If you’re just starting to cook from scratch, you may be questioning where to start.

Or maybe you’ve mastered a few recipes and you want to see what other people just keep in their kitchens.

Either way, I’m happy to share! I’ve been cooking from scratch for my family of 7 for a long long time now, and this list is the comprehensive list of staples I keep. Always. For every season and every holiday.

I have built this list over the last 15 or so years, and each thing has earned its spot there. Yeah. Even the anchovies.

There are times when I might add in things like egg noodles (in the winter for a heart chicken noodle soup) or peaches (in the summer for homemade peach ice cream,) and of course there are things I get for funsies every month or two like chips or cookies. And there are some things that come and go- like right now, I don’t have many nuts in our house, but we may go through a massive pecan phase again in the fall. For the most part, though, this is what you’ll find in my kitchen. And from this, I can make almost anything I want.

In addition, I always have sourdough starter and yeast. Always.

One reason I really love keeping an actual list is because I can easily go to it when it’s time to grocery shop. This also works as a sort of inventory control. I can easily pop over to my google drive and see what I have in stock at home anytime I’m out. No need to re-buy things if I don’t need to!

In that same, vein, as I sit down to meal plan, I can go through my list and see what I have a lot of. That tells me I need to do a bit of a focus on those ingredients.

This has been massively helpful to me, so I hope it can be helpful for you as well!

I wanted to share a link to my checklist if you’d like to download it to change it to make it your own: Pantry Checklist

Or if you’d prefer, you can download it as a guide: