Amidst work, household chores, and family, finding the time to cook up something awesome is often a mammoth task. When your tummy growls and you want to have something you really relish, the mere thought of running to the supermarket to get the ingredients can push you towards ordering food, which is just a click away! You should know that though it’s convenient, in the long run, it can be quite detrimental for your gut health.
Your pantry can be your savior in such situations. Generally, the pantry in any household encompasses the refrigerator and kitchen cupboards, and it serves the purpose of making cooking easier and faster. It helps you put together a flavorful meal in a short time irrespective of the taste and food preferences of your family. Thus, its importance can never be underestimated.
But then, what exactly should you have in your pantry to be sure that you can prepare a decent and delicious meal whenever needed? Apart from popular staples like spices and instant noodles, popular chefs say these are the five hush-hush items which you should always have stocked up.
Canned vegetables
Obviously nothing beats the significance of fresh veggies, but canned vegetables should also be included in your pantry. They prove to be extremely useful when you’re running short on a few fresh ones and are perfect for soups, casseroles, and meat-based dinners.
Honey
It’s time you tick-off regular sugar and replace it with the versatile and delicious honey. Apart from being a natural sweetener, honey can also serve as a cough soother, hangover helper, and more. Honey can be used to bring that alluring glaze on meats like pork or ham, and can even be swapped with regular sugar by using it in appropriate amounts. It can be used as a drizzle on pancakes and fruit too.
Bone broth
Another nutritious item to store in your pantry is bone broth. While it tastes lovely when consumed alone, bone broth boosts the flavor when added to other recipes. You can make soups, stews and chilies using bone broth, much like popular chefs do. Also, it makes a great substitute for oil when sautéing vegetables.
Flavored vinegar
Vinegar is extremely good for your body as it helps open up blood vessels and improve blood flow. Although used mainly in Asian dishes, vinegar can be drizzled over almost any dish to brighten up the flavor; for example, in salad dressings, as a pickling solution for cucumbers and radishes, for hard boiling eggs, as a marinade for veggies and meats, when making desserts and French fries, and more. It comes in different flavors like blackberry, strawberry balsamic, apple cider, sherry, red, rice wine etc.
Mustard
Packed with the immune-boosting minerals, selenium and turmeric, mustard proves to be the unsung hero in every pantry with its cancer-fighting properties.
Coming in the three variants of Dijon, spicy brown honey, and classic yellow, mustard can be used to make sauces, as a vinaigrette, with pretzels, as glaze on chicken wings, as dips, and also as sandwich spreads. Mustard is surely one of those condiments that just seems to improve everything it touches.
So, what are you waiting for?
As the weekend approaches, prepare to rush to the grocery store and bring home these five magic ingredients to augment your pantry and your cooking skills.