Today I’m teaming up with Gennie from The Gift of Gab to share our essential ingredients for cooking. These are our personal favorite items to keep in the house, not necessarily what everyone needs. See what I consider to be my essential ingredients, and be sure to hop over and check out Gennie’s.
It’s no secret that I love cooking. While I’m often creating and experimenting with new recipes, I definitely have a few favorites that I rotate through on a regular basis. In addition, there are a few ingredients that show up in nearly every recipe I make.
When I go shopping, I’m almost always stocking up on my top 8 ingredients. These are the things I use several times a week (if not every day) and am always running low on.
Chicken
I stock up on bags of frozen chicken when it’s BOGO at Winn-Dixie. We eat chicken most nights, so I always keep it in the house. Usually I’ll try to mix it up and buy some ground turkey or tilapia each week, too.
Spices
I couldn’t really break this out into individual items or it would take up most of my list! Spices are definitely a must for me, and I use them in every recipe I make. My most common are salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder.
Coconut Oil
We have switched over to using coconut oil for almost everything now. Every so often I need to use olive oil, but most of the time I stick with coconut oil. It can be expensive, but I try to buy in bulk and look for sales or coupons.
Rice
We don’t eat a lot of pasta or bread, so we eat rice with almost every meal. I buy a huge bag and it will last us for awhile. The nice thing is, rice is cheap!
Bacon
No joke, we go through at least 2 or 3 packs of bacon a week! It’s not just a breakfast food for us, it can be added to just about anything. One of my favorite things is to cook bacon and then use the grease instead of oil to cook whatever I was going to make. Yum!
Blue Cheese
Another item we go through a crazy amount of is blue cheese. Andrew and I both love cheese of any kind, but blue cheese is our favorite. It’s especially good with buffalo sauce or on burgers.
Eggs
Lately I’ve been thinking I need to start buying more eggs each week because we almost always run out of them by the end of the week. Not only do I use them in recipes and for breakfast, but Andrew and I like to have “breakfast for dinner” quite often. We cook up some chicken and bacon and scramble them with some eggs and veggies.
Spaghetti Squash
This is a recent addition to the list. Andrew has been doing Paleo for the month, and so I’ve been trying to make our dinners completely Paleo. We rediscovered spaghetti squash and have been loving it! It’s great by itself or as a substitute for pasta.
Now that you’ve learned what my essential ingredients are, head over to The Gift of Gab to learn what Gennie considers to be her essential ingredients.
What are the most important ingredients for you to keep in the house?
Jaelan @ Making Mrs. M says
YES! These are great kitchen staples. I try to keep my kitchen stocked with most of these and some others, too. I definitely keep my fridge stocked with plain greek yogurt. You can substitute it for so many things, and it makes a great breakfast with fruit! 😉
Jenna Brussee says
Greek yogurt is something I need to keep in the house! I love using it for a healthy substitute.
Gennie says
These are perfect!! I’ve been using spaghetti squash a lot more, and I absolutely love it but didn’t consider it an essential until now! It’s great to have around for so many recipes! 🙂 Thanks for teaming up with me, girl!
Jenna Brussee says
We use at least one spaghetti squash a week! A couple weeks ago I tried a quiche recipe that used spaghetti squash for the crust. YUM! I’ll definitely be developing my own version for the blog soon.
Nina B says
I can’t say they are the exact same for me (not a blue cheese fan) but I always know I can come here and be inspired with my cooking by your cooking.
Jenna Brussee says
The list is definitely different for everyone. Aww, thanks Nina! So glad to hear that.
Anna @ The Beauty Section says
This is a fun post! Definitely chicken for sure! I have wanted to try spaghetti squash, but just haven’t yet! Sounds interesting!
Jenna Brussee says
You should try it! It’s really easy to make and there are all sorts of yummy ways to use it. Once you try it you will be hooked, too!
Brittany Bergman says
So many of these are staples for me, too! Especially chicken and healthy oils (I usually keep coconut, olive, and sesame on the counter). I love that you keep bacon in the house — but shhh, don’t tell my husband or I’ll have to add it to the weekly list! 🙂 I also always have a couple onions and some fresh garlic on hand. They’re the base of pretty much everything I make!
ashortblonde says
We go through a lot of eggs too. And Amen to cooking with bacon fat. Yummy. 😉
Jenna Brussee says
Heck yes! Bacon fat makes everything better.
Amanda says
Cheese. Let’s just say the vegan lifestyle would not work for us. We love cheese! And chicken for sure. You can always make something delicious with chicken.
Jenna Brussee says
Exactly! That’s why I could never go full Paleo either.