14 Frugal Pantry Staples You Need To Save Money on the Groceries

A well-stocked pantry makes frugal cooking easy. These 14 pantry staples can help you create 20+ meals on a tight budget. Includes recipes.

The best way to save money on groceries is to plan your meals.

But only if you’re planning frugal meals.

Serving up Filet Mignon like a MasterChef will blow your grocery budget quicker than you can say “Would you like Bordelaise reduction with that?”

I may be getting carried away with my fantasies.

So a frugal menu plan starts with frugal meals. And the foundation of a frugal meal is a pantry stocked with frugal ingredients.

In this series of posts, I share some of the staples of a well-stocked frugal kitchen – from pantry staples to fruit and vegetables to meat and dairy (if you eat them) – these cheap ingredients form the foundation of a wide variety of frugal, healthy and tasty meals.

The secret recipe for frugal cooking is to take these cheap ingredients and combine them with different cooking techniques to get an endless number of delicious meals to suit any budget.

Frugal Pantry Staples to Stock

If you just want the gist of the list without all the reading, here it is:

Scroll down for ideas, uses, and rough price brackets for each staple.

1. Flour (wheat or non-wheat)
2. Oats
3. Rice
4. Pasta
5. Beans and Legumes
6. Seeds
7. Cooking oil/fat
8. Stock
9. Tinned Tomatoes
10. Tinned Fish
11. Vinegar
12. Bicarbonate of Soda/Baking Powder
13. Sugar or favourite sweetener
14. Favourite Herbs, spices, and condiments

1. Flour

Cost: from $1.35 per kilo Australia, 2025.

Baking can save you money on snacks. And to bake, you need flour.

I stick to plain flour and wholemeal wheat flour. Wholemeal is more nutritious than white, and with the added fibre, it is more filling.

If you’re gluten-intolerant, Aldi is great for budget-friendly gluten-free alternatives.

I used to stock a whole variety of flours, but too many options often mean waste (or pantry moths), so I found it’s better to stick to one or two favourites.

Use flour to make cakes, muffins, pastry, bread, pizza bases, tortillas, pancakes, roux-based sauces, or to thicken stews.

2. Rolled Oats

Cost: from $1.90 per kilo Australia, 2025.

Oats are the ultimate frugal breakfast: cheap, versatile, high in fibre, and filling.

Enjoy them as porridge, bircher muesli, toasted muesli, or chocolate-soaked oats.

Oats are also great in biscuits, muesli bars, slices, or ground into flour.

3. Rice

Cost: from $1.70 per kilo Australia, 2025.

Rice is a staple around the world for a reason: it’s cheap and versatile.

Use it as a side or the main event in risotto, pilaf, fried rice, tuna casserole, rice pudding or burritos.

No need for multiple varieties — I often use long-grain rice for risotto, and while it’s not traditional, it works! I love risotto because it’s so cheap and easy to make, but it’s always impressive – and delicious!

I also use brown rice, though in dishes like the mince dish below – it’s a bit more expensive, but it has more fibre than white rice, keeping you fuller for longer.

4. Pasta or Grain Alternatives

Cost for pasta: from $1.80 per kilo Australia, 2025.

White and whole-wheat pasta are budget-friendly go-tos. Use it for things like veggie-loaded mac and cheese.

If pasta isn’t your thing, try bulgur, polenta, couscous, barley, or quinoa (more expensive but nutrient-dense).

5. Beans and Legumes

Cost for beans: from $2.60 per kilo canned Australian, 2025. Lentils: from $2.38 per kilo canned.

High in fibre and protein, legumes keep you full and stretch meals further. Win-win.

Weirdly, in my local Woolies, the canned beans and lentils are cheaper per kilo than the dried ones. That’s not usually the case.

Eat lentils in stews, salads, or to stretch meat.

Beans are great in nachos, burritos, chilli, or stews.

6. Nuts and Seeds

Cost for peanut butter: from $6.80 per kilo Australian, 2025.

Nuts and seeds are a great addition to your staples as long as you aren’t allergic, of course.

Whether you’re filling up on a PB&J (my teen son’s favourite after-school snack), or sprinkling sesame seeds over a stir fry, they add a little crunch and protein and can fill you up.

Because nuts tend to be expensive, we use seeds a lot. I like to add linseeds (flaxseed) to smoothies and muffins for extra fibre, or sprinkle sunflower or pumpkin seeds over a cracker with cream cheese, banana and honey – a great snack.

And peanuts — bless them — are still cheap. Peanut butter on apple slices? Yes please.

7. Cooking Oil/Fat

Cost for olive oil: from $10 per litre Australia, 2025. Canola from $3.60 per litre.

Olive oil is my go-to. It’s versatile and a bit healthier.

But vegetable oils and oils like sunflower seed or canola oils tend to be cheaper and are ok to use in my frying pan, according to the lady in the shop who sold it to me.

Rice bran oil is good for high-heat cooking.

And if you’re feeling old-school frugal, save pan drippings or render fat (here’s how to render lard).

Butter is my preferred taste, but at $8/kilo, it’s getting very expensive.

8. Stock

Cost for liquid stock: from $1.90 per litre Australia, 2025, about 11c per litre for stock powder.

I like having liquid stock and stock powder on hand for quick and easy cooking. But I also like making my own stock for free (ok, a few cents for the electricity), from veggie scraps and bones.

For something different, instant miso makes a good base for soups.

9. Tinned Tomatoes

Cost for canned tomatoes: $2.38 per kilo, Australia, 2025.

Tinned tomatoes or passata are base ingredients for heaps of meals.

We use them in ratatouille, pasta, curry bases, soups… the list goes on.

Check out this sauce post for more ideas.

10. Tinned Fish

Cost of tinned tuna from $7.76 per kilo, Australia, 2025.

Sardines or tuna are cheap, shelf-stable protein. Great with pasta or salad.

Call me old-fashioned, but I love me some sardines in tomatoes on toast!

11. Vinegar

Cost of white vinegar from 90c per kilo, Australia, 2025.

A splash of vinegar brightens just about everything. Use it in salad dressing, to boost curries, or even for use it for cleaning.

Besides plain white vinegar, apple cider vinegar is my favourite – I like to add a splash to water for a non-sweet alternative to plain water. You can even make your own.

12. Bicarb / Baking Powder

Used for baking and cleaning, bicarb is a multitasking marvel.

You can buy baking powder, which has a high $ per kilo, but you only use a little and it lasts ages.

Or you can make your own baking powder with cream of tartar, with this DIY version.

13. Sugar or Sweetener

Cost of sugar from $1.40 per kilo, Australia, 2025.

If you bake, it’s good to keep sugar or your favourite sweetener on hand, but sugar is the cheapest.

I prefer raw or brown sugar, but honey and golden syrup can also be found in our pantry.

Also, cocoa can be great for that chocolatey taste without the cost of chocolate – even chocolate chips cost a ton these days.

14. Herbs, Spices and Condiments

This is where you make meals interesting.

Stock basics you use often — no point in buying single-use spices for one recipe. Make your own blends (bonus: frugal gift idea!)

Here’s a great guide to homemade spice blends.

By having these frugal pantry staples, you’ve got the foundation for a wide variety of frugal meals. But they’re not meals in themselves. For that, you need fresh produce.

In the next article, we’ll look at the cheapest and healthiest fruit and vegetables you can buy and what to cook with them.

What are your favourite frugal pantry staples? Let me know in the comments below — and if you found this post helpful, please share it with someone else looking to save on groceries.