this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2026
52 points (96.4% liked)

Cooking

10512 readers
296 users here now

Lemmy

Welcome to LW Cooking, a community for discussing all things related to food and cooking! We want this to be a place for members to feel safe to discuss and share everything they love about the culinary arts. Please feel free to take part and help our community grow!

Taken a nice photo of your creation? We highly encourage sharing with our friends over at !foodporn@lemmy.world.


Posts in this community must be food/cooking related. Recipes for dishes you've made and post picture of are encouraged but are not a requirement. Posts of food you are enjoyed or just think like food are welcomed as well.

Posts can optionally be tagged. We would like the use and number of tags to grow organically. Feel free to use a tag that isn't listed if you think it makes sense to do so. We encourage using tags to help organize and make browsing easier, but you don't have to use them if you don't want to.

TAGS:

FORMAT:

[QUESTION] What are your favorite spices to use in soups?

Other Cooking Communities:

!bbq@lemmy.world - Lemmy.world's home for BBQ.

!foodporn@lemmy.world - Showcasing your best culinary creations.

!sousvide@lemmy.world - All things sous vide precision cooking.

!koreanfood@lemmy.world - Celebrating Korean cuisine!


While posting and commenting in this community, you must abide by the Lemmy.World Terms of Service: https://legal.lemmy.world/tos/

  1. Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, ableist, or advocating violence will be removed.
  2. Be civil: disagreements happen, but that doesn’t provide the right to personally insult others.
  3. Spam, self promotion, trolling, and bots are not allowed
  4. Shitposts and memes are allowed until they prove to be a problem.

Failure to follow these guidelines will result in your post/comment being removed and/or more severe actions. All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users. We ask that the users report any comment or post that violates the rules, and to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

What do you always have on hand? Why?

I'd count refrigerated items as pantry staples if they keep for longer than a couple weeks.

One recent addition to my pantry has been dried chillies - great base for red chile sauce for enchiladas. Those plus maseca and some beans (also both staples) and I have a base for amazing enchiladas or tacos or whatever.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] e0qdk@reddthat.com 9 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Not an exhaustive list, but here's some of what I usually have on hand (including fridge/freezer items that keep a long time):

  • Pasta (various kinds but usually at least spaghetti and shells)
  • Canned beans (I usually have black beans and chickpeas + sometimes others)
  • Canned tomatoes
  • Chicken stock (either in tetrapaks, cubes, paste or some other shelf-stable version) -- sometimes other kinds of stock (e.g. vegetable stock too) but usually at least chicken stock
  • Salt, Pepper, MSG + a good selection of various dried herbs/spices/seasonings (e.g. basil, oregano, cumin, cayenne, garlic powder, etc.)
  • Soy sauce
  • Vinegar
  • Olive oil
  • Neutral vegetable oil
  • Butter
  • Canned fish (at least tuna and/or sardines)
  • Cheeses (I usually have Parmesan, pepper jack, and American cheese slices that melt easily [e.g. velveeta or kraft singles or something like that] plus sometimes cheddar or Swiss)
  • Peanut butter
  • Flour
  • Baking soda
  • Yeast
  • Chocolate
  • Cocoa powder
  • Sugar
  • Eggs
  • Milk (UHT lasts a long time)
  • Salsa
  • Canned or frozen green vegetables (e.g. peas, spinach, etc.)
  • Rice
  • Bread (frozen for storage)
  • Dried lentils
  • Dried fruit
  • Cornstarch
  • Ground meat (frozen)
  • Tea
  • Ketchup
  • Mustard
  • Mayonnaise

(may add more to this as I think of things)