Of Food, and Staples, and Lack of Planning

I am not a planner.

I don't usually plan meals ahead. Instead, I typically have ingredients lying around to make basic things. Like salads. Or chicken soup. 

My son woke up this morning with a sore throat, zero energy, and a cough. He stayed home from school and he really wanted some warm soup.

I checked the freezer - I thought I had some chicken legs that would be good for making a broth, but nope, no luck. But I did find 2 frozen large chicken breasts. 

There are a few things that I try to always have at home:

• Onions
• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Noodles

Plus, I have bay leaf and salt. I didn't have fresh celery stalks, but if I did - I would have added a chunk of that to the broth.

The chicken soup came out delicious, with chunks of chicken and noodles.

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Food things I stock in the pantry/fridge:

• Vegetables that keep well
• Regular potatoes
• Sweet potatoes
• Onions
• Garlic
• Carrots
• Beets
• Cabbage
• Flour
• Yeast
• Eggs
• Rice
• Lentils
• Dry peas
• Sugar/brown sugar
• Honey
• Salt
• Matzo meal
• Canned tomato sauce or paste
• Fruit that keep well
• Apples
• Fruit that don't keep well
• Bananas (if they get brown, I freeze them and use them for banana bread)
• Dry spices/herbs 
• Dill, bay leaf, parsley
• Garlic powder
• Paprika
• Pepper
• Dairy stuff: milk, buttermilk, sour cream, yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese

Then there are fresh fruit/berries that are seasonal and spoil quickly, meat, fish, leafy greens, vegetables that don't keep well, and a few other things that we all love but only eat during certain seasons (squash! pomegranate! chestnuts!). This stuff, we buy (a lot) but I don't feel anxious if we are out of, say, tomatoes, or grapes, or salmon. But I really, really don't like to run out of onions.

What's in your pantry? Do you feel anxious about running out of certain things?