I highly recommend keeping your kitchen well-stocked with bulk containers of grains. They are incredibly versatile and can be flavored any way you like, and add bulk and nutrition to any meal. The grains listed below are the staples that I always have on hand!
Brown rice
I always have medium or long grain brown rice around because it is so versatile. It can serve as a base to pretty much any type of dish.
Arborio rice
I always, ALWAYS have this in my kitchen… it is vital for risotto!
Couscous
We typically only have the ptitm kind in our kitchen (aka ‘Israeli couscous’). Neither Dan nor I are huge fans of the texture of the smaller type of couscous, so I don’t tend to keep it around.
Quinoa
Technically, quinoa is a seed, but I love it too much to leave it off my list. I write love letters to this ‘grain,’ people!
Millet
To me, millet is quinoa’s cheaper cousin (though I’m not sure if they’re actually related). However, I recently found out that millet may not be recommended for people with hypothyroidism, so I need to do a little more research before I restock this one!
Rolled Oats
A breakfast and baking staple. Need I say more?
Popcorn
This is a snack-time favorite, especially topped with a some Garlic Gold Nuggets and a little canola oil (just enough to make the nuggets stick)!
What grains do you always keep on hand?
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
What a well stocked kitchen! I usually only have brown rice, quinoa or cous cous, popcorn, and rolled oats. I always go through the oats first (probably because I eat oatmeal for breakfast like 75 percent of the time). I’ve always wanted to try millet!
I love this! Your kitchen is well stocked with grains for sure. We have brown rice, couscous, and oats. Occasionally we will have other things, but those are what we always seem to have.
WIth my new obsession with canning jars (thanks Julie) I have brown rice, barley, quinoa, couscous, oats and steel cut oats. I’m sure there are more since I’m constantly trying new ones
I keep rolled oats, steel-cut oats, hulled barley, long/short grain brown rice, wild rice, whole wheat couscous (I’d really like to get some WW Israeli couscous…), whole grain cornmeal, quinoa, millet, wheat berries, Kamut and one of my personal favorites – amaranth. I’m not a huge fan of popcorn to be honest, and I’d really like to try rye berries. I enjoy bulgur and buckwheat too but I don’t have any at the moment. I still need to try rye, spelt and farro!
Aside from the oats I have little baggies off all of the aforementioned grains in a thin tote underneath my bed in my dorm.
Wow, you are well-stocked!
I keep the staples you have listed and I also keep brown sweet rice in stock and mix it in with the regular long or short grain brown rice I am using. I mix about 75% regular, 25% sweet brown rice. It adds a sticky quality to the rice and is really good for your skin. I also mix in hato mugi (Job’s tears) into rice too. Delish!
Hmm, I’ll have to try the sweet rice addition!
I have this row of the huge Bell jars stocked with grains. Just about always have couscous, arborio, white rice, flax (seed, but hey!), quinoa, and rolled oats. Gotta love the grocery store bulk section!
Love, love, love buying from the bulk bins!
I really need to make some risotto this fall. I can just imagine the fall flavors now!
{ 3 trackbacks }