My 5 Kitchen Essentials

The other day I was trying to clean up the apartment for when my sister comes to stay (and take care of the cat and water the plants, etc) and I started going through the fridge to throw away and reorganize the contents. As I was doing so I started to wonder what things in my fridge I absolutely have to have and which of the contents I could do without.

What would my top 5 kitchen essentials be?

This is what I came up with for the time being:

*This top 5 is subject to change as I remember things I may have forgotten slash don't currently have in my fridge so have neglected to remember I like*

1. Frank's RedHot hot sauce

You know how their slogan is 'I put that sh*t on everything? I do.

2. Salsa.

Probably my all-time favourite condiment. You can use it with anything and everything. Hamburgers, hotdogs, nachos (obviously), I mix a good helping of it into my scrambled eggs...This might be gross and John makes fun of me for it but I've been known to put salsa in a bowl, add a tbsp or two of sour cream and eat in with a spoon. Whatever. Mild, medium, spicy, chunky...I love salsa.

3. Black Pepper

Again, goes with anything and everything. Potatoes, eggs, beef (peppersteak, mmmm), chicken, potato chips (black pepper & lime - so good), pasta, I even add it to salads.

4. French Vanilla Coffee Cream

Though it should be mentioned I am also partial to the mocha flavour and the caramel vanilla flavour. We buy the family size bottle of this cause we go through it pretty fast. It's one luxury I will never give up. It gives coffee such a wonderful flavour. And you can't go with the low-fat version here, you have to go full fat. It's just not the same.

5. Mustard

A top competitor with salsa for my all-time favourite condiment. Mustard is the most versatile of the condiments. Honey mustard, hot mustard, dijion mustard, that grainy looking mustard, I've purchased balsamic mustard (really good)....one time (true story) my friend from University bought me a selection of mustards for my birthday. And I loved it.

Anyway those are my top 5.

If I can think of any substitutions I will update the list but as it stands, those are the 5 things I think I will always need to have in my fridge.

And although I am a huuuuuuuge lover of pickles, I think those kind of fall into a food catgeory and that starts a slippery slope into my favourite foods, which is not the point of the essentials.

What are your top 5?

This activity is a good way to clean out your fridge/cupboards :)