Life hasn’t slowed down much despite working from home, canceled plans and closed restaurants. Time is still a precious commodity, and one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself as you continue cooking and baking at home is to make sure your cupboards are stocked with pantry staples for preparing quick and easy meals.

Whether you’re prepping easy lunch recipes for the week, grabbing a quick healthy snack between Zoom calls, making school lunches for the kids or figuring out what to do for dinner, having the ingredients on hand can save time and reduce stress.

Planning your meals ahead can save time and give you a chance to take inventory and make a pantry list to be sure you’ve got everything you need. Many non-perishable food items can be stored for several months without needing refrigeration.

Your ideal list may vary depending on your taste and diet, but the food items and ingredients below are among the more universally useful across a wide range of dishes, budgets, time and circumstances. 

Pantry Essentials for Making Quick & Easy Meals

The Basics

Pro Tip: Whether it’s olive oil or a cup of sugar, make sure you have what you need before you start the recipe. 

Stocking your pantry with these essential ingredients will lower the likelihood of your needing to ask a neighbor. Of course, you could just order it from Gopuff. But it helps to have it on hand when you need it. So order early. 

In any case, here is a pantry list of some basic food items to keep in stock. 

• Land O’ Lakes Butter

• Hunt’s Tomato Paste

• Heinz Distilled White Vinegar

• Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar

• Monari Balsamic Vinegar

• Pam Oil Spray

• Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil

• Gold Medal All-Purpose Flour

• Wesson Vegetable Oil

• Arm & Hammer Baking Soda

• Bob’s Red Mill Baking Powder

• Domino Sugar

• Domino Light Brown Sugar

• Domino Dark Brown Sugar

• Morton Iodized Salt & McCormick Pepper

• McCormick Black Peppercorns

• Swanson Chicken Broth

• Red Star Baking Yeast

• Honey Bear Honey

• Badia Vanilla Extract

• Coffee (La Colombe Ground Corsica and/or Bulletproof Medium Roast K-Cups)

• Coffee filters

• Tea (Lipton Black Tea & Tazo Green Tea)

• JIF Peanut Butter

• Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chips

Spices & Seasonings 

It’s easy to make any food taste amazing with the right seasoning, often without adding any calories. You may find that a few seasonings are rockstars among the best recipes. Here are some of them:

• McCormick Everything Bagel Seasoning

• Simply Organic Crushed Red Pepper

• Simply Organic Ground Cinnamon

• Kikkoman Panko Bread Crumbs

• Old El Paso Taco Seasoning

• McCormick Garlic Powder

• McCormick Paprika

• Simply Organic Italian Seasoning

• Old Bay Seasoning

• McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning

• McCormick Oregano

• McCormick Ground Cumin

Quick Meals 

Sometimes you just need something quick and easy after a long, hard day. Sometimes you just forget that, oh yeah, you want to eat dinner tonight, and tacos will hit the spot. Keep these fast and simple dinners in the pantry for any meal when you’re in a pinch. One of the best things about them is that they will last a really long time.

Breakfast

• Aunt Jemima Instant Pancake and Waffle Mix

• Maple Syrup

• Quaker Oats Oatmeal

• Bear Naked Granola

Pasta & Grains

• Nissin Top Ramen Beef flavor, Shrimp flavor, Soy Sauce Oriental or Chicken flavor

• Maruchan Ramen Noodles Cup Beef Flavor

• Seeds of Change Brown Rice & Quinoa

• Bob’s Red Mill Couscous

Soup

• Amy’s No Chicken Noodle Soup

• Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup

• Campbell’s Tomato Soup

Veggies

• Rotel Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies

• Organic Diced Tomatoes

• Del Monte Whole Kernel Corn

• Del Monte Cut Green Beans

• Old El Paso Refried Beans with Green Chilies

• Eden Organic Black Beans, Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans) & Pinto Beans

Condiments & Sauces

Along with spices, seasonings and marinades, this is where the magic happens. Transform a bland and boring dish into a meal that makes your mouth water every time you think about it. Hot sauce, anyone? Many of these have a long shelf life unopened in the pantry.

• Buitoni Pesto with Basil Pasta Sauce

• Heinz Tomato Ketchup

• Frank’s RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce

• Kraft Original Barbecue Sauce

• Kraft Ranch Dressing

• Kraft Mayo

• Huy Fong Sriracha

• Newman’s Own All Natural Pasta Sauces: Alfredo, Five Cheese, Marinara or Vodka Sauce

• Mustard: Heinz Yellow Mustard, Koops’ Dijon or Gulden’s Spicy Brown

• Ragu Traditional Pasta Sauce

• Old El Paso Taco Sauce

Storage Containers and Other Kitchen Necessities

• Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil

• Nicole Home Collection Half Size Deep Aluminum Pan

• Click & Lock 14-Piece Storage Containers

• Ziploc Freezer Bags

• Bounty Select-A-Size Plus Paper Towels

• Napkins

Do you have the Gopuff app yet? Download it from the Apple Store or Google Play to make ordering even easier. 

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