As my regular readers know, I've undertaken a whole-house cleaning and de-cluttering project for 2015. I'm doing one room a month. In January, I cleaned and re-organized my kitchen.

The kitchen de-clutter got me h=thinking (even more) about pantrying. What do I need to keep on hand? How do I make sure that I know what I have so I don't waste money by making duplicate purchases (hello, 3 bottles of whole cloves!)? How do I make sure I use stuff before it goes bad?

The first step is knowing what you need to have available at all times – those basic ingredients you need to whip up a meal — even if you are snowbound or too tired to go to the grocery store. I've started isolating my basics: some form of quick-cooking oatmeal, tea, pasta (the shape doesn't matter), crushed tomatoes, broth (beef, chicken, or vegetable), black beans, rice, Rotel tomatoes, bread crumbs, olive oil, butter, eggs, flour, sugar, potatoes, onions, garlic or garlic powder, some frozen vegetables, frozen chicken breasts. Ideally, I'll have milk too. I usually have some kind of canned meat, just in case. And always the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies. For spices, I need salt, pepper, cinnamon,cumin, chili powder, hot sauce, oregano, basil.

If I only had those foods in my larder, I could eat for at least a week without leaving my house — likely longer. Which begs the question, why is there so much else in my cabinets? I'm working on eating my way through foods that I am holding without good reason.

What are your pantry essentials?