There are some things that every cook should have at all times in her or his kitchen. Some are no-brainers, like salt and pepper and sugar. Others you might not think about. Here’s a list I think you should have on hand.

In the Pantry:

• Oils — an extra virgin olive oil for salad dressings, and a sautéing oil like canola or a light olive oil. The extra virgin oils have a lot of flavor and unless you want to impart that flavor to your food, don’t use it for cooking.
• Vinegars — I keep at least four kinds. Balsamic — good for glazes and dressings; a wine vinegar (white, red, champagne, sherry) for dressings; white vinegar for cleaning; and cider vinegar for things like cole slaw. You should definitely have two of these on hand.
• Baking goods — sugar, flour (whole wheat and white), oats (for when you need to bake a cookie), vanilla flavoring, raisins (see the cookie comment above), baking soda, baking powder
• Canned goods
  • fire roasted and regular diced and/or crushed tomatoes. While I know you has a problem with the acidity of tomatoes, Mia, I still think you should keep them on hand. It’s a great tool when you have unexpected guests.
  • artichoke hearts — in water and marinated, in a one-to-one ratio. If I have a can in water, I have a jar of marinated to go with it
  • boxes of low sodium vegetable and chicken stocks. Even I don’t always have homemade in the freezer.
  • beans — red, white, and kidney. I also keep refried beans on hand. Get the ones that don’t contain any added spices and without salt if you can find them.
• Wine — a bottle of red, a bottle of white, good enough to drink. If you don’t know what’s good, ask a wine guy at any store.
• Pasta — a long skinny one (I like angel hair because it cooks fast), something short and hollow or curly, and something really small like orzo.
• Rice — I favor brown because it actually has nutritional content. But make yourself happy. Get a long grain, though, not a short grain. I think it looks more elegant.

In the freezer:

• Butter — both salted and unsalted. It keeps forever, so have a pound of each in there. The unsalted is for baking, which we’ll get to eventually.
• Semisweet chocolate chips. Because sometimes you need chocolate
• Some sort of boneless, skinless chicken.
• A knob of ginger — see the section on spices for more about this.
• Milk. I know you don’t drink the stuff, but sometimes you need it. Here’s a trick: get a quart of milk, and freeze it in ice cube trays. Each cube is about two tablespoons in most trays, but check yours. When frozen, put them in a freezer back. You have premeasured blobs of milk at your disposal (I also use this trick with egg whites: you can get pasteurized eggwhites — Eggology makes the best ones; they actually whip into peaks when thawed) that can be used raw or lightly cooked, or can be used in place of whole eggs).
• Fruit — I keep a bag of frozen berries or peaches or apples from the tree or rhubarb from the garden. The apples and rhubarb I keep chopped and prepped for emergency pie applications. The others you don’t need to do anything with.
• a package of corn tortillas. If you’re more clever than I am, before you freeze them you take them out of the bag and separate each one with waxed or parchment paper and put them back in a freezer bag. Then you can just grab one when you need it.
• a prechopped onion. Sometimes I buy an extra onion or two and chop them up. I freeze them in half or one cup portions. Need a chopped onion? Just grab it from the freezer. You don’t even need to alter cooking times, usually. You can do the same with celery and carrots if they are going to be cooked. Just be sure you peel the carrots first (carrots cooked with the peel on develop a green or black tinge around the outside. Nothing unhealthy, but a little unsightly). You can also grate carrots and put them in the freezer to be used in future carrot cakes if you make them. Ditto zucchini.

In the fridge:

• onions
• garlic
• ketchup
• mustard — whole grain and Dijon
• some sort of basic vinaigrette dressing
• mayonnaise
• eggs
• real Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese. I know you don’t do milk products, but it’s a good garnish for that emergency special dinner you have to make. And it keeps forever
• plain yogurt. Lasts a surprisingly long time. If you open it up and it’s moldy, chuck it (duh). But you should be eating it anyway for your calcium.
• carrots
• a fruit only jam. Also lasts forever, can be mixed with the plain yogurt, and comes in surprisingly handy for emergency dessert preparations. And yes, there are dessert emergencies.
• a couple of yams or sweet potatoes. They keep better in the fridge than regular spuds, which I only buy as I’m going to immediately use them. Otherwise, the carbs turn to sugars and they get a sweet flavor. If you like that, eat a sweet potato: they’re better for you.
• lemon juice. I also keep fresh lemons and limes, but sometimes I’m out, or they have gone hard on me for lack of use. So I keep a bottle of lemon juice in the fridge just in case. Don’t buy bottled lime juice, though. I’ve never found one that didn’t taste bitter. If you are making something with lime juice, go buy a fresh lime.

If you have all this, you are prepared for any Food Emergency that comes up.