Staples in my Kitchen

It's always good to keep your kitchen stocked with stuff you use regularly. I'm a buy-in-bulk, get-it-on-sale person. If you like the end result, brand isn't too important to me. As you'll quickly see, I'm not particular. I substitute everything all the time. As long as it tastes good, who cares?

What I ALWAYS have:

Olive oil. I pretty much cook everything in olive oil. Extra virgin, Greek, Italian, Venusian. Whatever. I usually buy what's on sale and still tastes good.

Sea salt. Somehow tastier than regular salt.

Black pepper. I like the kind you grind fresh, because I am clumsy and end up dumping in too much of the pre-ground stuff.

Honey.

Spices. Sometimes I buy stuff for a specific dish, but I consider these regulars:
Basil
Cayenne
Cumin
Paprika
Turmeric
Ginger
Garlic powder

You can see that the stuff I buy is not at all fancy. Can I show brand names? Will they be insulted if I say they're not fancy? Don't tell anyone, ok?

Garlic. The fresh kind, whole heads of it. You can use pre-chopped if you want, but when I cook, I want chunks of garlic.

Onions. Always. Doesn't matter what kind, maybe you like red, yellow, white, spanish, shallots. I use them in practically everything.

Flour.

Eggs.

Butter.

Parmesan cheese. I like to have this around because I'm sort of passionate about it, and when I don't have some in the fridge, I feel anxious and incomplete. I usually buy a little block of it, but get the "shakey" kind if you like it.

Pasta. Again, whatever kind you want. I usually have some long noodles and some shapey noodles.

Soy sauce.

Almond milk. Or soy milk. Or whatever. Shhh I'm lactose intolerant so I use non-dairy milk. I made an executive decision long ago that cheese doesn't count as "lactose."

Some kind of whole grain. Right now I have barley. I like to experiment with lots of things though, quinoa, amaranth, farro.
I also pretty much always have brown rice.

I guess that's about it! Since I'm planning to post shopping lists as well as recipes, I can let you know when there's something that I had to buy for particular dishes, like fresh fruits and veggies. Happy kitchen stocking!