What's in my gluten free pantry?

That title may be a little off, since I don’t actually have a pantry, per se! But, I use a cabinet in my kitchen as my “pantry” and that works great for us!

I have actually found that I prefer not having a pantry as it helps me keep everything organized. It’s much harder to lose something in a cabinet, compared to a huge pantry. Since it’s just my husband and me now, I don’t stockpile a lot. We also have this funny thing about moving – as in we do it about once a year! Because of this, it doesn’t make sense to stock up like crazy, since I don’t care to move all of it!

However, we live in a very rural area with no easy access to a grocery store, so when I do my grocery shopping, I do purchase enough food for several weeks. Our refrigerator, freezer and pantry are usually packed tight, but it works. If we have overflow of larger items, those are stored on top of our kitchen cabinets or on top of the refrigerator.

So what special items are in my gluten free pantry?

Truth be told, I don’t have a lot of special GF items! I like to keep things simple for cooking and baking. Here’s a few items that I do keep on hand, though: 

1.       GF flour blend, and some additional flours

2.      GF pizza crust mix

3.      Xanthan gum (essential for from-scratch GF baking!) – I know this is expensive, but it will last a long time!

4.      GF noodles (I prefer Trader Joe’s brown rice pasta, which are similar to these. Trader's Joe's sells their pasta for $2 per bag.)

5.      Corn tortillas

6.      GF Bread mixes – I don’t have a favorite preferred mix right now. Any suggestions? 

While those items are specific to gluten free baking, I also keep a lot of other specific items on hand: 

1.       Regular flour

2.      Sugar, honey

3.      Baking soda and baking powder

4.      Peanut butter

5.      Canned tomato products (crushed or diced, sauce and paste)

6.      Regular noodles

7.      Beans

8.      Rice

9.      Salt and pepper

10.   Spices – lots of spices! (I have these on my spice rack and in a drawer.)

11.    Flour tortillas 

While there are certainly other items in my pantry, these are items that are essential in my kitchen! As I’ve mentioned before, I rarely use prepackaged foods, so it’s very important for me to have basic ingredients on hand.

What items are essential in your gluten free pantry? If you’re not gluten free, feel free to share about the essential items in your pantry, too!