Top 10 Kitchen Cupboard Essentials

What are your top 10 kitchen cupboard staples?! That’s what the #UltimateStoreCupboard are asking in a quest to find the nation’s top 10 products!

The 10 foods that I’ve listed below are nearly always in my cupboards and can be used in a variety of different dishes. I do a mixture of online and in-store shopping and have linked below where you can get them from – if you want a Nic’s Nutrition inspired kitchen that is ;).

SO, here are my Top 10 Kitchen Cupboard Essentials…

• 1) Tea – I drink at least 7 cups of tea a day, most of which are green tea varieties. Tea is great for calorie free hydration and it tastes amazing! Tea also contains polyphenols which are a source of antioxidants to keep us healthy. Check out my favourite healthy teas blog post for more information!
  

• 2) Cinnamon – I LOVE cinnamon and sprinkle it on porridge, yoghurt and smoothies. It’s a great way of adding a warming flavour with out any extra calories/sugar and has been shown to help stabilise blood glucose levels.

• 3) Quinoa – Quinoa is a fantastic source of protein, energy and fibre. I love it as a porridge but also in a salad – it is seriously versatile and beats couscous any day (in my opinion!).

• 4) Oats – Oats are ALWAYS in my cupboards. I eat oats as porridge either for breakfast or as a snack or in the summer as overnight oats and they also make a great coating for a healthy fish & chips recipe! Oats are the most used ingredient on my blog and are packed with slow release energy and soluble fibre – just check out all of my oat based recipes for inspiration on how to use them!

• 5) Chickpeas – Chickpeas are super under-rated.. not only are they AMAZING in a my cookie dough bites but they make a great addition to a salad and also taste great when mixed with protein powder, milk and a touch of stevia/cinnamon to make a protein cookie-dough protein dip! Chickpeas are a great source of protein, soluble fibre and slow release energy,

• 6) Honey – Honey is a natural sweetener and tastes delicious on porridge and Greek yoghurt. It’s also great for baking – as shown in my Baked Sweet Figs recipe!

• 7) Almonds – Whole almonds make a great snack (just remember the 123 rule – 1 portion is 23 nuts!), whilst ground almonds are brilliant in baking – just check out my Almond Cookie Bites if you don’t believe me ;). Almonds are a great source of healthy fats, protein and fibre.

• 8) Peanut Butter – Need I say any more?! Pass me a spoon and I’ll be happy. Seriously though, peanut butter not only makes a great snack but it ESSENTIAL in many of my best dessert/snack recipes. Like the almonds, peanut butter are a great source of healthy fats, protein and fibre!

• 9) Olive Oil – I use olive oil when roasting vegetables and in salad dressings.. it’s heart healthy and adds a lovely delicate flavour to foods.

• 10) Tuna – Tuna, canned in spring water, is a great staple to keep in as you can use it in wraps, on sweet potato, as a salad or (my favourite!) in tuna and feta frittatas! It’s a great source of low-fat/low-calorie protein.

What do you think to my list?! You can let me know yours in the comments section below 🙂

P.S If you liked this blog post then do check out my Healthy Food Shopping List which includes both my fridge AND store cupboard essentials, as well as this video below where myself, Si & Zanna chat through our top 3 cooking essentials each (store cupboard, fridge or freezer essentials!).

*This blog post has been written in collaboration with Tombola. This blog post contains affiliate links. Please read my disclaimer page for more information.