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Today, I'll give you a little insight into what I have in my kitchen, be it tools, veggies or spices – and a focus on what I consider my absolute basics to be all set for relaxed lunch planning. This is all my subjective opinion - so do drop me a message, if you have more ideas that may have slipped my mind.
Boxes + Accessories
My requirements when it comes to lunch food: I need to be able to somewhat securely throw it in my backpack to take it to work on my bike. I have a couple of lunch boxes that meet these requirements. Here are the three I use most.
A two-part lunch box (plastic). Not entirely spill-proof, but close enough. Not good for really liquid components. I use tiny bottles (old small booze bottles, or mini bottles from oil/vinegar gift sets) for salad dressings.
Then there's two kinds of glass boxes from Ikea's 365+ range: A square one of 750ml (US link, UK link) and a larger, rectangular one of 1000ml (US link, UK link). I never fill up the latter entirely, that would be too much, but it gives you a little space for plating. The bottom part of the boxes are glass, the top is a plastic lid with a seal, each piece is available separately – but I have yet to manage to break anything.
Apart from the tiny bottles for sauces, I also love using tiny preserving jars. I have 35ml Weck jars ("Weck" is the brand) with plastic lids. Any other brand should work fine - but do check out the Weck jars, they're the number 1 household name in Germany when it comes to preserving food. And the tiny ones are super handy for lunch boxes.
Kitchen Equipment
Of course, the basics are always ok. Pots, frying pans, oven, etc... But there's kitchen equipment that just happens to be really helpful. Not the stuff that's only in the way and eats up counter space. I won't list anything here that I consider the kitchen standard (scale, wooden spoon, silicon dough scraper, hand mixer...), but just tools and appliances that I find optional, but amazing.
Cuillère magique. The magic spoon. About the size of a spoon, but a tiny whisk on top. I didn't think I needed this at first. But Mr. Squirrel bought one anyways. Unfortunately, I had to admit, it is amazing, especially if you want to whisk up small amounts of something. Around €5-20.
Blender. A decent blender is worth its weight in gold. We have an Omniblend and are more than happy. The Omniblend (look up "JTC Omniblend" if you're trying to find one) is affordable, particularly compared to the Vitamix, and still a high performance blender. We've had ours for around 10 years, and only replaced the container.
Immersion blender. I may have murdered the occasional immersion blender with raw chickpeas. This is why I was super happy when my parents got me a pro immersion blend, a bamix. It can run for longer than 60 seconds at a time without cooling down for hours... and that just makes it perfect for a great many things. Even if it's just making a lovely salad dressing with sticky tahin. Just a heads up: the bamix is not cheap, but it lasts. I got mine seven or eight years ago.
Mini food processor. Yeah, another thing that chops up things. Great for making falafels or smaller amounts of things that are in need of chopping. We scored a small (830ml) KitchenAid on sale a while back.
Air fryer. The best. In order to save some counter space, we opted for a Ninja Foodi XL. It can also grill, slow cook, make yogurt, serve as a steamer and pressure cooker and what feels like 14 other things. I love to air fry tofu in it or crisp up things that need to be crispy.
Rice cooker. Makes the best rice. Period. :D Fairly affordable (€20-30) at your local Asian food store. If you cook rice on a somewhat regular basis, you will appreciate it.
Pantry
I have quite the extensive pantry/supply concept, because I like to be ready for anything (being hungry, cravings). Our apartment came with a wall closet in the hallway that used to be the broom closet. Well, no longer. There's food in it now. I am fully aware, however, that not everyone has a refunctioned broom closet. This is why I will just list what I consider a good basis to be somewhat flexible and not be forced to run out for little things. That just eats up time.
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| We may or may not survive the zombie apocalypse. At least food wise. |
My number one tip to avoid running out of something: Once I start running low, I put it on my digital shopping list. I use a standard app ("To Do" for Android) on my phone and keep a couple of lists: supermarket, Middle Eastern supermarket, Asian supermarket, drugstore (German drugstores tend to have a decent selection of organic food basics). On these lists, I add whatever I need. And when I'm at the store, I always know what to get and what I am currently running low on.
By the way, below this article, there is a little list to download for you. It covers what I consider the basics. :)
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| I love shoppting at Asian supermarkets. |
Basics: Pasta, rice, lentils, flour, vwg
Pasta: I have a bit of a pasta shelf in the kitchen. For lunch boxes, my go-to pasta is fusilli, penne, and risoni (kritharaki). I also have quick cooking noodles (wheat) from the Asian supermarket, and rice noodles (both 5mm stick and vermicelli). I also have spaghetti and bavette, but those are not good for lunch boxes. Also, I tend to have a selection of adorable shape pasta (like hearts or snowflakes), orecchiette, elbow pasta, sometimes soba noodles, soup pasta (like little stars etc.)
The Basics: Fusilli and 5mm rice stick noodles.
Rice: You can have quite the selection here. Black rice, Thai jasmine rice, parboiled rice, sticky rice, sushi rice…
The basics: Parboiled rice and jasmine rice.
Dried legumes: Chickpeas, red lentils, black lentils, black beans, dried peas... That what I usually have available. Lasts forever, but you don need to have all of this.
The Basics: red and black lentils.
Flours and gluten: VWG/gluten (vital wheat gluten) is a great binding agent and of course excellent to make seitan. As for other flours, I have wheat flour, wheat whole grain flour, chickpea (gram) flour, corn starch, soy flour, rye flour and rye whole grain flour.
The basics: wheat flour, vwg, corn starch.
Spices
Salt and soy sauce (our favorite: Golden Boat light) are the very basic spices in my kitchen. Well, what are you going to do without salt. But here are also the spices that I also consider the basics. By the way: I usually buy my spices at Middle Eastern and Asian supermarkets. They usually have a great selection and low prices.
Basics
- Paprika
- black pepper (whole peppercorn for the pepper mill!)
- Curry
- Cumin (whole or ground)
- Sesame seeds (white)
- green curry paste (Cock Brand has a funny name and is vegan)
- mustard
- nutritional yeast
- Tahin
Nice, optional additions:
- smoked paprika
- smoked salt
- liquid smoke
- Black sesame seeds
- Cayenne pepper
- Oregano
- Basil
- Kala Namak (Salt with an eggy taste)
- Tandoori Masala
- Coriander seeds (ground or whole)
- Pul Biber (Turkish paprika/chili blend)
- Chili powder
- yeast extract
Other additions (nice to have):
- Gochujang paste (Korean malty, spicy paste)
- Miso paste
- Dark soy sauce
- turmeric
- wasabi
- vegan honey
- maple syrup
- Nori (seaweed for sushi)
- Garlic powder
- onion powder
- cinnamon
- cardamom
- tandoori masala
- garam masala
- Ras-el-hanout
- toasted sesame oil
Canned goods
There's a few things I always have available... Ok, and some more. The whole closet.
Basics:
- Pureed tomatoes
- tomato paste
- coconut milk
- kidney beans
- sweet corn
- texturized soy protein (the small granules)
Additions:
- pineapple
- whippable vegan cream (much less for lunch boxes, but in general)
- olives
- pickled chili peppers
- dried tomatoes
- canned hearts of artichokes
- peanut butter
- Hoisin sauce
- sweet and sour sauce
- Sriracha, sambal oelek, tabasco
- Other sizes of texturized soy protein: Big Steaks, medaillons, soy curls
- nuts/seeds: walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds
Veggies: fresh, but keeps well
There's a few veggies that keep really well and that you always need to begin with. This is why I always have these in the house:
- potatoes
- onions
- garlic
- carrots
Veggies: frozen
I don't like all frozen veggies, because freezing changes its structure, more for some, less for others. But there's a few things that I like to have available, because they taste good out of the freezer and are very versatile:
- frozen spinach (whole leaves)
- green beans
- peas
- snow peas
- fries (ok, veggies in the widest sense :D)
Download List of Basics
HERE is a list of all the things I consider the basic necessities in the kitchen for you to download and check what you already have and what you may need on your shopping list.
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| Click here to download. |
