This post is a continuation of my “House Matters” series. My previous post in this category was on my kitchen essentials which you can find here.

A pantry could be a room or a cupboard where one stores all their essential food and household items. Not all homes have a room in the kitchen that qualifies as a pantry, also called the kitchen store in some places. In smaller houses or apartments, you have to be creative, so you could either have a pullout pantry or use your cupboards, counter tops, shelves or bins to store your food items.

Growing up, my parents used to prefer doing monthly shopping. They would have their list and buy supplies to last us a month or two. Having space to garden also helped save a lot on groceries. We had cows and chickens, so no buying milk and eggs. We grew our own onions, tomatoes, potatoes, maize, beans, leafy greens, some herbs and had banana, avocado, mango, passion fruit and loquat trees. There was minimal food waste as leftovers could be used to feed the pigs, vegetable scraps would make compost and food scraps for the chickens. I miss those days!

We may not garden as much and keep livestock at the moment, but we have kept up with some of the habits I learnt when younger. We have retained the monthly shopping habit over the years for one; I find things last longer that way, we get to save on discounts such as if you buy more than one set of an item, and take advantage of what’s on sale. I also don’t like frequent supermarket runs, so shopping at a go is great for me. Weekly grocery runs are to stock up on perishables such as milk, fruits and vegetables.

This is not a conclusive list, it is just how I do it. Being well stocked makes it easier to plan meals in advance, including kids snacks, lunches and main meals. And there is nothing wrong with being organised, right?

In no particular order, here we go:-

1. Oils– I mainly cook with sunflower oil and coconut oil. I also keep a bottle of extra virgin olive oil for salad dressings and a small bottle of sesame oil for marinades or simple sautés.

2. Butters– I use unsalted butter as it is easier to use in a variety of dishes.

3. Ghee– I sometimes use ghee to make my chapatis, for making a rich curry, for rice or dessert.

4. Cheese – I’ve already done posts on the cheese we prefer here. Goat cheese has an intense flavour that works well in pizzas and salads. Cheddar is handy for scrambled eggs, in a savoury loaf, and mozzarella for pizza. But my personal favourites are the goat cheese varieties from Kyaninga dairy and gouda cheese. I however prefer stocking one type at a time.

5. Vinegars– I love balsamic vinegar and add it to roasted vegetables or make a tasty drizzle with it that goes well with many dishes. Apple cider vinegar is handy to have for a tonic and other uses around the home, not just the kitchen. White vinegar is used for baking, cleaning fruits, vegetables and other non food uses, and red wine vinegar is great on salads.

6. Flours– This includes all purpose flour and self raising flour for baking and pancakes or mandazi. I like using atta (whole wheat flour) in chapatis mixed with besan flour.

Chick pea (besan) flour is also great in savoury pancakes like I made here, and as batter for packed potatoes here, or crispy matoke wedges or a gluten free apple cake. Rice flour is also present in my pantry. It is great in porridge, pancakes and for battered vegetables too. Kenyan maize meal flour is a must for making ugali, and can make pancakes too, like in this recipe.

For porridge flours, I stock pumpkin flour and millet flour as they are readily available here. I am yet to get sweet potato flour here which I liked mixing in my chapati back home but when I do, I will add it to my list. I also have cassava flour which I have only used so far used to make ugali and roti. Cornstarch also features in this category, although I do not use it much, it is handy to have for thickening sauces or in other dishes.

7. Canned goods- Tomato paste, baked beans in tomato sauce, coconut cream and milk, canned tuna are must haves in my pantry.

8. Condiments– Ketchup, mustard, Mayonnaise. With kids ketchup runs out pretty fast. Akabanga is a hot chilli (really hot) sauce from Rwanda that is in this category too.

9. Flavourings– Vanilla and almond extracts are my usual “go tos” when baking. Soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce are in this category too.

10. Rice and Pasta– As I have mentioned here before, I am a fan of long grained basmati rice as a little goes a very long way. Do not compromise on good quality rice if you make it a lot. For pasta I mix long and short varieties. The short cut pasta is great for salads and pasta bakes. Spaghetti is a kids’ favourite here so I always have a couple of packs on hand. In this category a box of couscous and pearl barley also come in handy.

11. Spices – To avoid having too many spices losing flavour, these days I prefer buying whole spices then grind them up depending on the blend I want, whether for pilau, spicy tea, biriani or a curry.

My must have whole spices are cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, black pepper, fennel seeds, black mustard seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, nutmeg, ginger and turmeric. I like doing this as I am able to experiment with the flavours and learn how the spices work well together. For store bought blends and ground spices, I buy paprika, Kenyan curry powder, garam masala, cayenne pepper and chilli flakes.

Dried herbs– These come in handy when one cannot access fresh herbs, but be careful so the flavour doesn’t get too overpowering in your meal. In this category I stock dried fenugreek leaves, bay leaves, oregano, basil, sage, parsley and mint.

Beverages– Tea leaves, Kenyan of course, have to feature here. Drinking chocolate for the kids, cocoa for baking, coffee and chamomile tea are constants. Ugandan coffee is really good, I am not a heavy coffee drinker but really like it.

Spreads– Our main spreads are peanut butter, honey and jam which could be of any flavours. Nutella too as a treat.

Snacks– Potato crisps and plantain crisps feature here as well as popcorn. I like buying it raw and popping it the old fashioned way with the kids.

Sweeteners- Honey, sugar and icing sugar. I also keep blackstrap molasses for a tonic.

Salts- Just the usual table salt will do. I also like having some sea salt, Himalayan rock salt and black salt when available. The black salt lasts ages. I like it in roasted meats and vegetables.

Breakfast cereals- We love oats so they are always present in the cupboards. Stovetop or overnight, they are a weekday breakfast fixture here. I also keep Weetabix and Weetos for the kids.

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Cereals/ legumes- I like having a variety of dried legumes, and keep changing them up. Chickpeas, brown lentils, kidney beans, pigeon peas, chana dal and butter beans are my mains in this category.

Dried fruits, seeds and nuts– Chia seeds, sesame seeds, almonds, sultanas, desiccated coconut, groundnuts and cashew nuts feature here.

Powdered Foods : I use these as toppings for our breakfast cereals, smoothies or snacks. This include black seed powder, baobab powder and hibiscus powder. I recently bought some groundnut powder for matoke groundnut sauce. I am yet to try it on anything else though.

Miscellaneous– Baking soda, baking powder and yeast are in this category, as well as breadcrumbs, glucose, and custard powder. I also include coffee filters, vitamin and collagen supplements here as well as food colour and rose water which I use for biriani, baking and beauty purposes.

Packaging– This category features rubber bands, wax paper, greaseproof paper, Foil, cling film and ziplock bags, kitchen paper towels and serviettes.

Most of these items last us well over three months. The all purpose flours and cooking oil, snacks and breakfast cereals are what we usually stock up on monthly. For food items such as ginger, mint and turmeric, I stock up on both fresh and dried depending on use.

Food pantry essentials depend on how often one cooks, how many people you cook for on average and also the kind of food you make. I make all our meals, including the children’s school lunches which determines how much of each item we need in a given period of time.

I also like cooking with different spices hence the long list of what I stock. It all depends on what you like, but my hope is to help somebody get organised on the basics.

What are your pantry essentials?