Kitchen Staples

In order to be able to consistently prepare healthy food, there are few basic staples that your kitchen should be stocked with. For me, those include the following:

• A variety of spices sealed in glass jars ( it's cheaper to buy them in bulk and put them in your own container) such as, oregano, tumeric, cumin, dill, celery seed, basil, thyme, tarragon, coarse-ground black pepper, coriander, cardamon, oinion powder, bay leaves, & rosemary. To name a few.
• A brand of extra-virgin olive oil that you like (and can afford on a regular basis, because after all, the goal here is not to bankrupt yourself)
• Fresh garlic cloves
• Lemons
• Red Star nutritional yeast
  
• Sesame tahini
• Bragg's Liquid Amino Acids, and/or Tamari, and/or Nama Shoyu, and/or regular old soy sauce
• Some type of vegetarian soup stock. You can make it yourself if you have a lot of time, or you can get a low-sodium powdered kind at Whole Foods (my preference) and there are a few nice cubed/concentrate versions as well. Try to go low-sodium.
  
• Honey and/or Agave Nectar
  
• if you're interested in making desserts and treats, I recommend picking up a glass jar of David Wolfe's Sunfood brand of raw cacao powder. It's a bit spendy at around 30 bucks, but it'sa big jar, it will last forever and I have found it delectable in so many things, that it's completely worth the investment.
• Gluten flour if you are interested in learning to prepare Seitan, and gluten agrees with you.
• I always keep a little tofu around
• I always keep a little soy-cheese around
• Raw nuts , seeds and legumes, in glass jars: mung beans, garbanzo beans, lentils (red and green) , flax seeds, split peas, non-toasted buckwheat, sunflower seeds, cashews and almonds.
• Some kind of salt. While I don't recommend eliminating good old Morton table salt (people need iodine) completely, it's fun to have some of those gorgeous, exotic salts around like "himalayan sea salt", and "celtic sea salt". They are very high in trace minerals and are good for you in moderation (as long as you dont' have high blood pressure.)
• Some kind of non-dairy milk. Whether you make your own almond milk or buy Vitasoy is up to you, but it's good to have some around.
• apple cider vinegar and balsamic vinegar.
  

Some things you won't need:

• Cream, milk, or butter (cheese is always optional; same with yogurt)
• eggs
  
• Meat
• Canola oil, corn oil, safflower oil , crisco, etc.
  
• Sugar
• white flour
  

I think this about covers the basic pantry items. There are many others, but this is a good "basics" list.