- Hey guys, it's Candace, The Edgy Veg.
Welcome to my channel if you're new here,
welcome back if you've been subscribed for a while.
Today I wanted to show you guys how I built
my perfect vegan pantry.
I know it can be a kind of daunting,
difficult thing to build so I wanted to break it down,
make it super easy for you guys
so you can always have delicious food at your disposal.
In this video I'm going to break this down for you guys.
I wanna show you the basics
that I have on hand all the time.
A lot of the really great substitutions
that I love to use, that are my go-to's,
and then also some ways to store it for space.
As you guys know I'm in a one bedroom condo,
it might as well be a studio, it's so small,
so I really have to optimize my space
so I'm gonna show you guys how to do that.
So when I'm thinking about my pantry
I like to think of it in kind of three different categories.
I like to have my dairy substitutes
so that's like the almond milks, the cheeses,
the butters, that sort of thing.
We have the meat substitutes
that you can make from dry goods,
and then the store bought ones as well
that are a little bit harder to find -
some of them are readily available as well.
And then we also have our dried goods
so our nuts, our seeds, our legumes, our beans,
all that stuff that you can have on hand,
and if you literally have nothing in your fridge,
you can still make a really delicious meal.
Alright so I grabbed some of my favorite things.
I'm gonna go for the tofu right away
because I'm obsessed with tofu, I love tofu,
you can use it in so many different ways.
I always have a medium firm, a firm,
and a silken tofu on hand because you can use
the silken tofu for desserts and sauces.
The firm tofu you can use as a really great meat substitute,
and then we also have the medium firm tofu
which is the best for tofu scramble.
That is the secret to really great tofu scramble
is the medium firm tofu because it tastes,
and feels exactly like eggs.
So for vegan butter, if you are okay with palm oil,
I love Earth Balance.
You can also make your own vegan butter at home
with aquafaba, or cashews.
This is just readily available in most grocery stores.
You can find it almost anywhere, even small towns,
so this is why I always recommend this one
because it's accessible to you guys
no matter where you live.
In terms of milks,
I have a small plant-based milk obsession.
I always have like three to four different
plant-based milks on hand.
My new obsession is oat milk -
I just started drinking that one.
I like it because it's extra creamy,
it's also the most eco-friendly plant-based milk
that you can get because it doesn't use nuts,
and nuts are really hard on the environment.
I always have a soy milk on hand
because it is the highest in protein,
and it's the most stable for cooking.
And then I have a collection of almonds milks.
So this is the chocolate because chocolate milk is life
and then I always have an unsweetened as well,
so you can put that in your coffee, smoothies.
There's lots of brands that you can choose from,
these are some of my favorites.
In terms of things that you can buy in the store
that are pretty readily available,
Eve's makes my favorite sausage - breakfast sausages -
and you can find these guys almost
in any grocery store no matter where you are.
If you're in the city, in a small town,
you can almost always find these guys.
Gardein makes some of the best vegan meat products
that I've found out there especially
if you are into like fake chicken type products.
This is turkey cutlets, they also have chicken,
they have wings, they have nuggets -
the nuggets are amazing -
yeah, I would definitely give those a try.
Oh, we can't forget about nutritional yeast or nooch.
This is vegan crack.
You can do so many different things with this.
So if you don't know about nutritional yeast,
where have you been living?
You can make things taste like butter, like cheese,
you can use it as a seasoning.
If you don't have access to vegan parm,
you can put it on your spaghetti or your pasta
and it kind of acts like a cheese.
I make seitan with this stuff as well,
it adds a really nice like rich flavor to it.
If you don't have this, go out and get it -
it'll change your life.
In terms of proteins - super important.
So I always have dried beans on hand.
It's really inexpensive compared to canned beans
and I have an instant pot so I can whip this up
in 30 minutes without have to soak them
which is great.
I always have chickpeas, black beans,
and kidney beans on hand,
and with those things right there
you can make a really bomb chili
if you have nothing else in your fridge.
Lentils as well, lentils are super versatile,
super quick to cook as well,
super cheap if you buy them when they're dried -
you can buy them in like Bulk Barn type stores as well
so then you're not contributing to waste
if you just bring your own mason jars.
Super high in protein and you can throw this
in a chili, you can make sloppy-joes with it,
you can make dahl and other Indian style foods with that
so I always have those on hand.
Some of favorite meat substitutes
that are super inexpensive are soy curls
or TVP because you can flavor it
to taste almost like anything, and it's stupid cheap,
so then you don't have to pay like $7 for this,
you can make your own version at home.
My favorite thing to season foods with
and make soups with is Better Than Bouillon.
I find that I buy one of these it lasts forever,
it's super, super shelf-stable.
Instead of buying those big cartons of the broths,
I prefer this.
It takes up less space,
it's less expensive than buying the broths,
and it tastes so much better,
and this will make almost any dish that you make
taste a little meatier.
It has a really great umami flavor
so I'm obsessed with this.
They also have a no-chicken version
which tastes exactly like chicken stock
but it's completely vegan.
Da da dun.
Welcome to my kitchen.
Common misconception.
Most people thing that over there where my bedroom is,
is where the magic happens.
This is where the actual magic happens.
(laughs)
This is a
kind of
props and utilitarian
cupboard so I have my glasses here,
and then everything else is food.
Because I have so much food in my kitchen,
I try to keep a minimal amount of actual
like drinking glasses and plates
down at easy-to-grab levels,
and then the rest of this I need a stool for
because I'm short.
So I like to label things because it's easier
for me to find - I have so much stuff in my pantry,
ranging from nuts to bullet proof oil,
to vegan eggs, and the like,
and then some canned stuff up top.
It's usually a lot more organized than this
but I like to keep things organized,
and I like to keep smaller jars in the front
so you can kind of see what is behind.
I have a wide variety of nut butters -
it's a bit ridiculous actually,
there's so much peanut butter in here.
Do you like peanut butter because clearly
I am obsessed with peanut butter.
And then I have some baking stuff as well.
So we have our muffin things,
some ready-made pancake mix for you know,
those lazy hungover days because I get those
quite frequently.
And then we have some canned stuff up there.
So I always have jackfruit on hand
because it's a super easy,
quick meal that I can throw together
so I can make pulled pork sandwiches out of that,
I can throw it in a chili, I can make a gumbo with it,
and it always surprises people
so I like to have that on hand in case I have some guests.
Pumpkins because basic (beep) like pumpkins
and you guys are always asking for pumpkin recipes.
I always have canned tomatoes on hand
because I can make a quick tomato sauce with that,
I can make a chili with that,
I can use it in a soup, I can put in a curry,
so having that on hand almost always
makes cooking super easy for those lazy days.
And then I also have a wide variety of flours.
So I have a some gluten free flours like almond,
and coconut flour, and also some brown rice flour as well.
Alright over here, this is my version of a junk drawer.
My milk frother, my teacup,
coffee things but I quit drinking coffee
so that's for guests.
My instant pot which is bae
because I can cook beans without having to soak them.
A wide variety of utensils and bowls,
and then I have more of my package products up here
so some more canned stuff,
lots of coconut milk, just more dried stuff,
chickpeas for aquafaba so I can make homemade mayo,
and butter, baking as well,
and because chickpeas are amazing
and who doesn't love hummus?
If you guys want a video of my favorite appliances
and the appliances I think that every vegan needs,
leave me a comment below.
So if you were wondering who won the award
for most oils on the face of the earth,
it's me!
This is my oil and vinegars, and spices cabinet.
So these are all oils up here and vinegars,
so I have chili oils, I have cooking wine,
I have four different types of olive oil,
I have avocado oil in both the spray
and then also in liquid form.
Sesame oil, more chili oil - I really love chili oil guys -
coconut oil, butter flavored coconut oil.
So this is excessive and this is because of what
I do for a living, but for you guys,
I would suggest definitely a coconut oil,
a sesame oil for all those delicious Asian dishes
that I'm showing you guys how to make all the time,
and then also an olive oil;
those are kind of my go-to's.
You can also alternate between coconut and avocado.
They're both really great cooking oils
so you can fry in that without it going rancid.
If you were to pick like two or three,
I would pick some of those.
And then I have a wide variety of salts.
So I have pink salt and then I also have black salt.
So this is my favorite salt for seasoning most things.
The black salt is perfect if you want to replicate
that sulfuric taste that eggs have,
so I always put this in my tofu scramble
and it tastes like eggs.
I'll also put it in my hollandaise
so it has that like sulfuric egg flavor,
so you definitely, definitely need this guy.
Very cheap on Amazon too.
So in terms of vinegars,
I always have rice vinegar as well as balsamic vinegar,
and then a some sort of wine vinegar
whether it's white wine, red wine, or champagne vinegar.
Really great for salad dressings
and soups as well, and flavoring rices.
So I have that and then some fun stuff
because I really am just an adult child,
I have the vegan version of Nutella -
it's a chocolate hazelnut spread -
and then you know, cajun seasoning,
and apparently I'm super into broth cubes.
So these are some of my favorites -
the Not-Beef broth and then just veggie broths,
Better Than Bouillan chicken broth is really good as well.
(laughs)
Too short.
This is my like baking and dried goods panel
of my pantry so again, I have my plates down here
so I can grab them super easily.
If I need these which I don't use as often
I put them up higher.
So I have dried fruits like dates, cranberries,
goji berries, and then I have my starches,
so I have my tapioca starch, cornstarch,
seaweed, four different types of rice -
so we have the white, basmati, brown, and sushi.
Some grains - I have amaranth and quinoa up here.
And then I have three different types of sugar
so I have cane sugar, white sugar, and brown sugar,
oh and coconut sugar, oh and icing sugar -
like six different types of sugar.
So there's coconut flakes
and a huge thing of chocolate chips,
so if you ever wanna come over
and have me bake for you, that can happen.
Now onto the spices.
This is where things get,
this is where you're going to see just how disorganized
I really am.
Alright, we have one,
no,
two,
and three things of spices.
Okay so along with the regular stuff
that I use all the time which I keep on the counter,
I have these three spice
boxes that I created from Amazon boxes,
I just cut the bottom off,
so I can easily pull them in and out of my shelves.
Otherwise you're taking all of your spices out
one at a time, and then putting them all back.
This way I can pull it out and I can really see
what I'm working with here.
So I always have garlic powder, onion powder,
the you know, I have five different types of salts here
from like pinot noir salt to vanilla salt,
and truffle salt.
Turmeric, pepper, lots of Cajun seasoning,
garlic, thyme, and I can easily refill those when I run out
with these guys here.
So this is all the jarred stuff
and this is more the loose stuff.
So I get a lot of stuff is sent to me
or I have to buy things, and then I just refill them,
and it's a lot easier than having to go through
these packages all the time.
So these are just the larger backups of those.
And then anything that doesn't fit there,
ends up in this, again, another version of the junk drawer.
So we have some chilies, egg replacers,
I always have some tiny version of a plant-based milk
for traveling on hand, I have more coconut sugar,
a very large thing of pepper, hemp hearts -
high in protein - and guys, hot sauce, always.
So this is my super embarrassing spice collection.
Obviously this is a lot,
I don't expect you guys to go out
and buy these many spices.
This is just because I'm cooking all the time,
I'm writing cookbooks, I'm making recipes for you guys,
so I have a lot of this, I also get sent a lot of stuff.
But for you guys,
I would suggest a handful of spices to have on hand
that makes your cooking a lot easier.
So obviously salt and pepper, super important,
as well as the sulfur salt so the black salt.
I also would suggest garlic powder, onion powder,
a chili powder - you can do so much with just those -
as well as a cumin for getting that like nice earthy,
meaty flavor, really great for Mexican dishes as well.
The Italian spices so some dried basil, dried oregano,
and just whatever you like to cook with.
Thyme's always a good one to have on hand
and rosemary, and really you can do a lot with just that,
you don't need really, if you're on a budget for example,
you don't need a lot of these super,
over-the-top fancy spices.
I wanna share some quick storage
and money saving tips with you guys as well.
So for me, I always have a selection of different sizes
of mason jars.
This is really great because I like to buy
a lot of my stuff in bulk.
So you can take these jars as long as they're clean,
take them up to the cash for example at Bulk Barn,
they will weigh them for you,
and then you can fill them up,
and they'll reweigh them again.
You can also bring them filled
and they'll do what's called taring.
So if I bring this and I want to fill it,
they'll weigh this first and then add the amount
that I'm adding, and then weigh it again,
and then you're only getting charged
for the amount that you're adding, so that's great.
Buying things in bulk and buying things dry
is super inexpensive.
(dog bark)
Hey!
Buying things in bulk and buying things dry
is so much less expensive than buying things canned.
There's definitely a premium on that.
Also, I have my favorite thing in the world
which is my label maker,
and I like to label my jars so I know exactly
what's in them.
I mean obviously I can tell that this is chickpeas
but sometimes a lot of the flours look the same,
so it's good to just have them labeled
so I'm not using I don't know,
cornstarch instead of powdered sugar for example
cause they look very similar.
Things without a lot of packaging
tend to be cheaper - it's a great way to save money.
And like I said before,
the Better Than Bouillon is so great.
One of these I think is about $8,
but you get many cups of broth out of this.
Instead of buying something in a carton for example
where it's really heavy,
so you're carrying it home from the grocery store,
it takes up a lot of space like,
this is like probably 24 oh no, it says right here,
41
cups of broth
verses
a liter.
Like look at the space that you save right here
so definitely get into this or bouillon cubes.
Alright guys I hope that you liked my pantry tips.
If you guys have any awesome tips
or wanna share how you organize your pantry,
leave me a comment in the comment section below.
If you liked this video and want more videos like this,
give this video a big thumbs up,
and if you are new here, hit that Subscribe button,
and I will see you next week.
Bye!