Important Supplies For
Your Basic Cooking Needs
We aren't trying to
get gourmet cooks out of you and don't ask that of yourself to start with.
Just good tasty meals, you can always go off into the specialized cooking
once you get the basics. Here is a list of item that will help you get a
good start. I am not going to give you a list of meats to have on hand, as
I think you can buy them as you decide on your menus, its a good idea to
at least plan menus for at least to or three days at a time. Then
you are not running to the store every day. It is a good idea to have
some kind of containers to put your flour, granular sugar, brown sugar,
and powdered sugar. I like to use ice cream pails after they are emptied, but you
can buy a canister set that is not very expensive.
Here's what you should keep on hand
1 bottle vanilla. Imitation is fine it costs less
and there is hardly no difference between it and pure but you can get the
pure if you like.
10 lbs white sugar.
2 lbs brown sugar. To keep your brown sugar soft and easy to work with keep a couple slices of bread in it.
2 lbs powdered sugar.
10 lbs all purpose flour. The cheaper the better.
1 box baking powder. Any size any price.
1 can baking soda. Any size any price.
1 box iodized salt. Iodine is needed in your diet and it is not found in many foods.
1 can black pepper ground.
1 jar of mustard.
4 cans tomato sauce.
3 or 4 cans evaporated milk.
1 bottle ketsup.
A dozen eggs. (See bottom of page for a note about buying eggs.)
1 jar of salad dressing.
1 box of saltine crackers. The cheaper the better.
1 can of bread crumbs. The cheaper the better.
1 box of minute rice. You can use regular rice
but the minute rice is better to learn with as the cooking time is shorter
1 box bisquick. The brand doesn't matter.
1 box oatmeal. I like the instant oatmeal but either will be fine.
1 bottle of cooking oil. I use the canola oil
but you can use what ever you want. Don't buy olive oil for baking with
but for frying foods it is fine. Sometimes I use a little of both kinds I
think it fries better,and of course don't try to deep fry with olive oil.
2 or 3 cans cream of mushroom soup or cream of chicken soup.
2 or 3 cans tuna. Water packed or oil which ever you like best, of course the water packed has less calories, but I am not going to deal with trying to make foods for special diets now, remember we are just learning to cook something easy and eatable
Keep a couple of onions on hand also or if your family doesn't like onion, you can use onion salt or onion powder in its place, they wont know its there, most of the time the people who don't like onion, don't like the feel of them in their mouth not the taste.
Its a good idea to keep a box of instant potatoes on hand too, and instant potatoes makes a great thing to roll different meat in as a breading. its wonderful on fish.
If you like macaroni and cheese the cheap brand is
not quite a good as the name brand but I like to add cheese whiz
to it to make it smoother and cheesier so I get the cheap brand,
also the cheap brand of cheese whiz. Another hint on the boxed mac and cheese, I like to buy several of them, so if I feel like making a macaroni salad, the macaroni cooks in about 7 minutes, and I keep the packet of cheese to add to scalloped potatoes for a cheesier flavor. it works great.
Also keep a couple of packets of all the following mixes on hand
Brown gravy mix
Chicken gravy mix
Country gravy mix
Chilli seasoning mix
Taco seasoning mix
Spaghetti sauce mix
Sloppy Joe mix
All the following spices can be found at wal-mart or at a dollar store for as little as 50 cents
1 can cream of tartar ( found where the spices
are)
1 shaker of onion salt
1 shaker garlic powder
1 shaker
cinnamon
1 shaker red pepper
1 shaker of paprika
1 shaker
oregano
There will be other things that will come up in our cooking that you will add to your pantry, but these are some of the most basics.
Buying Eggs
I like to buy the medium size but I get what ever the best buy is, sometimes they have boxes of irregular sizes put in separate boxes, there is not a thing wrong with them, most of the time its just because other boxes of eggs have been broken so they just group the ones that are not broken together. Also the brown eggs are as good as the white, they just come from a chicken called a Rhode island red, the chickens are red so they lay red eggs, the yolk tend to be a little darker in color, but the taste is the same. If the eggs that are on sale are the small ones I just use an extra one in the recipe. Like if a recipe calls for 2 large eggs I use 3 small ones. If the recipe calls for 2 large eggs and I only have 2 small ones I add a little water to make up the difference. Just fill one of the broken egg shells with water and add it, I have never noticed any difference in the recipe. Maybe if you were making an angle food cake from scratch then it might make a difference.