What do you have in your pantry? If you have followed this blog for awhile, you know I am a complete and total believer in a stocked pantry and well-planned food storage. We eat out of both, but the food from our pantry and food storage would become very bland if we didn’t keep a well-rounded selections of seasonings and spices on hand.

Not having seasonings and spices on hand is one of the most overlooked items in food storage. Many people build up their food storage and plan on eating a lot of rice, potatoes, and pasta, but they do not think about what they are going to do to make it taste better. Eating rice is good; eating rice for days on end without seasoning becomes very, very boring and monotonous.

This is what I keep in my pantry for seasonings and spices. I have more than listed, but this is my necessary, have to have list. You may keep different things depending on your tastes and cooking preferences.

1. Salt. I don’t believe you can have enough salt. Salt has an indeterminate shelf life and will help you keep the appropriate sodium levels when you are working hard and sweating more. I keep Kosher salt, sea salt, pickling salt, and table salt on hand.

2. Black Pepper. I prefer and keep coarse ground black pepper on hand as well as peppercorns to grind and for canning.

3. Chili Powder. We make and eat a lot of Mexican-like foods as well as make our own taco seasoning.

4. Cumin. For same reasons as chili powder.

5. Onion Powder and Dehydrated Onions. Most of the time I prefer using fresh or frozen onions, but when I need to I keep onion powder on hand. I also use this in the making of certain seasonings.

6. Dried Parsley

7. Dried Basil, Oregano, Thyme, Bay Leaves, Dill Weed.

8. Garlic Powder and Garlic Salt.

9. Cinnamon

10. Allspice

11. Nutmeg

12. Ground Ginger. Again, I prefer to use fresh, but I have recipes that ground ginger is necessary.

13. Italian Seasoning. I use this in almost everything. Almost. I find this necessary.

14. Pumpkin Pie Seasoning.

15. Seasoning Salt. I like to use Morton’s Natural Seasonings without MSG. I use this a lot too.

16. Pickling Spices, Mustard Seeds, Celery Seeds, Dill Seed, Turmeric. I use this in canning so I like to keep these on hand.

17. Steak Seasoning. I could make this myself and sometimes I do. I also like Tom’s Steak and Pork Seasoning that I can buy locally.

18. Paprika

19. Ranch Seasoning. I usually buy organic ranch seasoning packets because I like the flavor these have. I haven’t been able to duplicate them either.

20. Vanilla Extract. I make my own, but I still like to keep some on backup.

What do you like to keep in your pantry and food storage?

Thanks for reading,
Erica

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