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Think of this as the food half of your first kitchen essentials checklist. Before you go shopping for a meal, half of what you need should already be on hand in your pantry, refrigerator, or freezer. Here are some (almost) universal staples that you can start with.
Oils
There’s a whole aisle of oils out there: canola, corn, sunflower, safflower, olive, peanut, walnut. The truth is, you probably don’t need most of them. Two oils should cover 95% (and maybe all) of your cooking needs: olive oil and avocado oil.
Olive oil is for low-temperature cooking and for drizzling at the end. Extra virgin olive oil (“EVOO”) is the first press and the tastiest. If you’re just starting out, then any decent bottle should be sufficient; don’t spring for the most-expensive single-origin oils for everyday use until you develop enough of a palate to know the difference.
Avocado oil is a great general-purpose high-heat cooking oil. It has no flavor, which is the whole point; use it for searing, grilling, anything where you don’t want the oil talking over the food.
On the downside, avocado oil is more expensive than other neutral-flavored seed oils like safflower, sunflower, and canola oil. If you have no objection to seed oils, they’re all effective for cooking. One thing to actually avoid: anything just labeled “vegetable oil,” which usually means whatever was cheapest for the supplier that week. Also, note that peanut oil (frequently used in Chinese cooking) is a common allergen.
Salt & Pepper
Much like oils, there are a million specialty salts. As a practical matter, you really only need one of them for cooking: kosher salt.
Diamond Crystal kosher salt (opens in a new tab) granules are the perfect size for pinching, measuring, and even sprinkling at the end. (Morton kosher salt (opens in a new tab) has larger granules, if you prefer.)
Fresh-ground black pepper is one of the most versatile, fragrant spices in the kitchen, so don’t use the pre-ground stuff. Get a pepper grinder, or at the very least, a self-grinding jar.
If you want to expand your horizons, flaky Maldon sea salt (opens in a new tab) is worth having for finishing dishes, alongside a shaker of plain table salt. Beyond that, you’re probably not going to notice the difference with white or pink peppercorns, pink Himalayan salt, or the other gourmet varieties lining the shelf. Start with the basics, and upgrade later if you’re curious.
Pantry staples for beginners
What you stock depends entirely on how you cook. Frozen and canned fruits and vegetables are genuinely great. Build around your own cuisine: canned beans if you’re leaning Tex-Mex, dried pasta if you’re cooking Italian, soy sauce if you like stir-fries. Identify your regular staples, the things you reach for constantly, and keep them stocked instead of discovering you’re out mid-recipe.
Keep a whole grain on hand that you can turn into a side dish without thinking. That might be brown rice or wild rice. Mix it up with quinoa, millet, and buckwheat if you like. White rice and jasmine rice aren’t doing you any nutritional favors, but they’re delicious, versatile, and combine well with other grains, legumes, and vegetables. (If you want to combine grains, remember that they may have different cooking times.)
Beyond salt and pepper, red pepper flakes earn a spot if you like some heat, and herbes de Provence (a dried mix available in most supermarkets) are an easy way to elevate a dish with garden flavors any time of year.
Also stock disposables like plastic wrap, aluminum foil, parchment paper, and resealable plastic bags. Get a box of food prep gloves (opens in a new tab). These are the ones we have at the Schick Shack, and they handle two jobs:
- Food safety. Wear them when handling raw meat or fish. When you’re done, turn them inside out and throw them away so you don’t contaminate the rest of your ingredients.
- Handling chiles and other spicy foods. If you’re seeding jalapeños or other hot peppers, you’ll want to keep the oil off your fingers, lest you then rub your eyes. (Just trust us on this one.)
About Ultra-Processed Foods
There’s a formal definition and list of Ultra-Processed Foods (UPF), but the short version is this: UPFs contain edible chemicals and are engineered to hit the right balance of sweet, savory, texture, and preservatives, all in service of making them as addictive as possible.
That’s different from “processed foods” in the plain sense. Real food that’s been cut, frozen, or canned has technically been processed, too, and there’s nothing wrong with them. Ultra-Processed is a different category entirely, engineered rather than prepared.
UPFs are closely associated with obesity and suspected of contributing to a long list of other health problems still being studied. Do yourself a favor and avoid them as much as you reasonably can. For a more thorough investigation into and explanation of UPFs, review the Nova food classification (opens in a new tab) and read Ultra-Processed People (opens in a new tab), by Chris van Tulleken (2003).
The good news: If you’re cooking your own food, then you’re probably well on your way to avoiding UPFs in the first place.
Storing food safely
Safe refrigerator temperature
Get fridge and freezer thermometers. A refrigerator should always be at or below 40°F (4°C) and a freezer at 0°F (-18°C). Fridges also have warm spots; the door is the warmest place in the whole appliance, which is exactly why it’s a lousy home for milk and a fine one for mustard.
Separate raw meat and fish from anything they could contaminate, especially raw fruits and vegetables.
Cool hot food before it goes in the fridge or freezer, especially when you’ve cooked in bulk. A stockpot of hot soup put straight in will spend hours in the temperature range where bacteria are happiest, and it warms everything around it while it does. Get it into a wide shallow container, or sit the pot in an ice bath in the sink. This is a good reason to keep ice packs in the freezer at all times.
How long do leftovers last in the fridge
Cooked leftovers are usually good in the fridge for about three or four days, but if you can’t remember which day you made it, you’ve already answered the question. (See the next section.)
Labeling: A real conviction
You may think you’ll remember how old that jar in the fridge is, or how many years those spices have been sitting there. The truth is, you won’t remember, not a week from now, and definitely not a year from now.
Always have a Sharpie marker, a pen, and sticker labels within reach. Label things the moment you open them, not later.
This applies everywhere: the spice drawer, the refrigerator, the pantry. It takes you mere seconds and saves you from either wasting food you can’t trust anymore or eating something you shouldn’t.