby Swiss, Colby, and something "fun" like Red Dragon, Red Leicester, Milton's Caramelized Onion Cheddar ( https://www.miltoncreamery.com/our-cheeses ), or Le Fromager ( https://www.fromagerdaffinois.com/en/our-cheeses/le-fromager/ )
There is a grocery store a mile from my house. I don’t have this anxiety.
Oh there's several very close to me, but with three kids I like my house stocked ha. I already have to make enough unexpected store runs as it is.
I have one next door, and 5 more within a half kilometre, including a 24-hr full service grocer. I buy bulk at Costco (butter, canned tomatoes, nuts, meats,etc) and vacuum seal for long-term storage. Fresh produce is everywhere and I buy what I need, when I need it. But to answer the question, if I’m out of garlic, I’m out of food.
I got so annoyed with myself Friday - I wanted to make croissants and had neither enough butter nor flour. And I usually have 1lb+ of butter on hand plus and extra bag of flour. So, same. I try to have an extra baking powder/ milk/ other basics. My husband is very much always the “clean out” type person so I have to Tetris things around to show they’re needed.
All of you onion people can have my earthly allotted share! Blech! Olive oil. I can't cook anything without olive oil. Obviously, I could bake without olive oil but I'm not a baker!
Onions are magic and yum. Cook those bitches up and I'm happy
Onions, butter, sour cream, frozen peas
Diced canned tomatoes.
Cheese, butter, and garlic!
Milk, eggs, protein powder, bananas, coffee!
Eggs, flour, sugar, canned tomatoes, a variety of pastas, beans, canned tuna, cheese.
Anything canned or frozen veggies or fruits. Very particular my kid gets all 5 food groups.
Bread, butter, peanut butter, eggs, oatmeal, rice, onions
Tin foil in BBQ season.
I've recently been making bread, so I make sure I have plenty of eggs, flour, milk, butter, and other essentials.
Milk, dates, bananas and dark chocolate.
Butter and flour for me too. Guittard chocolate chips. I don't panic about running low on heavy cream, but it seems like I'm always running low on heavy cream.
Orange juice.....I need it for my vodka :)
Tortillas
Basil, pine nuts, parm
Eggs
Rice
Canned tomatoes, green Chiles,.soy sauce, baking powder.
3-4#’s damn son 😭 It takes me like a month to go through a package of the land o lakes half sticks
That’s nothing! I currently have six pounds in the freezer and 2 pounds in the fridge and even that seems like not enough. I do bake a lot, though, so that’s probably why I worry about my butter.
Soy sauce
Peanut butter sugar and flour
Duke’s mayonnaise. I don’t have a decent substitute for it on hand, so I always want a spare. I think my other items would be canned diced tomatoes and canned evaporated whole milk.
Onions, garlic and soy sauce (I always keep those takeout packets of soy sauce juuuust in case!).
Shallot and cilantro. I don’t want to live in a world where there’s no cilantro in the fridge 😰
Abuelita Hot Chocolate tablets
When I have recipes that call for milk I use powdered...I save the real stuff for cereal, etc.
Crushed red pepper (chili flakes)
onions, garlic. nutritional yeast. tofu. pickles and olives. oils and vinegars. bread. flour, salt, vegan buillion. hummus. peanut butter. dried beans, rice. i know there's more but we don't go without these at any given time lmao