Must-Have Pantry Items You Didn’t Know You Needed

Many of us keep our pantries well stocked with various ingredients for those just-in-case moments. We may be preparing a dish for an occasion, perhaps a dinner party or a surprise birthday, only to realize we need a specific ingredient and don't have time to run to the store. Do you scrap the dish? Order out? Not if you've already added it to your list of pantry essentials.

Having the proper list of helpful ingredients always available makes it easier to handle any unexpected issue that might arise. It can also relieve any stress of meal planning, make your cooking process go much smoother, and may help save money by eliminating extra trips to the grocery store.

To compile this list of must-have pantry items you didn't know you needed, 24/7 Tempo consulted several food-centered sources. These include My Recipes, Savory Online, Indulge Catering, and Tasting Table. While we're on the topic of ingredients, click here to find out more about foods that should never be eaten raw.

Rice is a common dinnertime staple and is always good to have on hand. Anyone who's interested in ensuring that each plate of food they consume is balanced and well-rounded knows that one portion of the meal should be a starch. That's where rice comes in handy.

But rice is extremely versatile beyond serving as a starch. Some people use rice to absorb water out of technological devices that have accidentally been soaked. An example of this would be someone dropping their cell phone into the toilet by mistake. If they set their phone inside a bowl of rice for a couple of hours, the rice will help dry the phone out so it can be used again.

Milk is a standard beverage that belongs in nearly everyone's household. Without milk, it would be impossible to enjoy a delicious bowl of cereal, a dessert of milk and cookies, or anything of that nature.

Interestingly enough, milk can also be used as a fertilizer and pesticide in your garden. If you spritz a combination of milk and water on your blooming garden plants, it will potentially help the plants grow taller than they otherwise would have.

One of the smartest household ingredients a person can have available at all times is flour. It's extremely versatile and can be used in various recipes. Some examples of tasty things that can be baked using flour include bread, chocolate muffins, blueberry pancakes, angel food cake, cinnamon cupcakes, and biscuit tarts. The list goes on when it comes to an ingredient like flour.

There's a reason every bakery in existence has shelves and shelves of flour available at all hours. Flour does indeed have a shelf life of about one year from the date that it's milled and packaged. It doesn't last forever, so it should still be used in a timely manner. Flour can also be used for school art projects when little ones need to build volcanoes, for example.

Just like flour, eggs are also extremely versatile when it comes to the list of recipes you can experiment with. The difference is that eggs can be enjoyed all by themselves, unlike flour. That's what makes them a little more special.

Eggs can also be prepared in many ways, from scrambled and sunny-side-up to any other stovetop variation. Beyond that, eggs can be baked into all the same desserts flour gets used in.

Plenty of people use olive oil to cook their favorite recipes, but this stuff can also be used as a cleaning agent. Even though you might think oil would be too oily to be used for cleaning purposes, olive oil is actually wonderful when it comes to removing grease stains.

To remove grease stains from a wooden surface, for example, olive oil would definitely be your best bet. It's still crucial to note that using olive oil can lead to a streaky-looking finish on wood if you aren't super careful during the process. Since olive oil is pH neutral, it simply doesn't have enough acid to cause ugly stains or discolored patches on stainless steel products you have at home.

It may have "baking" in its name, but it's not just an ingredient that can only be used for baking. Baking soda is actually extremely versatile, which means it can safely be used for a handful of other reasons too. Cleaning surfaces with a combination of baking soda and water is a smart move if you want to see your granite and marble countertops look spotless.

It also has a great reputation for getting rid of foul odors. For this reason, some folks even use baking soda as toothpaste! Most things can't safely be mixed with household bleach, but baking soda can be mixed with bleach to create a more powerful cleaning solution.

Coconut oil can be used for a slew of reasons, starting with skincare treatments. People who are trying to heal from dry and flaky skin know they can rely on coconut oil to help smooth them out. This is especially true when it comes to elbows, kneecaps, and other areas that commonly get chapped.

It can also be used as a hair care treatment for folks who are interested in lengthening their tresses. It has a reputation for helping the follicles of your hair strengthen up at a rapid rate. Beyond that, coconut oil can be used as a cleaning agent if you're trying to remove a pesky stain from something. And of course, coconut oil can be used in cooking recipes – especially desserts.

Before you toss out your orange peel, look around your home to see if it would actually make more sense for you to repurpose it. Orange peels can be used in your garden to help your plants grow stronger and healthier. They are biodegradable, so if you add them to the soil surrounding different plants you're growing, they'll provide tons of helpful nutrients that can be a total game-changer.

Orange peels can also be used to create a sweeter-smelling home. All you have to do is boil your orange peels over your stovetop and allow the delectable aroma to fill the space.

Corn starch is far more versatile than anyone might've guessed. That's because it can be used to get rid of grease stains, nasty odors, and other imperfections that you wouldn't want to see around your home. If you accidentally splash grease onto your T-shirt, there's no need to fret if you have corn starch available to you.

Simply apply a scoop of cornstarch to the grease stain and let it sit there for half a day. If you wait for 12 hours to pass by, the corn starch will absorb all the grease from your T-shirt. From there, you can toss your T-shirt into the washing machine as you normally would to get rid of the rest of the residue. When corn starch isn't being used as a cleaning agent, it can of course be used as an ingredient in breakfast, lunch, and dinner dishes.

One of the more unexpected (yet super helpful) household ingredients on this list happens to be ketchup. You might think ketchup would be more problematic than anything else since it comes in such a bright shade of red. But the good news is that ketchup is made from tomatoes, which are full of citric acid.

Citric acid is one of the best ingredients one can use when trying to remove grease while cleaning up messes. Another acidic ingredient in ketchup is vinegar. If you're aiming to remove tarnished spots from your utensils, pots, and pans, you can depend on ketchup to get the job done. Once you're done using ketchup for cleaning purposes, make sure you rinse off your appliances well because you wouldn't want to be left with a sticky finish.

Always having ice available in your home is sort of a given, but not everyone realizes it. First of all, ice can always be used to cool down room-temperature drinks if you forgot to place a newly bought case of water bottles into the fridge, for example.

But ice can also be used to tend a wound if you accidentally hurt yourself. Icing a stubbed toe or bug bite can be super helpful in easing any pain or discomfort you might be feeling. Ice can also be used to soothe the tenseness of a headache or migraine.

Aloe vera is a lovely ingredient that has a long list of uses and benefits. It can be blended into smoothies and milkshakes to add more nutrients and vitamins to your daily regimen if that's what you're after. It can also be used on your skin as an anti-inflammatory agent if you've been struggling with acne, sunburns, bug bites, or other skin surface ailments.

Most popularly, aloe vera can be used to keep hair follicles moisturized as a way of reducing dandruff. When your scalp isn't dry and your hair strands are fully moisturized, it's easier for your hair to grow longer and stronger.

Several seafood recipes include fish oil, but the benefits of fish oil go far beyond the flavor it can add to a plate of food. Fish oil is totally versatile as an ingredient because it also classifies as a supplement. It can be used to improve heart health, brain health, skin health, and even eye health.

There's much to love about fish oil, depending on what type of ailment you might struggle with. The good news about fish oil is that it doesn't necessarily have a fishy smell or taste, unlike what many people currently believe.

Vinegar is an edible ingredient that can be cooked into different recipes such as homemade salt and vinegar potato chips. But vinegar can also be used as a cleaning agent if you want to keep your home as spotless as possible. Along with helping people on their weight loss journeys as an edible ingredient, vinegar can be combined with water in a spray bottle before cleaning your table tops, countertops, and other hard surfaces.

It would be wrong to assume that lemons should only be used to make lemonade or to add citrus flavor to different recipes. Lemons are great in lemon bars, pasta, lemon meringue pie, lemon curd, and lemon cake, but lemon can also be used to clean different appliances around your home.

That's because it's chock-full of antiseptic properties, citric acid, and antibacterial. The juice of a lemon can help remove stains from rugs, sofas, and even clothes. Now that we've uncovered tons of unexpectedly useful ingredients to have on hand, click here to find out about the most ultra-processed foods you should avoid.