75 Items in my Plant-Based Pantry

Whether you're stocking your kitchen for the first time or just making your usual grocery run, having a well-stocked pantry makes all the difference, especially for last-minute, plant-based dinners.

Pantry staples are typically shelf-stable, budget-friendly, and packed with ingredients you’ll use often—think sugar, flour, salt, spices, sauces, grains, canned goods, nuts, and seeds.

When it comes to the basics, pantry essentials are at the top of the list. They make cooking easier without cutting corners on flavor. In fact, they help build it (hello, spices).

Jump to:

• Canned Food
• Seasonings
• Nuts
• Grains
• Potatoes
• Tea
• Dry Food
• Sweeteners
• Fats & Oils
• Other Random Things
• Love Your Pantry Foods
• Need Food But Can’t Afford It?

Canned Food

1. Tomato Sauce
2. Tomato Paste
3. Diced Tomatoes
4. Crushed Tomatoes
5. Pasta Sauce
6. Pinto Beans
7. Garbanzo Beans
8. Black Beans
9. Pink Beans
10. Red Kidney Beans
11. White Cannellini Beans
12. Coconut Milk
13. Olives
14. Corn

Recipes From Canned Food

There’s so much you can do with canned food items like beans and crushed tomatoes. That includes soups, stews, homemade pasta sauces, or curry dishes. Here are some of my favorites:

Seasonings

15- Salt

16- Black Pepper

17- Sazon Complete Mix Seasoning

18- Sazon

19- Chili Powder

20- Adobo

21- Pumpkin Pie Spice

22- Ground Cinnamon

23- Ground Cumin

24- Ground Ginger

25- Mushroom Umami Seasoning Blend

26- Red Pepper

27- Red Chili Pepper

28- Basil Leaves

29- Curry Powder

30- Paprika

31- Garlic Powder

32- Ground Turmeric

33- Ground Mustard Seed

34- 21 Seasoning Salute

35- Bay Leaves

36- Freeze-Dried Chives

37- Pure Vanilla Extract

Recipes From Seasonings & Spices

Fresh herbs and seasonings are great, but so are the pantry stuff. They’re great for when you need to whip something quickly or don’t want to be bothered by strict expiration dates.

Here are some of my favorite dishes using pantry seasonings:

Nuts

38- Cashews

39- Almonds

40- Walnuts

41- Peanut Butter

42- Almond Butter

Recipes From Nuts

Need healthy, plant-based fats that don’t cost an arm and a leg? Get nuts! Sure, you can maybe do a peanut butter sandwich, but here are some of the interesting ways I use my pantry nuts:

Grains

43- Brown Rice

44- White Rice

45- Oat Bran

46- Rolled Oats

47- Whole wheat pasta

48- Oat flour

49- Toasted Oats Cereal

Recipes From Grains

These food items are used on a daily basis at the Plant-Based and Broke household. By the way, that oat flour is homemade.

I’ll drop the recipe below along with some other ideas to use grains:

Potatoes

50- Russet Potatoes

51- Sweet Potatoes
52- Red Potatoes

Recipes From Potatoes

I am a bit of a fan of potatoes. All the colors. All the sizes. All the textures. They can keep well in my pantry for over a month and they are great in so many dishes. Here’s how I use them:

Tea

53- Ginger Turmeric Herbal Tea

54- Chai Tea

55- Chamomile Anise Tea

56- Cinnamon Tea

Dry Food

57- Black beans

58- Green Lentils

59- Red Split Lentils

60- Green Split Peas

61- Brown Lentils

Recipes From Dry Food

Although the canned stuff can be great for when I am in a hurry, I do have some dry legumes as well.

I normally stick to lentils because it’s my favorite legume, but they can be used in a variety of ways:

Sweeteners

62- Honey

63- Brown Sugar

Recipes From Sweeteners

Although plant-based sweeteners like dates can be a healthier option to sweeten your food (which I also have), I do sometimes use honey and brown sugar.

But, I don’t use them regularly or often. They are considered treats. Here’s some of the way I used them:

Fats & Oils

64- Unrefined Virgin Coconut Oil

65- Peanut Oil

66- Palm Oil

67- Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil

68- Canola Oil

Other Random Things

69- Nutritional Yeast

70- Chia Seeds

71- Low Sodium Soy Sauce

72- Coffee

73- Baking Powder
74- White Flour

75- Pancake Mix

Probably the most important things on this list that we use on a daily basis are nutritional yeast, chia seeds, and coffee. Here are some of our favorite ways to use these listed items:

Recipes From Other Pantry-Friendly Ingredients

Love Your Pantry Foods

Don’t stray away from pantry foods! Don’t let the internet tell you that pantry foods aren’t good enough to have at your home.

On the contrary, they are great foods that can really benefit your family’s wallet, health, and happiness. There’s definitely a lot of ways you can use these foods and you can create an entire meal just on pantry food items if you’re creative enough.

Personally, I shop mostly at Trader Joe’s for my pantry items. When I have the time, I do go to Costco too.

However, you can also find pantry items at stores like Walmart and the Dollar Store. Some of the pretty good pantry items you can find at the Dollar Store include seasonings, oats, and dry legumes.

Need Food But Can’t Afford It?

Visit your local food pantry. You can often find them at churches, community centers, or schools.

It’s a very useful tool and it even provides information if you’re interested in volunteering at your local food bank.