these things should be in your pantry.

so, i was thinking that before i started putting up recipes, i would post some ingredients that should always be in the pantry to make your life easier. i suggest perhaps purchasing these things when you go on that grocery trip with mom and dad before you go back to school for the semester. or when mom and dad visit during parent's weekend and you conveniently all go to wal mart and load up on necessities.

These are mostly things that keep for a long time (ie- spices and sauces) and they add seemingly complex flavors to really simple dishes. there, that's secret number one :-)


-lemon juice (brings out fresh flavors and is great to marinate chicken to throw on the George Foreman. Also, it's great in rum and coke).

-garlic salt (keeps forever and comes in huge canisters so you only have to buy once)

- onion powder (i just solved the problem of adding perfect flavor to everything without buying/chopping/storing/or crying over onions)

-lime juice (for SoCo, sprite, and lime cocktails if not for tequila lime shrimp)

-Wine (red and white. for de-stress and for instant awesome pasta)

-butter (if you have baking to do on the fly, keep it so you don't have to go out and buy it)

-nonstick cooking spray (trust me)

-vegetable or canola oil (to put in pans if you're browning ground beef or to put on the George Foreman if you're grilling!)

-rice krispies (you never know when you want to make an easy variation of rice krispie treats... you may not believe me on this one but when you get tired of going to the grocery store at 11 o'clock at night over and over because you have to take them to an event the next day, you'll listen to me!)

-boxes of pasta noodles (even if you are down to the bare minimum of groceries, you can ALWAYS make a great pasta dish out of something)

-chicken broth (you use it more than you think!)

-package of frozen veggies


ome of these seem like you are already planning recipes, but trust me there is nothing better than thinking you have nothing that goes together to make anything edible, and then realizing you have frozen veggies and a pack of rice for a great vegetarian stir fry.

oh yeah, and if it's allowed and if it's in the budget, spring for a George Foreman little grill! They're not very expensive and you can say hello to healthy eating just like that! and let's face it, we don't want to get the freshman 15, do we? as least not due to food intake....

so go! buy! and get ready to cook! who knows, you might even enjoy this :-)