How to create a plant-based pantry in just a few steps

Knowing what to buy to create your veg pantry can be daunting, considering all the options out there. In this Mindful Morsel guide we accompany you in choosing which foods to buy. As always, we favor the purchase of products that are as local as possible and with plastic-free packaging .

We're here to help: don't hesitate to write to us for advice or comments.

Below you will find some premises, before moving on to the actual list.

What are the main aspects to take into consideration to understand how to create a plant-based pantry?

• Always add local and seasonal fruit and vegetables to the list of foods we recommend. Home deliveries of fruit and vegetable boxes from farms make your life easier and ensure you get a fresh, local and seasonal product. In Turin we go to the farmers' market of Porta Palazzo or we order from the Tetti Castagno or Radici farm in Moncalieri.
• The first thing to keep in mind when stocking a pantry is to always have a good variety of high-quality, long-lasting carbohydrates. These are things like pasta, protein pasta, brown rice, different types of flour and cereals. Always prioritize whole foods over hyper-processed and refined ingredients. The health benefits and taste are unmatched. Make sure you have some variety though. For example, we always keep a pack of Arborio and one of Carnaroli rice and a selection of different flours on hand, spelled, wholemeal semolina, corn, chestnuts.
• Having both standard pasta (preferably wholemeal and organic) and legume-based protein pasta makes your pasta-based meals more varied. Furthermore, the legume pasta that we have in our shop is ideal as a protein supplement and is extremely tasty and easy to cook and combine.
• We also recommend that you have a good supply of legumes available. You can use them in soups, as a side dish or as a base for your sauces and protein baked goods. Italy is full of different types of lentils and we like to try them all, from dried lentils to those from Castelluccio. Let's move on to the already pre-cooked legumes: they help a lot in managing meals when time is short. Look for tin or glass packages , avoiding tetrapak ones, preferably organic. Purchasing pre-cooked legumes is slightly more expensive than the dried version, but saves cooking time. If you have time to start from scratch, use dried beans, but we still recommend keeping some canned beans in your pantry for times when you forget to soak them in time. Not sure how to cook legumes? We love them in vegetable burgers, in spreadable creams with oil, salt and oregano, in soups and side dishes: everywhere! Discover our recipes and advice by subscribing to our newsletter.
• Finally, there are " kitchen savers " that save the situation in times of need: have you ever forgotten @ to buy what you need for the sauté? It happens to me :) You can prepare a lot of it and freeze it in the ice container, in order to have comfortable single doses, or you can have some onion and garlic powder at home to use as needed
• Tofu, seitan and tempeh : delicious and rich in nutrients. We love those of Natura e Bontà, a small artisan company in Ravenna specialized in bio-vegan foods. We don't have them in our shop yet because we don't yet manage the cold chain in our warehouse, but we hope to be able to offer them in our boxes in the future.
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil : in our shop you can find it on a quarterly subscription . If you need more oil we can deliver it more often or get you a bigger can. Contact us for more information.
• Dried herbs : never miss them and create your own mixes with salt to make your dishes even tastier. We usually always have bay leaf, dried thyme, oregano and sage and we also create our own seasoning mix by blending them with a little salt. Whenever possible we grow them directly or you can do it on the balcony too.
• Pay attention to deadlines : foods with a longer shelf life should be placed behind those with the closest expiry.
• Planning is key to avoid waste : Check your pantry once a month to see what's left and what's about to expire. If you bought legumes, rice, pasta in bulk, try to keep them in glass containers and hermetically sealed, away from sources of light and heat.

Here is a reasoned and 100% plant-based shopping list, divided by meal, perfect for those like you who are wondering how to create a plant-based pantry:

VEGAN BREAKFAST

– vegetable milk (oat, almond, rice, soy, hazelnut, spelled milk) better without added sugar: always read the labels
– Barley, coffee, tea, herbal teas and infusions at will
– Wholemeal rusks
– Muesli, rolled oats, buckwheat or puffed cereals
– Dried fruit such as walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds to use as snacks and in your preparations
– Spreadable creams) of dried fruit, almonds, hazelnuts or sesame seeds: better if with a single ingredient and no added sugar
– Various jams , preferably artisanal and with a reduced quantity of sugar and with a thickener not of animal origin

LUNCH OR DINNER

– brown rice, barley, rye, millet, flour for polenta, wheat
– wholemeal pasta and protein pasta
- whole grain bread
– vegetables for fillings to buy locally, sautéed vegetables and as a base for all: celery, carrot, onion, garlic
– vegetables to eat cooked and raw always to be bought locally, to be chosen according to the season
– dried and canned legumes
– wholemeal flour, chestnut flour, rice, corn, spelled, chickpea flour (very useful for breading, to thicken your dishes and for the legendary farinata)
– tempeh, seitan, white tofu, smoked tofu (see above)
– vegan mayonnaise from our shop and Nerano black tomato ketchup
– extra virgin olive oil, whole sea salt, nutritional yeast flakes, vegetable broth ,
– vegetable soy milk without sugar to prepare the béchamel
– rice or soy vegetable cream

If you are looking for inspiration on how to create your plant-based pantry, visit our shop , choose a box or a convenient subscription and continue reading our articles on aperitifs, desserts and other veg delights !