These Are Ree Drummond's 11 Must-Have Pantry Staples

Ree Drummond, also known as The Pioneer Woman, has built an empire of sorts from her from-scratch meal ideas and homemaking aesthetic. With a successful television show on The Food Network, cookbooks, and full line of kitchen gadgets, Drummond is a force to be reckoned with that many aspiring home chefs and organization geeks idolize, and rightfully so. Whether it is coming up with your next dinner idea or customizing various nooks and crannies in your home, Drummond has probably covered it over the years.

But a great home-cooked meal cannot happen without first making sure that the pantry in your kitchen is well-stocked. While we all wish we could rummage through Drummond's kitchen ourselves for inspiration, thankfully, we have the internet to provide us with some insight into how she chooses to supply her pantry. Pantry essentials are there to make sure you have the building blocks for a variety of simple dishes, but they are also there to add tasty final touches to your favorite meals. If you are heading out to the grocery store soon, make sure you have these pantry essentials that Ree Drummond swears by.

While some pantry essentials include basic ingredients that can serve as a building block for a number of recipes, other must-haves include easy-to-find items that can enhance a dish last-minute. One specific category of preserved pantry essentials Ree Drummond swears by are jarred sauces. These can often be found in your local grocery store at a decent price, and when there is a sale, you can really stock up to make sure you have enough sauce to last.

When speaking to Food Network, Drummond highlighted her love of jarred sauces as pantry must-haves, which can include a good quality marinara, pesto, salsa, and more. Why stock up on sauce? According to Drummond, they quickly bring any plain meal to the next level with a burst of added flavor. Pesto sauce in particular is a favorite of Drummond, who points out that it acts as a great substitute for fresh basil and can work with a variety of meals, including pasta, quiches, and even as a salad dressing or dip, per Pioneer Woman.

While some pantry items usually only serve a single purpose, there are others that can be used in a wide variety of ways. In those instances, Ree Drummond stocks up big time to make sure she has enough ingredients on hand to create an array of meals to satisfy her family. If your pantry currently does not have any canned tomato products, such as tomato sauce, tomato paste, or diced tomatoes, you may want to include them on your weekly grocery list. Not only are they perfect for quick sauces, but you can also add them to other dishes, such as soups and meatloaf.

The Pioneer Woman also notes that tomato products are the most important item you can stock up on to make sure last-minute meals are simple and accessible in your home. Tomato paste and diced tomatoes are great building blocks for more elaborate meals, but one-step ingredients, like pizza sauce, are important to keep on hand too.

This next category spans the creation of a dish from the very early preparation steps to the final touches. Oils and condiments are essential tools when making dinner from start to finish, so it is no surprise that Ree Drummond makes sure she includes them on her list when stocking up. When it comes to oils, she recommends making sure you have a variety on deck and not just olive oil; be on the lookout for peanut oil and coconut oil, too.

For those condiments that serve as the perfect embellishments to a dish, make sure you have hot sauces, soy sauce, ketchup, and barbecue sauce as your basic foundational ingredients. As far as mayonnaise goes, Drummond prefers the real deal to alternatives like Miracle Whip. She also makes sure honey is nearby, as it can be used in a variety of ways, including as an addition to her smoothies or berry bowls.

Salt and pepper are no-brainers when it comes to stocking up your home kitchen and pantry. But if you were to ask Ree Drummond, the herbs and seasonings you should have in stock go well beyond those two simple ingredients. Herbs, spices, and other seasonings are non-negotiable in her eyes.

One important thing to note is that you want to make sure to stock up on dried herbs and seasonings specifically. While fresh herbs add a burst of flavor to a dish, they have a short shelf life. Dried herbs, on the other hand, can last much longer. And since most recipes only require small doses of the spices (a little goes a long way!), you can get a lot of mileage out of one jar. In fact, Drummond notes that she only stocks up on these sorts of pantry items a few times a year, so when she goes to the grocery store herself, she only needs to focus on picking up fresh ingredients.

Some of the kitchen items Ree Drummond suggests you always have in stock will not necessarily wind up in your pantry or cabinet. Some culinary must-haves need to be stored in the refrigerator, which is where this next category of ingredients comes into play. According to Drummond, it is always a good idea to stock up on a variety of cheeses, because you never know when you may need them.

Drummond uses six of her 15 slots for refrigerator essentials for different kinds of cheese. The kind she believes we should always have on deck include cheddar, feta, cream cheese, mozzarella, Monterey jack, and Parmesan. As you can imagine, these cheeses can be used in a wide variety of ways, including toppings on your favorite bowl of pasta, a smear to use in the morning on a bagel, or as the base for a fresh batch of homemade macaroni and cheese. From there, you can include more elaborate or fancy cheeses if you are expecting to host a group of guests, but those six varieties should be in supply at all times.