Vegan Staples for the Fridge, Freezer & Pantry

I've shared my Vegan Kitchenware Essentials, and now I'm sharing the vegan staple foods that I always have on hand. This includes my must-have vegan pantry staples, vegan fridge staples, and vegan freezer staples.

I always try to keep my pantry, fridge, and freezer well-stocked with the basics, so that I can throw together a meal at a moment’s notice without needing a special trip to the grocery store.

Of course, no two people will agree on a list of vegan food staples. One person's go-to ingredients will be unfamiliar or unnecessary to another. The trick is to find what works for you and stock your pantry with items that you enjoy and are confident using.

Use this list as a guide and a starting point. There is no need to buy everything at once. Build up your vegan staples gradually over time.

Your pantry will slowly take shape as you begin to cook regularly and develop a repertoire of favorite vegan recipes.

This post contains affiliate links. I mention my favorite brands throughout but none of these mentions are sponsored.

• Olive oil - A good extra virgin olive oil for dressings, drizzling, finishing and dipping, and a light, everyday olive oil for cooking with.
• Coconut oil - Virgin/unrefined and also refined for when I don't want the coconut flavor/smell (like when making my vegan butter & feta cheese). I always buy Nutiva coconut oil because it's ethically produced and monkey-friendly, and the refined coconut oil is refined with steam and not chemicals.
• Sesame oil - Light for high-heat cooking (stir fries etc) and toasted for finishing, sauces and dressing.
• Refined avocado oil - I love to use this for frying and for sweet and savory baking. It has a high smoke point and is really multi-purpose.

Vinegar

• Apple cider vinegar - Out of all of them, this one should be your priority vinegar purchase as it's so multi-purpose. You will see it used all the time, particularly in vegan baking recipes where it's combined with baking soda as an egg replacement.
• Balsamic vinegar
• White wine vinegar
• Red wine vinegar
• Rice wine vinegar
• Malt vinegar - For fries!

These are the nut butters I always have on hand (always natural and unsweetened):

• Peanut butter
• Almond butter
• Tahini
• Cashew butter

And here are the nuts and seeds (all raw and unsalted):

• Ground flaxseed - A very common ingredient found in a lot of vegan recipes so well worth prioritizing. It must be ground to function properly in most recipes (and also for your body to be able to absorb any of the nutrients in it such as omega-3) so don't make the mistake of buying whole seeds unless you plan to grind them yourself. Store in the fridge once open as it can go rancid at room temperature.
• Cashews - So amazing for making rich, creamy sauces like my cashew cheese sauce! I always have a big bag on hand.
• Almonds mostly for my almond milk recipe and snacking.
• Almond flour for all of my vegan almond flour recipes!
• Walnuts
• Pecans
• Pumpkin seeds
• Chia seeds
• Sesame seeds
• Sunflower seeds

This varies depending on season but I usually have these fruits and veggies:

• Lemons (for making my many vegan lemon recipes...I'm a little obsessed)
• Oranges
• Apples
• Bananas
• Berries
• Garlic
• Onions
• Carrots
• Celery
• Mushrooms
• Zucchini
• Eggplant
• Kale
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Tomatoes
• Avocados - I keep them in a bowl on the counter until they are perfectly ripe, then they go into the fridge where they keep easily for 1 to 2 weeks.
• Bell peppers
• Sweet potatoes
• Potatoes - I use Yukon Gold for just about everything.
• Lettuce, spring mix, or arugula
  

• Vegetable or mushroom stock/broth - Ready made in a carton. Great for making a quick vegan soup recipe or anything else that required stock.
• Better Than Bouillon - No Chicken, No Beef, Vegetable and Roasted Garlic. They are so flavorful. A little goes a long way and they last ages.
• Jam - I am obsessed with Bonne Maman Jam and usually have multiple flavors on the go at once.
• Coconut milk - Full fat and light. Full fat is great for setting things like cheesecake, or when you want extra creaminess in a sauce/dessert. Light is good when you want some richness and creaminess without too much of a pronounced coconut flavor. I like Cha's or Everland coconut milk as it's monkey friendly and fair trade.
• Tomatoes - Crushed/pureed, whole and fire roasted. Sometimes diced, but not often. That's because diced canned tomatoes are treated with calcium chloride to make them stay chunky and keep their shape and more often than not, when I add canned tomatoes to a recipe I want them to break down. Diced tomatoes are really only good for recipes where you want distinct chunks of tomato to remain.
• Tomato paste (or puree if you're in the UK).
• Pumpkin puree - I love my pumpkin smoothie so always have some handy. Also my dog Charlie is obsessed with it and has a big spoon with his breakfast most days!
• Beans - Usually black beans, cannellini beans, pinto beans, kidney beans and chickpeas. I try to cook dried beans from scratch in my Instant Pot, but canned are so handy and great when you want to whip something up something like my Braised Beans & Greens or Kidney Bean Burgers for dinner super quickly.
• Baked beans - Maybe it's because I'm British but I always have a couple of cans of baked beans in my pantry. Beans on toast is the ultimate quick and easy lunch or dinner and I love a baked potato with grated cheese and baked beans!
• Black olives - For pasta/pizza, snacking etc.
• Pickles (or gherkins as they are otherwise known).
• Capers - I love to fry them until crispy and scatter them on my salads so always have some on hand.
• Pickled jalapenos
• Artichokes in oil or brine - I love the Kirkland Signature ones from Costco. I put these in everything from sandwiches and burgers to dips, pasta and on homemade pizza.

With these ingredients on hand, you can make so many baked goods without a trip to the store.

• All purpose flour - It has a high protein level and is suitable for all baking including most bread. I use it for almost everything. If you are in the UK you will need plain flour for my recipes that call for all purpose flour, as well as bread flour for any bread recipes. That's because your flour has a lower protein content than North American flour. You will notice that my recipes don't ever use self-raising because it's really hard to find here.
• Spelt flour - One of my fave healthier flours. It bakes up so well and tastes really good. You'll find lots of recipes here that use it including my spelt pancakes and no yeast spelt bread.
• Wholewheat flour - I only ever use this for bread. I much prefer spelt for healthier cakes and muffins etc.
• Almond flour - I have lots of recipes that use almond flour. It's so buttery and delicious!
• Vital wheat gluten - You need this if you want to make seitan recipes like my vegan roast or vegan beef.
• Chickpea flour - Essential for making my quiche, carrot fritters and Yorkshire puddings!
• Rye flour - I only use this for my sourdough starter.
• Baking powder (always aluminum free)
• Baking soda
• Yeast - I use either fast action or active dried yeast. They are pretty much interchangeable.
• Semi-sweet chocolate chips - Quite a lot of them are accidentally vegan, but try to look for brands that aren't involved in child labor/and or slavery. Sadly most chocolate brands are to some extent. You can check on this list from The Food Empowerment Project. Not all are mentioned but most are. I was so surprised to find some of my favourite baking brands on the bad list so have recently made some changes as a result.
• Cocoa powder - Bear in mind my note above about ethical chocolate/cocoa. My go-to ethically produced cocoa powders are President's Choice Organic when I need Dutch process cocoa powder (not acidic) or Everland Organic when I need natural/acidic cocoa powder.
• Unsweetened shredded coconut
• Dried fruit - Usually a selection of Medjool dates, golden raisins, currants, dried cranberries and tart cherries.
• Vanilla extract - Try to buy vanilla extract and not vanilla essence/imitation vanilla flavor. Vanilla extract tastes way better and you can get away with using less because of that. Extract is made with actual vanilla, whereas vanilla essence or imitation vanilla doesn't have a drop of real vanilla in it. It is artificially flavored (sometimes with castoreum which comes from beaver butts, although thankfully that very un-vegan practice isn't very common anymore).

• Pasta - Spaghetti, penne, rigatoni, macaroni, orzo, couscous.
• Noodles - Rice, soba and ramen.
• Quinoa
• Rice - Long grain, basmati, brown rice and risotto rice (for risotto and rice pudding).
• Cornmeal
• Oats - Rolled/old-fashioned and steel cut. For oatmeal, overnight oats and baking/cooking.
• Panko breadcrumbs
• Crackers
• Cornstarch
• Arrowroot powder

Dried Legumes

I always have a good selection of dried legumes and I usually cook them in my Instant Pot without soaking them first. They can be ready start to finish in a little over 40 minutes and are great for making so many cheap vegan meals.

• Black beans - I make my Instant Pot black beans at least once a week.
• Navy or cannellini beans
• Chickpeas - So versatile! Add them to salads, soups, pastas, curries and grain bowls, turn them into hummus, or use them for baking.
• Kidney beans
• Black eyed beans
• Pinto beans
• Split red lentils - Mainly for my Red Lentil Soup and Lentil Dal which I make all the time, but also for thickening other soups and stews.
• Green/brown lentils (I use these interchangeably)

Wondering what vegans should have in their fridge? Well, here are my vegan fridge staples (note that although I keep some in the fridge, fruits and vegetables are listed all together in the produce section):

• Vegan butter - I use either my vegan butter recipe or Earth Balance for baking. I always keep some vegan brown butter in the fridge too for a tasty addition to sweet and savoury dishes.
• Tofu - Usually extra firm and silken.
• Tempeh - I'm a bit fussy with my tempeh and only really love it when it's really fresh and mild. Locally made Tempea tempeh is always my preference. It's really delicious. They make it from the usual soy beans and also green peas!
• Hummus - Sometimes homemade hummus, sometimes store-bought.
• White miso - Great for adding umami flavor. You'll find it in my mac and cheese recipe because it enhances the savoury, sharp, cheesiness. A pot keeps just about forever in the fridge.
• Field Roast sausages - I use these in so many thing! I like to add the spicy ones to my One-Pot Spicy Vegetable Rice, and the Italian ones to Italian Sausage Pasta Soup and Vegan Broccoli Rice Casserole. Then the apple sage ones go in my Roasted Red Cabbage.
• Vegan yogurt - I love Yoggu or Maison Riviera.

And now comes the cheese and my cheese problem is clearly evident! Obviously you don't need all of these vegan cheeses, but I am cheese obsessed and these are the ones I always have on hand:

• Vegan Parmesan - I love my own vegan parmesan recipe but Violife's is really good if you want to buy it.
• Vegan cheese slices - For sandwiches/burgers etc. I really like Violife's smoked provolone slices.
• Vegan cheese shreds - For melting on or in things, like my Baked Vegan Orzo Recipe. Usually either Violife, Nabati, or Daiya Italian shreds.
• Boursin Dairy-Free - A garlic herb cream cheese. I can't get enough of this!
• Vegan Ricotta - I always make a big batch of this and have it ready in the fridge for pasta, pizza, spreading and general dolloping.
• Vegan Feta - My recipe for this too. It's great for crumbling over salads/pasta/pizza and melting into pasta for a quick dinner. I keep a small amount in the fridge and a few small pots in the freezer.

• Milk - Always check the ingredients of the milk you buy. Sugar and vanilla are added to so many plant-based milks and it's not always obvious by looking at the front of the carton. When they have sugar or vanilla in them they are no good for using in anything savory, and if you use them in sweet recipes you will end up having to adjust the added sugar to compensate. It's not nice when a whole meal is ruined because of it. Been there, done it, got the T-Shirt. Potato soup is awful with added sugar and vanilla! 🤣 I use unsweetened/unflavored soy milk, cashew milk and oat milk the most because they are great all-rounders. I go through phases of making my own cashew milk and oat milk but usually it ends up being store bought.
• Coffee - I always use Kicking Horse coffee beans because it's a local BC company, absolutely delicious, and it's fair trade and shade grown (important for birds!).
• Tea - I'm lucky enough to have a local tea farm/purveyor so that's where I get mine. If they ship to you I highly recommend their tea blends.
• Orange juice

Click to print my vegan pantry staples list