First Apartment Food Essentials

Dan and I are moving out of my parents house and into our very first apartment next week! In retrospect, the week before Thanksgiving was probably a poor choice.

Why, you ask?

Well, this is our very first time living on our own, without a dining hall.. so we have NO idea what kinds of staple foods we'll need, or how much food we really eat. And if you've ever been grocery shopping Thanksgiving week, you'll know it's something to avoid at all costs.

We've got one shot at grocery shopping, so I've been trying to adequately prepare. Here's my preliminary list:

whole wheat flour
white flour
bread flour
sugar
brown sugar
honey
butter
baking soda
baking powder
yeast
vanilla extract
steel cut oats
rolled oats
polenta
dried black beans (+ cans for the first week!)
canned chickpeas
brown rice
cinnamon
nutmeg
cloves
allspics
cumin
thyme
paprika
dill
dried onion
salt
pepper
crackers
cereal
canned corn
canned tomatoes
pasta
nuts
oil
vinegar
eggs
bread
tortillas
veggies
fruit
frozen spinach
frozen berries
milk
ice cream/sorbet
chocolate
cheese
tofu
lunchmeat
chicken breasts
peanut butter
jam
dried cranberries
canned pumpkin
graham crackers
cottage cheese
soy sauce/Sriracha sauce

We don't really have a menu plan, because we're not sure when we'll start living there versus living at home. (Our furniture won't arrive for a day or two.) Some meal ideas:
- veggie/tofu stirfry (although we won't have many condiments..)
- make your own (vegetarian) tacos
- pasta with chickpeas and veggies
- polenta with black beans and veggies
- savory oatmeal
- broiled tofu and veggie sandwiches
- savory pancakes

We will probably also end up eating out a few times, and/or taking home a lot of leftovers from Thanksgiving.

Anything I'm missing from my shopping list? Any easy recipe recommendations?

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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