Do you always have special ingredients in the house?

[she_cookie]

Do you keep special ingredients like yeast or anything you don't use everyday in the house?
Some prefer to buy the ingredients 'fresh', others would keep them in the kitchen for a while, maybe someday they'd cook something nice.
What do you prefer? To have them right under your nose or go buy some only when you cook with them?

[Benton Tarantella]

Interesting subject... Well, in my case it depends. I try to keep some of the more or less important ingredients in the kitchen 'cause one never knows... I may have too cook something on an unexpected occasion and I'm not a big fan of fast-shopping, as they call it... Of course, there are also some ingredients, like yeast, I would rather buy "fresh", but if it happens to not find some when I need it I make sure to buy some extra- when I go to the mall.

[pizzaboy]

I think it's better to use fresh ingredients but you don't really need to buy some of theme. Why not keep a basil plant in your kitchen! This is not really a problem for those who like shopping... just like me.

[Liketobake]

In our house we have a lot of different special ingredients. These included many types of herbs (dried) and spices. We also have alot of different baking ingredients on hand. We do a lot of baking at our house so stuff rarely goes bad. We have the basics of course flours, different types of sugars, flavourings such as pure vanilla extract, lemon extract, lemon juice, rum extract, mint extract. In the fridge we keep the baking nuts: shredded coconut, sliced almonds, and pecan pieces. We have extra vanilla waffers on hand because those often come in handy (also nice snacks). We usually have cream cheese on hand for both eating and baking with.....We have loads of chocolate for melting into desserts and different types of chocolate chips.

For extra ingredients we still go to the store though.:D

[beginnercook]

I don't keep them too long. I always like getting new ones and then most of the time they are turning stale (since I use less than I have in the kitchen) and then, on another shopping spree I buy some more again. Sometimes I don't seem to be too moderate in such things :D

[wildfire]

I always have yeast and I always have saffron. I usually have a rediculous number of dried herbs (just in case the mood for a really specific recipe hits)

[Ralphy]

I keep some ingredients in the house.. but not to many.
I keep oregano, for example, i don't use it often, but sometimes i like to add a little bit in some meals. So i keep it in the kitchen.
Other ingredients i go buy from the local store.

[mcnerd]

I think a lot depends on how much of a cook you are, for what you keep on hand and whether it is fresh, dried, canned, or bottled. I guess a professional chef could walk into someone's kitchen, look in the pantry, cupboards, etc., and tell exactly what kind of cook you were.

I'm experimenting right now with growing my own herbs, to see what I might actually use fresh on a regular basis. I'm anticipating for awhile that I will be dehydrating a lot of it when I'm overwhelmed with the growth.

Lately I'm tending to have spices and herbs "on hand" since I don't plan meals way in advance. There is the risk that spices/herbs will lose their potency over time, but I'm not that much of a connoisseur to notice. I'm using cinnamon that is years old and it works fine for my needs.

I'm also experimenting with canning (water bath and pressure) and making my own condiments and spices in order to reduce the salt content and cut down on the $$$. Simple things like Italian Salad Dressing Mix, gravy mixes, chili sauce, salsa, etc. are so much better too.

[Dishwashboy]

I prefer not storing something that I wouldn’t need for that day. I think that it is best to buy ingredients if you are planning to use them on cooking right away. I don’t like the idea of keeping the ingredients hanging on the refrigerator.