30 Frugal Food Staples that prepare you for any mealtime emergency

“What’s for dinner, Mommy?”

Oops.

A quick peek in your cupboard reveals a tin of anchovies, a box of Shredded Spoonfuls and some chocolate whey powder. Guess it’ll be pizza. Again.

Don’t beat yourself up—but do take steps to turn things around. It’s the New Year. We have a new president. Change is possible. You can transform your resolutions—to spend less, eat healthier and enjoy more home-cooked family meals—into reality.

All it takes is a little preparation—and a shopping list from Copywriters’ Kitchen.

Save time and money with a stocked pantry

Nothing blows your diet—and your budget—faster than take-out food. That’s why frugal food lovers—thrifty gourmands, scratch cooks and other food-obsessed people with an eye on budget—think ahead and prepare.

With a few simple ingredients handy you can easily whip up tasty family dinners, yummy cocktail tidbits or a hearty plate of pasta for company. For pennies.

Am I presumptuous to think you have eggs, milk and bread? If you don’t, add them to the list below, print this post and head out to the grocery store.

Frugal Food Staples Shopping List

1. Canned tomatoes: Keep three 28-ounce cans of tomatoes in your pantry at all times. Yes, San Marzano tomatoes really are better, but any imported Italian plum tomato is fine. Even plain old generic will do in a pinch. Chunky tomato soup, marinara, Amatriciana sauce and chili are among the thousand fast dishes you can make with a foundation of canned tomatoes.
2. Imported pasta is a little more expensive, but so worth it. What other premium main course costs less than $3 a pound? Try to stock several shapes and sizes: penne or rigatoni; spaghetti, spaghettini or bucatini; elbows or campanelle.
3. Oil: A bottle of extra virgin olive oil and one of canola covers any exigency. In addition to sautéing, you can use canola oil for baking muffins, quick breads and pancakes.
4. Vinegar: Stock a variety including red wine, cider, balsamic and (my favorite) rice. For a divine quick salad dressing, whisk together ¼ cup rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons soy sauce and 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil.
5. Sesame oil for dressings, cold sesame noodles, sesame chicken and tofu recipes.
6. Rice: Short grain brown rice (Lundgren) and Arborio are staples at Copywriters’ Kitchen. Experiment and vary your choice: Try fragrant Basmati, versatile long grain white or any number of brown and wild rices.
7. Dried beans: Pounds of chickpeas, lentils and pinto, cannellini, navy and black beans are always on hand at Copywriters’ Kitchen. Lentils cook very quickly allowing you to whip up a hearty soup, salad or delicious lentil curry in minutes. Other wonderful legumes include cranberry, lima and pink beans, split peas and black-eyed peas—try my Spicy Two-bit Black-Eyed Peas with Coriander and Fresh Ginger.
8. Flour: Buy unbleached from a small producer like King Arthur or Heckers.
9. Cornmeal: My friend C., a North Carolinian, superb scratch cook and authority on cornmeal, recommends stone-ground unbolted meal. I obey.






10. Demerara sugar: This minimally processed raw sugar is produced in Mauritius. Yes, it does cost a little more. Domino, however, offers surprisingly affordable 24-ounce bags of this specialty sugar, see photo, right. Try substituting Demerara sugar, with its creamy molasses flavor notes, in your recipes for chocolate chip and sugar cookies—roll sugar cookies in more Demerara before baking. When my children have been especially good, I make them cocoa sweetened with Demerara sugar. (When they’re naughty, I make them drink it unsweetened. Just kidding!)
11. Salt: Kosher salt is best. It’s easier to eyeball measure and tastes superior—though food scientists might argue it’s exactly the same composition as regular salt. I also love black Hawaiian and other rough-ground sea salts, see photo, right.
12. Leavening: It’s nice to have both baking powder and baking soda, but you can get by with one or the other.
13. Dried herbs, spices: Stock your spice shelf with basil, oregano, thyme, cinnamon, paprika, chili powder, thyme, whole pepper corns and bay leaves—for less than $1 each—at CVS or many dollar stores. You’ll also need cumin, coriander, ginger and curry—try East Indian, Asian, Hispanic and other ethnic grocery stores for great bargains.



14. Knorr’s Bouillon cubes: I use Knorr’s to fortify cream sauces, soups, pasta gravies and much more. Go ahead and pillory me, but I’m in good company: English bad boy chef Marco Pierre White says, “Knorr is the best f***ing ingredient in the world, let’s not kid ourselves. Knorr chicken stock cubes? Genius product.” I agree, and Copywriters’ Kitchen stocks Knorr’s Beef and Vegetable along with Chef Marco’s fave, Chicken.
15. Steel-cut oats: Be sure to buy the real thing—not rolled oats or quick-cook Irish oatmeal. (See photo, right.) Properly cooked steel-cut Irish oatmeal bears no resemblance to its sludgy rolled-oats cousin. Soak steel-cut oats the night before you plan to eat oatmeal. Next morning cook oats in water with a pinch of sea salt—cooking time is around 20 minutes. Stir in Demerara sugar and serve with half-and-half, Greek yogurt or—if it’s raining or Monday—heavy cream. Now you’re fortified to face your boss, a long day at the laptop or anything Dow Jones dishes out.
16. Maple syrup: The real thing is essential. In addition to drizzling it over pancakes, French toast and waffles, it’s great on Irish oatmeal, see above, stirred into yogurt and as a sweetener in recipes—you’ll need to decrease recipes’ other liquids slightly.
17. Unsalted butter: Buy a pound, keep a cube in the fridge and store the rest in the freezer.
18. Whole bean coffee: If you’re a coffee drinker, you need to buy freshly roasted, oily dark whole bean coffee. With the money you save skipping one take-out meal, you can invest in a nice electric coffee grinder.



19. Loose tea: Loose-leaf tea provides FAR fuller flavor than tea bags. You can buy fancy loose teas from a number of independent purveyors—my favorite is Paris, a perfumed black tea from Harney. (Buy by the pound for big savings.) But even plain old Lipton loose tea is infinitely better than bagged tea that always leaves a paper-towely aftertaste.
20. Root vegetables: onions, carrots and potatoes. Back in the day, people kept these vegetables for months without refrigeration. So you can rest assured they’ll stay tasty and handy in your fridge for weeks. In addition to rounding out meals as side dishes, carrots and potatoes make fabulous purées and bases for soups, sauces and gravies.
21. Frozen veggies: Choose carefully. Some frozen veggies can be almost as yummy as fresh—peas, spinach, red and green peppers. Others tend to be watery and mushy: cauliflower, carrots and many green beans.
22. Parmesan or other dry aged cheese like Pecorino Romano or—my favorite, Grana Padano. Grated, these cheeses are the sine qua non for many pastas, soups and risottos. Also delicious in chunks with a glass of dry red wine.
23. Fresh garlic. Confession: For years I used bottled minced garlic to avoid stinky fingers. My friend, C., the food authority, taught me the vanity and error of my ways and now I use only fresh garlic. To avoid pungent fingertips, buy a good garlic press—the self-clean kind with a swing-back handle.
24. Lemons: Like garlic, I saw the light and converted from bottled to fresh lemon juice for chicken marinades, salad dressing, hummus and—my favorite summer cocktail—vodka-spiked lemonade. I use lemon zest in cookies, pies, puddings, chicken dishes and minestrone soup.
25. Fresh ginger: Peel and coarse-grate for heavenly lentil and chickpea salads, Thai and Asian soups, stews, satés and much more.
26. Walnuts or almonds for baking, pestos, adding to salads or eating in hand for snacks. Trader Joes and ethnic groceries are good places to look for buys on raw nuts.
27. Mustard: Dijon and grainy mustards add complexity to salad dressings and marinades. Okay, you can also put it on sandwiches. Woebers Sweet and Spicy—made by a 5th generation family-owned regional producer— is Copywriters’ Kitchen’s fave.
28. Soy sauce: You may want to use a light—lower sodium—version to spare yourself thirsty midnight wake-ups.
29. Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce: More complex than Tabasco, this Vietnamese hot sauce gives a spike to bean salads, Asian soups, marinades, meats and eggs.
30. Wine. Splash it in marinara and marinades and, of course, drink liberally. My local wine shop sells plenty of triple digit wines—but the expert staff is just as pleased to select under-$10 bottles for me. Like to learn more about wine from a knowledgeable, un-snooty oenophile? Check out Gary Vaynerchuk’s Wine Library TV.

Using the above list you can create hundreds if not thousands of dishes. My Teriyaki Marinade, below, is just one.

I know. A list of food “staples” is subjective. What did I leave out?

Check out my recipe—then tell me what’s on your list of Frugal Food Staples.

Teriyaki Marinade

¼ cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon Demerara or brown sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon peeled grated ginger root or 1 teaspoon ginger powder
½ cup hot water combined with ¼ cube Knorr’s Chicken or Vegetable Bouillon cube
1 tablespoon canola oil (optional)

1. Mix all ingredients together and pour over chicken or tofu. Marinate for at least an hour.
2. Remove and cook meat or tofu—grill, bake or sauté. Reserve marinade.
3. Pour Teriyaki Marinade into saucepan and simmer until reduced and slightly syrupy.
4. Serve chicken or tofu with rice. Drizzle with teriyaki sauce.