Each week I show you what I buy at the grocery store and how I prepare that during meal prep for the week. However, there are some items that I rarely have to buy at the store, but they are a staple food in my pantry.
Staple foods are ones that are eaten or prepared routinely. The staple food that comes to mind in terms of my diet is chicken. What is a staple food in your diet?
There are a lot of staple foods in my diet, especially when it comes to healthy grains. Whole grains are very important in a healthy diet because they provide fiber, B vitamins and important minerals like iron, zinc and magnesium. I eat whole grains regularly and almost always pick a whole grain item over the enriched flour version. For example, I eat brown rice rather than white rice or whole wheat bread over white bread.
Check out my favorite healthy grains that are staple foods in my diet.
Oats:
Oatmeal is probably the #1 whole grain in my diet. If you follow me on Instagram then you know I make oatmeal a lot for breakfast (and sometimes dinner). If you opened my pantry you’d find steel cut oats, rolled oats, rolled sprouted oats, quick oats and oat flour! See what I mean? All different kinds of oats for all different types of meals.
I use rolled oats to make granola, cookies and overnight oats. However, I’ll use quick oats for hot oatmeal recipes since they take less than two minutes to cook. Some of my favorite oatmeal recipes are Strawberry Banana Protein Overnight Oats, Chocolate Covered Strawberry Overnight Oats, Peanut Butter & Banana Baked Oatmeal and Oatmeal with Avocado & Fried Egg.
Brown Rice:
Brown rice is another whole grain that gets made a lot in our house. It can be substituted for white rice in pretty much any recipe. There are several different types of brown rice including long grain brown rice, short grain brown rice, sweet brown rice, 10-minutes brown rice, etc. Occasionally I’ll make brown rice the traditional way, but more often I’ll make 10-minute brown rice. Quick and simple while being healthy at the same time!
One of my favorite side dishes is Brown Rice with Grilled Vegetables, but brown rice can also be used for a healthy stir-fry recipe, in soup or for a makeover fried rice recipe.
Quinoa:
Quinoa is actually an ancient grain, but has gained popularity in the last few years in the health-food world. It happens to be naturally gluten free and has a nutty flavor. It is very versatile and can be used in a variety of different recipes.
I have used it in a Southwestern Quinoa Salad as well as this Caprese Quinoa Bake. Quinoa doesn’t just have to be used for lunch and dinner. It can be eaten for breakfast like in this Fall Breakfast Quinoa Bowl from Jar of Lemons!
Whole Wheat Pasta:
I try to keep a couple different kinds of pasta in our pantry at all times. Some weeknights it is easy to cook pasta, top with jarred marinara and mix in some beef or chicken. We generally stock spaghetti noodles, penne noodles and rotini noodles, but on occasion we’ll have lasagna noodles, bow tie noodles or other fun shapes.
My diet has plenty of gluten in it, but you could always stock your pantry with gluten free noodles that are made with quinoa flour or rice flour.
Try substituting whole wheat pasta in these two recipes: Vegan Roasted Red Pepper Pasta by Minimalist Baker or this Five Ingredient Simple Green Pasta Salad by Pinch of Yum.
Well those are my four staple food items when it comes to healthy grains. If you don’t cook with whole grains very often, then try substituting them in a few of your favorite recipes. Try whole wheat pasta rather than traditional refined flour pasta or use brown rice in place of white rice.
What staple foods do you keep in your pantry when it comes to grains?
