Love this! I babysit, and one of my favorite parts about that job is looking in other people's pantries for the same reason you love it. It's just fascinating, what snacks different people buy, whether they buy in bulk, how they organize them, what their pantry smells like :)
I have a great resource for this! Check out products that have won a Good Food Award (full disclosure, I work for the org). This means they’ve won a blind tasting and are ethically and sustainably produced. They have a whole category dedicated to pantry items along with all sorts of other yummy artisanal food and drink.
Did you know you can buy Chick-Fil-A sauce in full sized bottles at the grocery store? Very popular condiment in our house
I recently got the Tingly Mala Wild Mushroom Chili Sauce and it’s incredible for a very umami-y chili crisp.
For the toddler, we love Spinach Littles, Broccoli Littles, etc - you pop em in the air fryer and get these tasty nuggets that also have lots of veggie servings. 1.5yo is obsessed
In the late 90s I visited the Cape Cod potato chip factory and watched them rake the potatoes in oil. Like literally rake them! They are still the best.
Love this post and will definitely keep checking back for the comments! For crackers - I like the Simple Mills ones. They are great on their own or with cheese, etc.
Momofuku came out w a mild garlic chili crunch that my toddler enjoys! It’s fun to help build those flavor profiles for her. Shuk’s preserved lemon paste (originally found it at Brooklyn’s Big Night) is a do-it-all condiment for marinades, salad dressings, sauces etc.
You can buy ginger and garlic and freeze it! I like buying the huge pack of garlic from Costco, taking time to separate it and then putting individual cloves in the freezer. It lasts a while!
I use beef bouillon and chicken bouillon powder. For vegetable broth I freeze veggie scraps in a plastic bag and then boil it - the water becomes vegetable broth and it's much more eco friendly.
For spices I add furikake and Costco's everything seasoning to a lot of stuff like avocado toast. I also always have miso, soy sauce, mirin, white vinegar, black vinegar, and shaoxing. I like Costco's organic olive oil and avocado oil as well. I also highly recommend ordering things like nuts, oats, lentils, dried fruit, snacks etc from nuts.com. I love making granola with these!
Love these types of posts! Like you said, it's so fun to get ideas and/or just see what other people do to stay organized/snack/etc.
I've been having a moment with the Cheez-it Grooves Sharp White Cheddar. It HAS to be the grooves. Idk what it is but the texture is perfection. Those plus some sliced-up mini cucumbers have been an on-repeat snack for me this summer.
I love the idea of the ginger cubes in the freezer, unfortunately our grocery store doesn't carry those so I just keep whole ginger in the freezer and grate it when we need some. You can grate it with the skin on and then you don't have to peel and mince it.
Sambal Oelek is also a staple in our house - we mix it with mayo for a great dipping sauce!
I like to keep powdered buttermilk on hand (Saco is the brand I use: https://www.sacopantry.com/buttermilk/) for quick biscuits or pancakes without having to remember to buy buttermilk and then only use some of it.
My fave hot sauce brand is woman & south-asian-owned Peepal People (the turmeric habanero is my go to!) as a disclaimer the founder is a friend, but it's fab, spicy & tart & really yummy: https://peepalpeople.com/
Re: chili crunch, I actually prefer the Fly by Jing Sichuan Chili Crisp
Canned wise, it's *bit* pricey but I do really love the canned fish by Fishwife, esp the tuna in spicy olive oil (I often make a quick lunch w/ it)
Also love keeping pickled onions in my fridge + thanks for sharing ur fave kimchi (I find the TJ's one too vinegary, but do stock up on the tobagi brand of cabbage kimchi if I make it out to Hmart.
FINALLY my fave topic these days is toddler snacks since my kid is always eating & I need to be a ninja, ready to produce snacks at all times: echo once upon a farm as a brand (love that Jennifer Garner is part of it!) & love their tractor wheels, love cerebelly bars, super nutritious & no added sugar, and Annie's hidden veggies cheesy crackers (basically like goldfish w/o all the weird ingredients).
Also, loved this post -- you made me realize that pantry items is a fun convo starter lol!
Oooo thanks for the rec for Peepal! As for kimchi, I've found it is so personal. I prefer the more fermented and tangier the kimchi, the better, but I know for many people it's the opposite!
And omg yes I forgot about the tractor wheels. Those are so good, I steal bites sometimes.
Great list! I use Fly By Jing chili crunch, but have also used the Momofuku (it's available at Target, btw).
I love G Hughes sugar free salad dressings, California Olive Ranch dressings and another that has an owl on the label that I couldn't find when I Googled... I'm a salad for lunch person and need variety!
I found Pink Sauce once at Dollar Tree, and when I found it again I bought all the bottles they had. Any honey mustard. Rao's Maririara (double packs at Costco).
Looking for recs for a lemon pepper grinder; our forever fave from TJ's got discontinued. A crisis, for real. I was able to buy a few from Amazon a few years ago, but those are gone, and it's surprisingly difficult to find a grinder version. There one I have isn't very good.
Love this! I babysit, and one of my favorite parts about that job is looking in other people's pantries for the same reason you love it. It's just fascinating, what snacks different people buy, whether they buy in bulk, how they organize them, what their pantry smells like :)
My favorite crackers are Crunchmaster multi-seed!
Ohh! That sounds like the best job for a nosy person like myself 😂
I have a great resource for this! Check out products that have won a Good Food Award (full disclosure, I work for the org). This means they’ve won a blind tasting and are ethically and sustainably produced. They have a whole category dedicated to pantry items along with all sorts of other yummy artisanal food and drink.
https://goodfoodfdn.org/awards/winners/2025/
Whoa this is cool, thanks for sharing!
Did you know you can buy Chick-Fil-A sauce in full sized bottles at the grocery store? Very popular condiment in our house
I recently got the Tingly Mala Wild Mushroom Chili Sauce and it’s incredible for a very umami-y chili crisp.
For the toddler, we love Spinach Littles, Broccoli Littles, etc - you pop em in the air fryer and get these tasty nuggets that also have lots of veggie servings. 1.5yo is obsessed
The tingly mala sounds incredible. Looking it up now!
And yes, I've seen the big bottles! I haven't taken the plunge to purchase one yet, but it sounds like heaven to have on hand. Yum.
Crackers with cheddar cheese is my comfort food I pretend is healthy because of the protein in cheese :)
Trader Joe's has all my favorite crackers:
Multigrain Pita Bites (can't find on their website, maybe not available everywhere?): https://www.reddit.com/r/traderjoes/comments/17q3p1s/multigrain_pita_bite_crackersunexpected_cheddar/
Norwegian Crackers Seeds & Grains Crispbread (I prefer the gluten-full kind but either is good!): https://www.amazon.com/Cracker-Trader-Norwegian-Crispbread-Crackers/dp/B09JMWMDL4
Any of their Fig & Olive / Rosemary Raisin / etc crisps: https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/fig-olive-crisps-053273
In the late 90s I visited the Cape Cod potato chip factory and watched them rake the potatoes in oil. Like literally rake them! They are still the best.
Love this post and will definitely keep checking back for the comments! For crackers - I like the Simple Mills ones. They are great on their own or with cheese, etc.
Oh thank you, I remember trying Simple Mills and quite liking them!
Aldi has the best crackers! Their pita crackers are great, and we found out really like their pretzel crackers too.
Momofuku came out w a mild garlic chili crunch that my toddler enjoys! It’s fun to help build those flavor profiles for her. Shuk’s preserved lemon paste (originally found it at Brooklyn’s Big Night) is a do-it-all condiment for marinades, salad dressings, sauces etc.
Oh great to know about the mild version!
Better Than Bouillon is the best--it adds so much flavor to dishes.
Love talking about this stuff!
Mary’s gone crackers - the seed ones are so good! And simple mills crackers are a fav.
Some other brand staples : Graza olive oil, dang rice chips, gimme seaweed sheets, seven sundays cereal, solely fruit gummies, harvest snaps and lesser evil various snacks,
Oooh thanks love these recs!! The rice chips sound SO good.
I could probably sit and eat a whole bag at a time - all the flavors are delish
I second Mary's Gone Crackers! The seaweed and black sesame ones are so good!
Ooo! Yum, i didn’t know about this flavor! I usually get them from Thrive market so I’m sure there are limited flavors available on there
You can buy ginger and garlic and freeze it! I like buying the huge pack of garlic from Costco, taking time to separate it and then putting individual cloves in the freezer. It lasts a while!
I use beef bouillon and chicken bouillon powder. For vegetable broth I freeze veggie scraps in a plastic bag and then boil it - the water becomes vegetable broth and it's much more eco friendly.
For spices I add furikake and Costco's everything seasoning to a lot of stuff like avocado toast. I also always have miso, soy sauce, mirin, white vinegar, black vinegar, and shaoxing. I like Costco's organic olive oil and avocado oil as well. I also highly recommend ordering things like nuts, oats, lentils, dried fruit, snacks etc from nuts.com. I love making granola with these!
I didn't know that about garlic + ginger! Great rec for nuts.com, I've never ordered from there before but it sounds amazing.
I’m also a veggie broth maker! Any scraps you avoid putting in? I find I’ve been more and more cautious with what goes in.
Trying the Ghia!
Love these types of posts! Like you said, it's so fun to get ideas and/or just see what other people do to stay organized/snack/etc.
I've been having a moment with the Cheez-it Grooves Sharp White Cheddar. It HAS to be the grooves. Idk what it is but the texture is perfection. Those plus some sliced-up mini cucumbers have been an on-repeat snack for me this summer.
I love the idea of the ginger cubes in the freezer, unfortunately our grocery store doesn't carry those so I just keep whole ginger in the freezer and grate it when we need some. You can grate it with the skin on and then you don't have to peel and mince it.
Sambal Oelek is also a staple in our house - we mix it with mayo for a great dipping sauce!
I like to keep powdered buttermilk on hand (Saco is the brand I use: https://www.sacopantry.com/buttermilk/) for quick biscuits or pancakes without having to remember to buy buttermilk and then only use some of it.
My fave hot sauce brand is woman & south-asian-owned Peepal People (the turmeric habanero is my go to!) as a disclaimer the founder is a friend, but it's fab, spicy & tart & really yummy: https://peepalpeople.com/
Re: chili crunch, I actually prefer the Fly by Jing Sichuan Chili Crisp
Canned wise, it's *bit* pricey but I do really love the canned fish by Fishwife, esp the tuna in spicy olive oil (I often make a quick lunch w/ it)
Also love keeping pickled onions in my fridge + thanks for sharing ur fave kimchi (I find the TJ's one too vinegary, but do stock up on the tobagi brand of cabbage kimchi if I make it out to Hmart.
FINALLY my fave topic these days is toddler snacks since my kid is always eating & I need to be a ninja, ready to produce snacks at all times: echo once upon a farm as a brand (love that Jennifer Garner is part of it!) & love their tractor wheels, love cerebelly bars, super nutritious & no added sugar, and Annie's hidden veggies cheesy crackers (basically like goldfish w/o all the weird ingredients).
Also, loved this post -- you made me realize that pantry items is a fun convo starter lol!
Oooo thanks for the rec for Peepal! As for kimchi, I've found it is so personal. I prefer the more fermented and tangier the kimchi, the better, but I know for many people it's the opposite!
And omg yes I forgot about the tractor wheels. Those are so good, I steal bites sometimes.
The Fishwife this inner fishes are my favorite quick treat!
Great list! I use Fly By Jing chili crunch, but have also used the Momofuku (it's available at Target, btw).
I love G Hughes sugar free salad dressings, California Olive Ranch dressings and another that has an owl on the label that I couldn't find when I Googled... I'm a salad for lunch person and need variety!
I found Pink Sauce once at Dollar Tree, and when I found it again I bought all the bottles they had. Any honey mustard. Rao's Maririara (double packs at Costco).
Looking for recs for a lemon pepper grinder; our forever fave from TJ's got discontinued. A crisis, for real. I was able to buy a few from Amazon a few years ago, but those are gone, and it's surprisingly difficult to find a grinder version. There one I have isn't very good.
Yess, I forgot to include Rao's, but that's hands down my favorite marinara sauce to buy too!