Going to the supermarket every day costs time and, often, more money than planned. A capsule pantry, a small set of staple ingredients, always available, solves this for most weekday dinners.
The idea is simple: instead of buying ingredient by ingredient for each recipe, you always keep a small group of versatile products at home, which can be combined in dozens of different ways.
The essential ingredients
A Portuguese capsule pantry is usually divided into four groups:
- Cereals and pasta: carolino rice, pasta, oats, wholemeal bread (can be frozen in slices).
- Legumes: chickpeas, beans, lentils, dried or tinned.
- Long-lasting preserves and protein: tinned tuna, eggs.
- Seasoning base: olive oil, tinned peeled tomatoes, onion, garlic and dried spices.
How to organise the pantry
- Keep products visible, rather than piled up at the back of the cupboard.
- Use clear, labelled jars for cereals and dried legumes.
- Apply the FIFO (“first in, first out”) rule: the most recently bought goes to the back, the oldest to the front.
10 quick combinations with the capsule pantry
- Pasta with tuna and tinned peeled tomatoes.
- Rice with beans and sautéed onion.
- Chickpeas with poached egg and spinach.
- Lentils stewed with carrots and cumin.
- Warm grain salad with tuna and olives.
- Bean soup with cabbage.
- Pasta with grains and sun-dried tomatoes.
- Tomato rice with fried egg, like this tomato rice with poached egg.
- Sautéed lupins with smoked peppers.
- Black-eyed beans with boiled egg and coriander.
Fresh produce: the capsule pantry’s complement
The capsule pantry does not replace fresh produce: it replaces daily trips to the supermarket. One or two weekly shops for vegetables, fruit and fresh herbs are the natural complement to this base, ensuring there is always something ready to cook even on the busiest days.
How to avoid moths and insects in dry goods
Store rice, pasta and flour in tightly closed containers, preferably made of glass or rigid plastic, rather than leaving them in their original open packaging. A jar of whole bay leaves placed inside the container helps keep insects away.