Nooch. Both Nick and I feel a little strange if we don't have nooch in the house and I always re-stock when I open the final canister in the house. This is our preferred brand and actually the only brand I've ever seen in the UK. I wish we could buy it in bulk here like you can in the US.
Pasta. Pasta always plays a part in my favourite quick and easy meals. Throw some canned tomatoes on the stove, wilt some spinach up in there and throw in some seasonings and you have a great, simple, healthy meal that takes little to no effort. I love white pasta for almost everything; I usually buy organic as the regular kind gives me more of a stomach ache when I eat a tonne of it... which I will because you use it to make mac & cheese and I refuse to think about portion control when I'm eating my favourite foods! I'm also partial to some rice pasta but wholewheat can get the fork outa my kitchen.
Canned Beans. I know it's lazy but I just cannot be bothered to simmer beans from scratch. I usually have cannelini, black, pinto and aduki beans in the cupboard alongside chickpeas which means I have a bean suitable for most recipes. Aduki may seem a little unnecessary but you use 'em to make my favourite AFR recipe, the Miso Stir Fry with Beans and Greens, and sometimes I really, really need to eat that!
Silken Tofu. As this is a store cupboard list regular tofu can't make an appearance but speaking as a lady with a tofu tattoo it's fair to say that I love it all equally. I use this to make omelettes, brownies, pies, Alfredo sauces and salad dressings. It's rad. My brand of choice is Mori-Nu and I always buy firm.
Stock Cubes. A lot of my favourite recipes use broth and I think we've all ascertained that I'm not the broth making type. I've done it once or twice but to me it's not worth the effort. I keep vegetable, Not-Chicken and Not-Beef in my store cupboard at all times. Some of my favourite broth containing recipes are the Mac Daddy from Veganomicon, AFR's Caulipots and almost any seitan recipe.
You actually can't buy these here yet but I order mine from iHerb where you can also buy Dandies, Clif bars and plenty of other great vegan stuff. The shipping to Europe's super reasonable if you order less than 4lb's of stuff & you can use my code JOJ321 to get money off of your first order if you'd like to.
Have you written a five store cupboard essentials post for Vegan MoFo? If so link it in the comments so I can check it out.
what a great post! stock cubes are so great:)
ReplyDeleteCool list, I have all 5 items in my kitchen but they're different brands except for the tofu. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's always a tragedy at my house when we are out of nooch. Actually, just tonight, I looked at our nooch jar and saw it was empty... even though I filled it up just a couple of days ago. Where did it go? I have more in the fridge or cupboard though.
ReplyDeleteI love pasta too, but when there is some the house, I don't want to eat anything else almost, so I try to buy just a pack or two at a time.
I will definitely take a look at the AFR recipe.
I get twitchy if I don't have a back up can of nooch in addition to the one that's already on the go in my pantry. Thank goodness for 3 packs from amazon and amazon prime!
ReplyDeleteWhat! I didn't know you can get it from Amazon! It's actually cheaper from them than from my hfs. Thanks for the tip!
DeleteI wrote this post back in 2011 and my cupboards still have all these essentials! X http://deerlybelovedbakery.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/vegan-store-cupboard-essentials.html
ReplyDeleteOh I like this! I might do one myself later this week. Those Not Chick'n and Not Beef cubes are awesome! I also feel a little strange when the nutritional yeast runs out. It happened last week and I was going through withdrawals!
ReplyDeleteEdward & Sons is my favorite! I used it for many Asian dishes!!
ReplyDeleteI ran out of nooch last night and was like, ohmygod ohmygod, what the hell. And that's always the point at which you decide you really need a cheese sauce.
ReplyDeleteJust used that code to order some stock! Thanks! Was just saying to my OH yesterday that it's impossible to get hold of vegan chicken stock in the UK anymore. I need my chick'n noodle soup when I'm poorly!
ReplyDeleteI do that! As soon as the last tub of nooch is opened I order some more! :)
ReplyDelete