Pantry Items & Kitchen Tools

Many of the items that we use in our pantry and our kitchen appliances are shown on our website (click here). Use that page as a guide to get pictures and descriptions of the items. Amazon may or may not have the best prices, but at least you can see what they are.

It Costs Too Much to Eat This Way

People often ask, “isn’t it expensive to eat this way?”. It may seem so at first. When you are making new recipes and each of them call for different spices and weird ingredients, it may get expensive trying to build up your pantry. It may also get expensive if you are insistent on buying everything organic. And if you get caught up buying “fake” meats or other processed products, they are expensive too.

If you stick with the basics, like fresh produce, grains and legumes, the cost is actually less. A pound of beans (especially dry beans) costs much less than a pound of beef.

Try not to Overstock

Now that you are getting into the groove, you may be tempted to overstock your pantry and kitchen tools. Try to focus on what you really need. I remember going to the produce store and finding a Daikon Radish. I was very excited because I had seen it in a recipe and never heard of it, but now I found it! The lady at the register asked me what it was, and I proudly told her. Then she asked me what I was going to make with it, and I couldn’t remember. When I got home and found the recipe, I didn’t have the rest of the ingredients on hand so I never used it. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Buy only the ingredients that you know you are going to use. Before you buy it, know how you are going to use it. I know that sometimes it is difficult to pass up that beautiful head of cabbage, but will you use it?

Flours are another item that I tended to stock up on when I first started. I had every kind in my pantry! And yes, it was expensive because they were all organic too! Everything is so new and exciting - Yay, I found spelt flour! Whole wheat flour is on sale, I’d better stock up! Wait, there’s whole wheat, whole wheat pastry and “white” whole wheat? I’d better get all of them! This chickpea flour is gluten free! Yup, I bought them all. Oh, and then I’d make one good recipe - say Ruben Pizza - and I stocked up on the rye flour that I used for the crust. You know what other recipes call for rye flour? None. At least nothing that I was making!

I almost forgot about the vinegars. All it took was one video of Ann Esselstyn talking about how much she loves vinegar and I bought every kind I could find. By the way, if anyone finds a good use for chocolate vinegar, please let me know. I have two bottles.

You Do You!

I notice that a lot of the recipe books, especially beginner recipe books, like to tell you what you need in your pantry to get started. When I look through them, I realize that I don’t have half of that stuff in my pantry. We all lean towards different foods and you will figure it out as you go. Don’t try to get everything on their list. Not everyone likes Liquid Aminos or buckwheat groats. It seems to me that pumpkin puree appears as a pantry staple in every plant-based cookbook but I’ve never used it. The same goes for spices. What the heck is Fenugreek anyway? I’ve never seen it called for in a recipe yet it appears as a “staple”.

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes it’s fun to buy an ingredient and then figure out how to use it. At one time we joined a crop-share group from a local aquaponics farm and we would get a box of different greens each week. It was fun finding recipes for these items that we had never heard of or used before.

Keep it Simple.

If you are like me, you may not have a lot of room on your counter and you may not like clutter. I am very selective about what appliances stay out and what gets put in the closet. You don’t have to buy every appliance. But when you do, make sure that you do your homework. Read reviews, and focus on the things that are most important to you.

For me, my most treasured kitchen tool is my chef’s knife. A friend recommended that I go to the store and try different brands before purchasing and I’m glad I did. You will use your knife more than anything, and they are not cheap if you are going to get a good one. I took my time and considered what I liked and didn’t like about my old knife. I realized that I liked the weight of it, the shape, and the biggest problem was that it did not last after being sharpened. I found a quality knife that had the same feel and I have been very happy with it! (I use a Wusthof 8 inch hollow edge chef’s knife (4572/20 cm))

Don’t buy a new gadget for only one thing. Is there another way to achieve the same results? You can achieve the same results of a submersion blender by spooning your soup into a regular blender. But if you find yourself doing that often, a submersion blender may be a good purchase for you. They are relatively small and inexpensive. The same goes for blenders. You can use a regular blender to make a lot of items including almond milk if you plan ahead and soak the almonds. But if you find that consistency in other dishes is important to you and you don’t always plan ahead, you may want to purchase a high speed blender such as a Vitamix (my second favorite kitchen tool).

I do feel the need to give a shout out to my third favorite kitchen tool which is my Instant Pot. I use it about three times a week, but that’s because my family loves soups. I love that I can use dry beans in it without soaking them (it is better to soak them if you plan ahead).

Don’t fall for the fads. Air fryers are very popular right now but they are big and bulky. Are you considering buying one just to make fries? What else will you make in it? I find that they do not make a whole lot of food, so if you are feeding a family of 4, is it worth your time to make 4 batches of fries in the air fryer or is it easier to just make them in the oven? If you have other items that you plan to make in it, or you are also feeding family members who are not WFPB and you can make food for them in it, go for it!

Make Your Own Ingredients When You Have Time

You can save money by making your own foods from scratch when you have time. You can easily make almond milk by putting six cups of water and a half cup of almonds into a high speed blender. I strain mine through a nut milk bag and it comes out perfect (I’ve had mine almost 3 years now).

Save your veggie scraps in a ziplock bag in the freezer. When the bag is full, dump it in a pot and add water and a couple of bay leaves. Boil then simmer for a few hours and let cool. I usually strain mine the next day after it has cooled in the refrigerator. Chris bought me a paint strainer bag and it works like a charm! Just put the bag around the rim of a clean pot and dump the broth mixture into it. Lift the bag and clean, strained broth remains in the pot (check out the instructional video on my YouTube channel).

Depending on the type of blender you have, you can make your own flours. My Vitamix has a dry container and I have used rolled oats to make oat flour, and I’ve even used popcorn kernels to make cornmeal.

Chris loves seitan. You can easily make your own with Vital Wheat Gluten. I use the Bob’s Red Mill brand and use the recipe on the back. It is the best basic recipe that I have found so far.

The Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen

Each year a new list is released of the “Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen”. This is a list of the top 12 foods that you should probably consider buying organic because they use the most pesticides on them. Strawberries are almost always number one. The Clean Fifteen are foods that are normally grown with the least amount of pesticides, so you can save money by buying them conventionally grown instead of organic.

This year, raisins were brought up. They do not appear on the list because they are not considered to be fresh produce, but non-organic raisins would rank high on the pesticide list.

You can find the full Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen list here.

It Doesn’t Have to Cost a Fortune!

You don’t have to spend a lot to eat healthy. I believe the opposite is true. You may have to spend a little to get your pantry started, but overall you will spend less money on a whole food, plant-based way of eating than you will on a conventional diet. So let’s keep going! You’ve come this far and you are doing great!!!

If you need help just reach out. Post a comment below or send me a private email any time and I will get back to you with the best response I can. And if you enjoy this blog, please like and subscribe below. Thank you for your support!

Items mentioned in my blog are available at Amazon through links on my website. You will not be charged extra for these items, however purchasing them through my link will help me to continue to provide valuable information and motivation to my followers. Thank you!