There's no such thing as the perfect pantry, but here's a good start. It's a list of shelf-stable and frozen foods that are used in the AHA recipes you'll find in the Delicious Decisions Cookbook.
Use this list as a guide to stock your kitchen. With a pantry full of the basics, you can simplify your shopping list and buy only the fresh ingredients as you need them. Most of the items are available from your local grocery store. A few items can be found at health-food stores.
Miscellaneous Items to Stock
• Almonds, sliced and slivered
• Anchovy paste
• Apple juice, unsweetened
• Apples, sliced, canned in water
• Applesauce, unsweetened
• Apricots, dried
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Barbecue sauce
• Beans, canned, black, garbanzos, Great Northern, kidney, navy, pinto
• Beer, light or nonalcoholic
• Blueberries, dried
• Bourbon
• Bread crumbs, plain, dry
• Brown sugar
• Candy sprinkles, multicolored
• Capers
• Cereal, chocolate toasted rice, toasted rice, toasted oat squares, whole-grain flakes
• Champagne
• Champagne vinegar
• Cherries, dried
• Chicken broth, canned, low-sodium
• Chicken or turkey gravy, low-fat bottled
• Chocolate chips, milk or semi-sweet
• Chocolate-flavored drink mix
• Chocolate-flavored syrup
• Chocolate sandwich cookies
• Corn, canned, no-salt-added
• Cornflake crumbs
• Cornstarch
• Couscous
• Crackers, fish-shaped or other bite-size, low-salt
• Cranberries, dried
• Cranberry sauce
• Cream of chicken soup, condensed, reduced-fat
• Cream of mushroom soup, condensed, reduced-fat
• Croutons
• Currants
• Dates, dried
• Dried fruit bits
• Dry sherry
• Evaporated, skim, or nonfat milk, canned
• Fruit cocktail, canned, juice-pack
• Green chili-peppers, canned
• Hoisin sauce
• Honey
• Jalapeno peppers, chopped
• Jelly, jalapeno
• Ketchup
• Lasagna noodles, no-cook variety
• Lemonade drink mix
• Mandarin orange sections, canned in light syrup
• Maple syrup, light
• Marmalade
• Marshmallows, miniature
• Mashed potatoes, instant
• Mayonnaise or salad dressing, non-fat or no-cholesterol
• Melba toast rounds
• Milk, nonfat dry powder
• Molasses
• Mustard, Dijon and other prepared
• Oil, olive, sesame, vegetable
• Olives, pitted, ripe
• Peaches, strained (baby food)
• Peanut butter
• Peanuts, unsalted, dry-roasted
• Pear-halves, canned in light syrup or water
• Pecans
• Pesto, bottled
• Pineapple, canned, chunks, crushed, unsweetened
• Plum sauce or plum jam
• Popcorn
• Potatoes, canned, whole
• Pretzels, miniature, no-salt-added
• Prunes, dried, pitted
• Pumpkin, canned
• Raisins
• Ramen noodles
• Red wine, dry
• Refried beans, canned, fat-free
• Rice or poporn cakes, fat-free
• Salad dressing, bottled, non-fat Italian
• Salmon, canned, boneless and skinless
• Salsa
• Spaghetti sauce, bottled, meatless, low-fat
• Spreadable fruit, jelly, jam, or preserves
• Sugar, brown, granulated, coinfectioners'
• Sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil
• Thousand Island salad dressing
• Tomato preserves
• Tomatoes, canned, chopped or diced
• Tomatoes, canned, stewed
• Tomato paste, no-salt-added
• Tomato sauce, no-salt-added
• Tomato soup, condensed, reduced-fat and -sodium
• Tuna, canned, white, chunk, water-packed, low-salt
• Unsweetened cocoa powder
• Vegetable oil spray
• Vinegar, white wine, rice wine, and balsamic
• Walnut pieces, unsalted
• White wine, dry
