Building a Pantry That Works

The fifteen staples that turn a bare kitchen into a working one.

A good pantry is less about volume than about leverage. A handful of well-chosen staples -- good olive oil, canned tomatoes, dried pasta, a few vinegars, and a deep spice drawer -- lets you build a real dinner on a weeknight without a shopping trip.

Store things where you can see them. Decanting grains and flours into clear jars does more than look tidy; it tells you at a glance what you have and what you're running low on, which is half the battle.

Rotate with the seasons. A pantry isn't a museum. Buy what you'll cook in the next month, label the dates, and let the shelf turn over so nothing goes stale at the back.