EXTRA, EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT WE GOT ALL YOUR PLANT-BASED PANTRY STAPLES RIGHT HERE!

We’ve compiled our MUST-HAVE staple items for a plant-based pantry. We love making your plant-based lifestyle easy and sustainable. These pantry staples are one of our top hacks for saving time and money when it comes to your plant-based kitchen.

We’ve included our favourite ways to store pantry items and our go-to staples ingredients!

Above all take our list for inspiration for your own vegan pantry and in no way does your pantry have to look like ours to be able to live a healthy plant-based lifestyle or transition to one for that matter either.

Therefore, take your time building up your dream pantry. We recommend finding the items that you regularly use every single week and to begin there. If you’re using the Plant Ahead Meal Plan, our guide will definitely reflect this guide. Which we believe is quite an added bonus for you. In conclusion, we do hope you’ll find this article to be inspirational and very helpful, too. 

Let’s talk storage: It’s essential when building up your pantry to stay organized! We find this aspect to be a helpful tool and can become a lot of fun with DIY tricks! For instance, one of our favourite DIY hacks is to be able to reuse pasta, jam, peanut butter and condiment jars!

We recommend storing your pantry item for the best organization with the following supplies:

  • Bulk Storage – Large Containers – Flours, Grains, Dried Legumes, Baking and Pasta
  • Mason Jar – Baking, Nuts and Seeds
  • Small Jars/Containers – Spices 

You can even take this one step further and label them (separately) accordingly.

Our top tip when it comes to your pantry is to shop BULK! 

Shopping bulk will save you money and reduces your use of single-use plastic! If you have a bulk store nearby, I would recommend that you pay it a visit because it can be a fun place to explore all of the beautiful plant-based options and you’re helping the planet at the same time too. 

First of all, let’s start with building up your spices and grains! These two items you will use on a regular basis and most likely, they’re both affordable.

SPICES – OUR TOP 10 ON-HAND SPICES

  • Basil
  • Garlic Powder
  • Cinnamon
  • Turmeric 
  • Sea Salt 
  • Black Pepper 
  • Onion Powder
  • Cumin 
  • Nutmeg
  • Chili Powder

GRAINS – OUR TOP 6 ON-HAND GRAINS

  • Brown Rice
  • Quinoa 
  • Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats
  • Organic Quick Oats 
  • Whole Wheat Pasta 
  • Freekah

LEGUMES: WE LOVE LEGUMES!

When you’re in full supply of your legume family, you will always be set for success in the kitchen. You can prepare legumes in many ways, but we personally love to bring our dried legumes to a boil and set them aside to soak overnight. However, if you like to save time you can stock up and purchase the canned variety. Therefore, we recommend looking for sales should you decide to go with this option. 

These are a few favourites that we can’t live without:

  • Lentils – any colour you desire 
  • Chickpeas – canned or dry 
  • Black beans – canned or dry
  • Kidney beans – canned or dry
  • Peas – green peas, split peas or blackeyed peas 
  • Edamame 

At Plant You, we love baked goods, and we make sure our pantry is ready for when that craving hits! This requires flours and baking essentials. We’ve included nuts and seeds in this category as well.

FLOURS:

  • Oat Flour 
  • All Purpose Flour 
  • Whole Wheat Flour 
  • Brown Rice Flour 

BAKING:

  • Arrowroot Powder
  • Organic Dark Chocolate Chips
  • Baking Powder
  • Baking Soda
  • Pitted Dates
  • Cocoa Powder
  • Vanilla Extract
  • Maple Syrup
  • Pumpkin Puree
  • Nutritional Yeast 

NUTS/SEEDS:

  • Hemp seeds 
  • Chia Seeds
  • Ground Flax Seed 
  • Walnuts
  • Almonds
  • Cashews
  • Sunflower Seeds 

Here is the situation!

When following a whole food plant-based diet, we find it beneficial to cook without oil. All of the recipes on the Plant Ahead Meal Plan are 100% oil-free. For instance, we published a blog article that shares precisely why we recommend oil-free cooking and how to get started. Check out the article here: Oil-Free Cooking Guide: Baking, Frying, and Roasting without it!

OUR FAVOURITE OIL ALTERNATIVES:

  • Organic Vegetable Broth 
  • Canned Tomato Sauce or Crushed 
  • Onions (not a pantry item but for sure makes our list – these guys produce wonderful juices for sauteing and frying) 
  • Cornstarch – baking 
  • Applesauce – baking 

Lastly, we have the last few things we feel are worth mentioning. 

BOXED / CANNED – Miscellaneous List of Items: 

  • Boxed Non-dairy milk 
  • Apple Cider Vinegar
  • Balsamic Vinegar
  • Organic Red Wine Vinegar
  • Full Fat or Light Coconut Milk 
  • Nuts and Seed Butter – almond butter, sunflower butter or all-natural peanut butter.
  • Tamari
  • Strained Tomatoes
  • Low Sodium Soy Sauce

There you have it! 

Our Plant-Based Pantry Staples, we hope this rundown provides you with the guidance you need when starting your own plant-based pantry. Certainly, this will take time but will most definitely be worth it. If you want to take this one step further, please check out our Plant Ahead Meal Prep Program to start saving time and money in your kitchen today.