This week I have been busy replenishing out stocks to make cooking a little easier. I found I had run out of so many pantry/freezer items! These are some of the essentials that I have in our freezer and pantry:

Essentials for my Freezer:

• Homemade Stock
• Homemade Versatile Tomato Sauce
• Properly prepared and cooked (I do this in big batches) beans (a variety), chickpeas and lentils (Find out how to do that here)
• Homemade Children’s snacks (This week I made sweet potato croquettes, vege muffins and falafels)
• Chopped up frozen fruit (to make ice-cream or to use to flavor mineral water)
• Freshly milled flour (spelt and wholemeal)
•  Good quality grass fed and free range meat that I buy in bulk

Some Essentials for my Pantry:

• Good quality organic tomato passata (and some organic canned tomatoes and tomato paste)
• Coconut milk and cream
• Dried beans, lentils and chickpeas
• A range of grains (brown rice, oats, quinoa, millet, polenta, barley, buckwheat wholemeal pasta)
• Rice Malt Syrup (for sweet treats)
• A good selection of spices! (I use these all the time!) This includes spice mixes that I pre-prepare
• Herbs (mostly homegrown and dried on my window sill)
• Good quality baking ingredients (sulfate free coconut,natural baking powder, organic cocoa, etc)
• Tahini and 100% peanut butter
• Good quality sauces (homemade tomato sauce, Tamari)
• Vinegar (Apple Cider Vinegar and White vinegar etc)
• Good oils (organic cold pressed olive oil, coconut oil, and sometimes macadamia oil)