If you’re new to plant based cooking or just looking to add more plants onto your diet a well stocked kitchen and pantry is essential for cooking with ease.

Eating is such an important part of life. We all love eating - most of us eat at least 3 meals a day and then there’s the added treats, snacks, cakes and night time munchies.

Just because you’ve decided to eat a plant based diet doesn’t mean you need to compromise on taste. Anything that you fancy to eat can be made vegan with just a little perparation, a few extra added spices and a little creativity.

We all know that adding more veggies to your diet is a good thing. Not only are they packed full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre they also taste amazing if they are prepared and cooked right.

My top tip for vegan cooking is to follow the each recipe correctly without missing out any ingredients, vegan cooking should be packed with flavour and spice to really jazz up veggies and make them the star of the show.

Basic kitchen tools

You’ll need some simple tools to help with all your meal preparation, you don’t need to spend much on equipment and you only need a few things. I have lots of equipment that I’ve gathered over the years but I only tend to use the same few things.

Measuring jugs, cups and spoons
can opener and vegetable peeler
mixing bowl
colander
chopping boards - one for fruit one for veg
mixing bowls
grater
wooden spoons, spatula, rolling pin
stack of pans
couple of baking dishes
baking tray
good set of knives
food processor (to save time on chopping and for blending ingredients)

Cupboard Stock

You don’t need to go out and fill your cupboards straight away, I tended to buy the things I needed slowly with each new recipe I tried out. This way you’ll have everything you need over a period of time.

This simple list will get you started

Savoury Stock Cupboard Essentials

Olive oil
coconut oil
soy sauce
apple cider vinegar ( makes dishes really tasty)
balsamic - to add flavour to lots of dishes and salads
veggie stock cube
tinned and dried beans and lentils
tinned tomatoes
tinned coconut milk - for savoury and sweet dishes
grains - rice, couscous, quinoa are a good start
pasta - lasagne sheets, spaghetti and a choice of pasta shapes
flour - plain and self raising
baking powder

Sweet Stock Cupboard Essentials

nut butter
cacao powder
sugar
maple syrup or agave nectar
dark or vegan chocolate
dates (for sweet dishes or as a sugar or caramel alternative)

Basic Herbs and Spices

Good quality salt (sea salt)
black pepper
cayenne pepper
chilli powder
paprika
thyme
mixed herbs
cumin
cinnamon

Vegetable Essentials

onion
garlic
pepper
tomato
leafy green - spinach or kale
lemon and or lime

If have a nice full stock cupboard and a few basic veggies in the fridge then you’ll be able to throw a lovely filling vegan dish together again and again.

You can build up your cupboard stock over time and only buy the new things you need when you fancy having a go at a new recipe.

I sometimes make double when I cook so I can label and pop the dish in the freezer. Beans freeze really well so things like a chilli, smoked beans or baked beans are really good to make double the quantity and freeze for another day. This is so useful for those days when you are short on time or you have no idea what to cook.

I hope you have found this kitchen guide useful and please feel free to leave any comments or tag any photos of your recipe creations on our Instagram page.

How to Stock Your Cupboards for Vegan Cooking

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