Basic Pantry

Here's a list of things I keep around the house that I frequently use in recipes (and sometimes against the recipe throw it in anyway):

In the cupboard:
Brown sugar
Natural sugar
Gluten free flour mix
Soy milk (this stuff stays good forever until you open it, then you have like 4 days to use it)
Canned corn (good side, pretty much the only vegetable Elvo will eat)
Cream of something soup, usually both chicken and celery are in the cupboard
Almonds, because I love them
Vinegar
Vegetable oil
Saltine crackers
White rice
Brown rice
Pecan rice (this is very good, go find it)
Rice pastas, usually angel hair and penne
Soy sauce

In the fridge:
Lemon juice
Lime juice
Frozen fish, usually salmon because we really like salmon, in case I need a last minute dinner
Onion, the kind that comes already chopped because I can't stand chopping onions
Butter/Margarine
Eggs (I get fresh eggs from my mother, they stay fresh for weeks and are healthier than commercially farmed)
Chicken broth, in the box

I also keep basic spices, such as ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and black pepper around. For christmas I got a spice rack so everything stays orderly.
Things that don't expire, or don't expire quickly, I keep around in excess. It's cheaper to buy in bulk, but only if you'll use it up in time. So vegetable oil, margarine, lemon juice, crackers, canned vegetables, rice, and almonds I buy in bulk packages from our local members-only-bulk store, to which Elvo has a membership thankfully. I haven't bought vinegar in bulk simply because I don't use it much, and I don't buy my sugars in bulk because I don't have an air tight container for them so it's easier to buy fresh, not-hardened-to-boulder-consistency packages of sugar and use them up.

Obviously, I've only been at this cooking business for a month or so, and your pantry probably has items in it that are a reflection of your personal taste. Elvo likes sweet, sugary things so I have a lot of brown sugar where you might have spicy things like jars of salsa or peppers. There's also detrius that accumulates. I've got a package of bacon in the fridge from my bacon-wrapped-foods-craze and some non-gluten-free flour from before we knew about Elvo's intolerance. Someday I'll find a way to use up the cake mix that we've had for way too long.