20+ Reliable Pantry Staples Of the Family Kitchen Table

If you’re the type that cringes at stepping into the kitchen sometimes because you just don’t know where to start…this is for you.

Cooking doesn’t have to be complicated. But I get that it’s intimidating (& time consuming) sometimes.

Here’s some of my pantry’s tried-&-true staples that I cling to like cheese on mac. And if you’re looking for the “START HERE” sign of the kitchen, this is it.

Take a look at the list, get a lil inspiration & then start the stocking, girl. It’s about to be real good.

My Most Batch-Worthy Pantry Staples

Jams, Condiments & Flavor Bases

• Strawberry Jam
• Jerk Marinade
• Chimichurri
• Garlic Confit
• Homemade Teriyaki (or Korean Bulgogi) marinade
• Homemade Marinara
• Caramelized Onions 🤤

Seasoning Blends & Rubs

• Taco Seasoning
• Rib Rub
• All-Purpose Dry Rub
• Infused oils & vinegars

Protein Boosters & Meal Starters

• Seasoned Meat Mix (pre-cooked or raw seasoned for quick meals)
• Stock / Bone Broth
• Mac & Cheese

Grains, Mixes & Carbs

• Flavored Rices
• Homemade Pancake / Waffle Mix
• Homemade Jiffy Cornbread Mix

Sweet Staples

• Cranberries
• Brown Sugar
• Dessert starters
• Infused honey

Some of these you probably already have in their entirety. Some, you probably have the components that make em up.

But let me just show you why these are staples in my no-fluff, no-fuss kitchen, ok?

#1 Start with a Strong Flavor Foundation

When you haven’t got day-of inspiration & definitely not the hour it takes to caramelize onions in butter, you need something you can pull off the shelf.

If it’s gotta be quick, fast & in a hurry, these are the go-to’s for you.

I love them because they pack so much flavor in for so little effort! Using any one of these will instantly elevate your dish a good 5 levels. If not more.

Simple, flavor-filled marinades.

Perfect for a dinner that feels like you caught a flight somewhere.

And whether you marinate your mains/sides beforehand & freeze or not, these are definitely pantry staples to bulk up on.

Authentic jerk marinade

I mostly rely on this homemade jerk marinade recipe one for chicken thighs, but stew beef, lamb, goat or shirmp works great for this too. And if you can’t or don’t wanna make the marinade, the Walkerswood Hot & Spicy is a decent alternative.

Grill it up, eat it up.
(Also smokes really well if you have that option.)

Goes really well with coconut rice, btw.

Chimichurri

This is a condiment, which means it’s really just a sauce. But one taste of this super easy chimichurri recipe & you’ll soon see it’s really anything but “just”.

Super easy to make. It’s a combo of the freshest parsley & cilantro with a good bit of lime juice. The red wine vinegar brings the twang & the garlic…well, that’s a must for any good sauce.

It’s zippy & zesty. So bright & festive that it really pairs well with a nice, juicy medium-rare steak. Or top a crispy-outside, silky-inside baked potato with it & a hunk of butter.

Korean Bulgogi (or homemade teriyaki) marinade

If you’ve never been to a K-Pot experience before, book yourself one. ASAP.

These buffet-style Asian restaurants are some of the top of food chains when it comes to bulgogi. And you can’t go wrong with a classic beef bulgogi recipe.

It’s sweet (because of the Asian pear or apple used in the marinade).
It’s sticky.
It’s umami to the fullest.
So aromatic with the garlic & onions.

But it’s incredibly easy to make at home! And this is why, for less than it takes to drive allllllllll the way to the nearest H-Mart, you’ll always find this one in my freezer. (Or pantry).

Now, the homemade version calls for a couple common Asian ingredients like mirin & gochujang. If you’re inclined to cook more Asian meals, these will be (or already are) on your shelf. If not, you’ll likely find them in an Asian or international food market.

Alternatively, you might find them in the ethnic section of mainstream grocery chains.

Thin cuts of beef work best because bulgogi is a quick cook. But pork also works well. And garlic chicken is a hit too.

You can use the bulgogi interchangeably with a decent teriyaki marinade. But the flavor will differ.

Japanese teriyakis are based in soy sauce & mirin mix. I think this one is a simpler version.

But ya know. Fry it up (or grill either). Serve with your banchan (side dishes like pickled veggies & rice) & you’ll get where you wanna be soon enough.

Seasonings – the non-negotiables.

A marinade is great & all, but let’s face the chili pepper shall we?

No one always remember to defrost meat ahead of time. And sometimes you pull out a bag of what you thought was one thing only to find out it’s not that thing.

That’s a non-issue when you have some fall-back spices & seasoning mixes on hand.

Legit Dry Rubs & BLENDS

You won’t go wrong with an all-purpose dry rub that you can toss veggies with before roasting.

But you also can’t beat having an easy homemade taco seasoning blend either. I mean, Tuesday’s coming right? And where there’s a Tuesday, there’s a taco. May as well batch it.

The other main dry rub seasoning blend I reach for is what I call my rib rub. It’s got a bit of a kick which complements sweet & tangy honey BBQ sauce. But this blend would work well for other meats too.

All of these blends come together quicker than it takes to find a decent sized jar to hold it all. And they store well in a dark, cool pantry or cabinet for 6mo to a year!

There’s also overlap in the herbs & spices too like cumin & onion powder. (Plus, the staple salt & pep too.)

This makes buying the various ingredients worth ya while & a one stop shop. If you buy a small money-pouch sized bag of cumin, know that you can use most of it to make healthy batches of 3-4 DIY spice blends. And get the most bang for your buck.

Infused Vinegar or Oils

I don’t have a ton of these around my pantry yet. I get by with just a few & mainly garlic at that.

Garlic infused olive oil or thyme-infused vinegar make great pops of flavor in the pantry. And if you haven’t ever confit some garlic…GIRL.

The garlic gets a makeover. It’s completely transformed from the pungent, sharp bite you may recognize to an almost sweet, melty delicacy.

Whole cloves of garlic are roasted in a luxurious bath of the best quality olive oil you’ve got. Once they come out the oven, they’re instantly spreadable.

I haven’t found a way to make this pantry staple shelf stable yet. So store it in the fridge.

It’s highly recommended you enjoy your garlic confit straight – meaning spread over some toasty bread. But I also throw this into soups, onto roasted veggies. I’ve even mixed a fat dollop into freshly boiled pasta.

Infused-vinegars will easily store in your cabinet as long as you need em to. But if you make them yourself, be sure your herbs are COMPLETELY dry first. Moisture will cause them to spoil.

#2 Use a meal starter

Have you ever used a can of chili starter before? It’s a convenient lil thing. All the familiar flavor of chili in a can so you don’t have to have the staple spices normal chilis require.

You can (& should) have your own meal starters. These are components you can pull from pantry, fridge, or freezer to speed up weeknight or holiday cooking.

Something that’s tasty. Extra flavorful. Use in a pinch or as the star. They not only get you going, they keep the party going.

Classic Homemade marinara Sauce

It’s a staple because it’s tomato-based. And tomatoes if you haven’t met, can pull all sorts of dishes together. Seemingly out of thin air!

Shakshouka. A North-African poached egg style dish with pepper & onions, garlic & tomatoes. It’s really delicious though my description is lacking. And it’s fun to make as the eggs cook up in these lil nests you make in the sauce!

Marinara is the choice for me because I prefer the thicker texture to traditional tomato sauces. I love using marinara for my lasagnas, spaghettis, even homemade flatbreads when I’m going for a more traditional tomato-style pizza.

A good & simple traditional marinara sauce can be made ahead of time & either canned (following trusted protocols ofc). Or you can freeze smaller batches & use as needed.

(As I’ve learned about authentic, regional cooking I came across Marcella Hazan who is the godmother of Italian cooking so it seems. This is her 3 ingredient tomato sauce recipe I plan to try soon.)

Caramelized Onions

Stop. The. Track.

Onions might be overdone in my kitchen. But things get infinitely better when we start talking about caramelizing them.

My favorite way to keep deeply brown, rich & buttery caramelized onions on hand is to prepare them in my 22qt roaster oven. I’ll process 40lb of onions at a time. Cooking them down, low & slow with gobs of delicious butter until their reduced to the most potent of flavors.

The house doesn’t smell nearly as sour as you might imagine, btw.

Then I pressure can them before storing them for long-term use. The use & amount of butter in this recipe could be considered against popular canning guidelines.

So do your research & test your own limits. Don’t come for mine, hello. That’s the disclaimer.

Because I love these jammy onions so much, I batch these beauties once every couple years.

Then I shamelessly pull an 8oz jar off the shelf for any number of things.

Flatbread/pizza bases. (Because of the butter, I do not add any other sauces like garlic alfredo or classic tomato pizza sauce.)

Crockpot chilis, stews, roasts. And any recipe I happen across that calls for caramelized onions gets a jar.

This one starter alone has ended up in more eggs & dinners than I can count. It’s probably my most used pantry staple.

My fam-famous burger recipe is another freezer staple I have to keep on hand. The flavors are so familiar to us & tasty.

The smokiness of the cumin or paprika. The classic-ness of garlic powder & onions. The hint of honey BBQ sauce just goes so well with the 50/50 mix of ground beef & ground pork.

You could easily swap the meat for ground chicken or ground turkey – even ground venison or sausage. But whatever you like, once made you have a bunch of good-eatin’ options.

Burgers for ya grill in the summertime.
Meatballs for ya pasta (or hoagie) & marinara sauce in the fall.
Lasagna & spaghetti is easy anytime.
Meatloaf or shepherd’s pie when you need some homestyle, old-fashioned comfort food.

If stored in an air-tight container or package like a vacuum sealer, this meat mix lasts 6mo or more. Freeze it flat for the best results (& quicker defrosting time too!)

Bone Broth & Stock

This is a meal starter because honestly, you can warm a mug of this & be good.

Nutrient-dense bone broth is rich in flavor, vitamins & minerals & also freezes really well.

Pull it out when you need something hearty but quick. Use it as a soup base, as the cooking liquid for rice, pastas or beans to infuse more nutrients & flavor.

Flavored Rices

Lemme just put you on to something you might not know about yet.

Frozen. Rice.

Yes, girl. It’s a thing! A really good one too. And it goes like this.

Make up your Mexican rice, cilantro lime rice, coconut rice or plain white rice (jasmine or sushi) & then portion into Souper Cube freezer trays & freeze.

Now if you don’t have Souper Cubes, you can portion out family or individual size servings in other vessels. After freezing, I recommend vacuum sealing the food so it lasts longer.

When you’re ready for a meal, or just need to top one off, grab a puck or two. Thicken soups & stews, pair with curries. Serve beside soft-scrambled eggs with some sweet chili sauce or sriracha.

Rice is one of the pantry staples I always have on hand, but it was game changing to find out I don’t always need to cook it when we want it. So I keep some varieties frozen now.

Authentic Southern Baked Mac & Cheese

I include this because homemade from-scratch macaroni & cheese is the ultimate comfort food here. It’s sometimes a meal just by itself, ngl.

But if you keep 3-4 pans of this in your freezer, you can kick off any number of great meals. (Or round out ones that need a lil sum sum special!)

From-scratch mac the way everyone’s grandma used to make before Velveeta hit the scene & ruined it for everyone.

I said what I said.

After being the mac maker of our family for years, I can confidently say that this is the best mac & cheese without Velveeta recipe around. And the best part is that it freezes so well for later.

#3 Finish With Dessert

If you have a mean sweet tooth like me, sometimes the only way to calm things down is to have sweet things on hand.

But the rest of your body might be screaming at you to not eat it. So what’s a girl to do, eh?

Live your life! In moderation ahahaha

Having a few sweeter pantry & freezer staples around makes baking make-ahead sweets or holiday comfort desserts come together in a breeze.

Pretty Sweet Things

Cranberries (& other dried fruits) or Homemade Jams

If you can your own fruits & jams or otherwise preserve the fruits of the season, they’re handy to have.

For a little effort in the fall/winter, home canned cranberries turn into sweet treats all year long. My husband likes making refreshing mixers with them by adding apple juice. And my toddlers enjoy drinking them straight.

My home canned cranberries have no added sugar, so I also will add them to yogurt bowls. The same with the many flavors of homemade fruit jams we like.

These most often become biscuit toppings or mix-ins with breakfast oatmeals. Smoothies & yogurt bowls are often graced too.

I most often make low & no-sugar added fruit jams using Pomona’s pectin. They’re canned to make them shelf stable for months to come.

It’s the perfect way to harvest the essence of each passing season while adding quick variety to meals & snacks year round.

Apple maple jam. Classic homemade strawberry jam. Blackberry jam for waffles.

Your choices are only limited by your imagination.

Brown sugar

This simple staple is underrated. It’s as easy to make as it is to buy & store. The ingredients are sugar & molasses.

When you make your own homemade brown sugar for baking you don’t necessarily have to differentiate between light brown sugar & dark brown sugar.

The amount of molasses determines the nuttiness of the bake or treat. But otherwise, I stick to this basic ratio.

1 teaspoon-ish molasses to 1 cup of sugar.

Mix it well (with hands is best) and store in an air-tight container. It doesn’t go bad, but if you don’t keep it air-tight it can get hard.

Infused Honeys

The same way you can infuse an olive oil with rosemary, thyme, etc – you can infuse your honey!

Adding herbs, spices & such to your honey is a deliciously interesting way to jazz up the table. Whether you choose to go savory with garlic cloves or spicy with hot peppers!

You can even use dried flowers for a floral touch.

Then, girl get to drizzling that good stuff over pancakes, biscuits, toast, muffins, yogurt, granola or just sneak spoonfuls for an energy pick-me-up. I certainly won’t judge!

Make-ahead dessert precursors

Anything that’s gonna make it easier (within reason) to satisfy that sweet tooth itch falls into this category.

• homemade boxed baking mixes like brownies, cookies in a jar, blondies, cakes of all sorts, dessert crumble topping. You get the point. (And yes…a good old-fashioned pound cake is one of these musts because the slices freeze & re-warm up beautifully!)
• frozen apple or other fruit slices are handy because they turn into fried apples for breakfast sides or ice cream toppings pretty easily. And if you made crumble topping (👆🏽), the frozen fruit slices are the perfect convenience item to pair with that.
• cinnamon sugar mix is the critical piece of a classic snickerdoodle (which can be made ahead btw). My ratio is 1 tbsp sugar to 1 tsp cinnamon powder.
• brownies are the perfect freezer baking staples. Because I like brownie mix more than brownies, I’m known for having individually vacuum-sealed brownies in the freezer that I almost never get around to eating. But every now & again…it calls to me.
• cookie doughs make having a guilty pleasure moment easy. And the best part is that it’s easy to control portions. When you make the dough, you can either fully bake & freeze or freeze them raw. Pack (vacuum seal) in just sets of 3-6 cookies that way you’re never tempted to eat more than you should while having enough for now & later, or his & hers. 🤫 Strawberry cheesecake cookies, super soft lemon cookies, classic choc chip (with pecans when I have em!) and snickerdoodle cookie doughs have a permanent place in my freezer.

Now, while it’s not a precursor having lemon bars or key lime bars, cheesecakes & such are exciting treats to make ahead & freeze too.

Use mini cupcake pans for the cheesecakes or bake in 9×13 pans so you can cut into bars. This helps with portion control.

Nothing worse than making up a whole cake & only wanting or needing a slice or two but you gotta defrost the whole entire thing.

Sweet comforts

Things like Momma’s homemade waffle mix. Easy homemade cornbread mix – a lil Jiffy knock-off.

Biscuit mix (or just biscuits made up & frozen for later). Muffins in every shade & flavor you can think of.

These small touches make a memorable moment come to life with little time or effort. They aren’t strictly desserts or breakfasts. They’re the start of something good.

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When your pantry and freezer are well stocked with these sorts of items homestyle comfort meals are always in hand. Feeling like ya passport just got a few stamps is easy too.

But if you want a personal tip then here’s that. start with an all-purpose dry seasoning mix you can use on everything.

Which of these reliable pantry & freezer staples do you stand by? Share yours in the comments!