Perfect Your Pantry

By Christina Ross

A balanced pantry should always have nutritious staples to whip together a meal, satisfy a snack craving, remedy a weak immune system and equipped with ready to grab and go items.

The key to this having it well organized to help ensure that you never run out of your favorite staple items and use your ingredients before the expiration date.

Chalkboard paint can be applied to the inside of your cabinet doors to keep a tally of what you’re running low on. The next time you go grocery shopping snap a photo of your chalkboard door to have your eco-convenient-shopping list on hand.

Air-tight glass jars and clear top storage tins are great for storing nuts,seeds, grains, flours and spices or anything else that you want to prevent from going stale. Label your jars and tins for extra help spotting just the right ingredient when you’re whipping up your next fresh-out-of-the-pantry culinary creation.

Nuts, Seeds and Dried Fruits

• Nuts (cashews, pistachios, almonds, brazil, pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts)
• Dry seeds for sprouting (garbanzos, alf alfa, lentils, buckwheat)
• Seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, poppy, chia, hemp, flax)
• Nut butters (Almond,cashew,coconut, peanut butter)
• Dried fruit (raisins, dates, apples, figs, cranberries, apricots)

Condiments and Baking Supplies

• Cacao or carob powder
• Non-dairy milks (almond, coconut, rice, hemp, etc…)
• Palm sugar, agave, maple, stevia, honey (unrefined sweeteners)
• Whole vanilla beans
• Cacao nibs
• Miso paste (dressings, soups, sauces—very versatile seasoning)
• Nutritional yeast (B12 vitamins and cheesy flavor)
• Coconut vinegar or apple cider vinegar (great for salad dressing and baking)
• Gluten-free flours (almond, coconut, garbanzo, fava bean)
• Flax meal (great egg substitute for vegan baking)
• Vegetable bouillon cubes
• Pure tomato sauce
• Tamari (soy sauce)
• Sesame oil
• Cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
• Flax oil
• Coconut oil

Grains, Beans and Spices

• Spices (bay leaf, cumin, turmeric, coriander, black pepper, sea salt, red pepper flakes, etc…)
• Grains (quinoa, brown rice, millet, buckwheat)
• Soba noodles
• Peas
• Beans
• Olives
• Lentils

Immunity Boosters

• Bee pollen
• Maca
• Lucuma
• Vita minerals green
• Matcha Green Tea

Super Snacks

• Crackers (made from flax, nuts and/or seeds)
• Nori (for veggie wraps and homemade sushi)
• Raw Gluten-free granola
• Dehydrated snacks such as kale chips and fruit leathers
• Fruit and nut bars (raw/vegan varieties)
• Decaf Tea

Christina Ross is a dynamic chef, educator, columnist and blogger who loves to have her hands in all areas of healthy eating and healthy living. She has made it her mission to spread happiness and health to the masses and does so through her raw vegan food company PatisseRaw, blog Love-Fed.com, column in Natural Child World Magazine and classes taught privately and publicly at Whole Foods Markets. Christina is currently in the works of publishing her first cookbook and in the meantime she has shared some of her energizing, creative and fun recipes and wisdom with us.