[phatch]

Some basic ideas off the top of my head:

Canned goods

• tomatoes: whole, crushed, fire roasted
• beans: black, garbanzo, kidney
• corn
• beets
• tuna fish. Water pack is nice for some things but you should have some good imported Tuna in olive oil from italy. Quite good. My sister raves about the quality of canned tuna in Japan, but I've not heard much else about this anywhere else.

Baking goods

• flour, all purpose
• flour, cake/pastry
• flour, bread
• baking powder
• baking soda
• yeast
• salt
• sugar
• cocoa powder
• vanilla
• corn starch

Oils

• unflavored--could be canola, vegetable (soy), corn, safflower, whatever
• Olive oil, extra virgin and other as desired
• toasted sesame oil

Vinegar

• white distilled
• white wine
• red wine
• rice
• balsamic
• cider
• black

Spices & Herbs

• salt
• pepper
• thyme, dried
• sage, dried
• oregano, dried
• rosemary, dried
• bay leaves, dried
• cinnamon
• curry powder
• cumin
• coriander
• dill
• paprika
• garlic powder
• onion powder

Pasta:

• spaghetti
• angel hair
• penne/mastacioli
• orzo
• lasagna
• fettucine
• linguine
• macaroni
• cous cous

Asian noodles

• Rice noodles
• Rice vermicelli
• rice paper
• egg noodles

Asian condiments

• light soy
• dark soy
• toasted sesame oil (already in oil section)
• oyster sauce
• rice vinegar and black vinegar (already in vinegar section)
• rice wine

Grains & beans dried

• Long grain rice (basmati or jasmine preferred)
• short grain rice (depends what you cook I have both arborio and a chinese sticky rice)
• pinto beans
• red beans
• black beans
• garbanzo beans
• white beans
• lentils
• oatmeal, rolled and steel cut
• quinoa

Fresh fruit and vegetables

• carrots
• onions
• celery
• shallots
• green onions
• garlic
• lettuce/greens
• parsley
• cilantro
• potatoes
• lemons--always use fresh for juice, never bottles
• limes
• apples
• bananas
• seasonal items as available

Dairy

• milk, whole is usually preferred for cooking
• cheese (real parmesan & cheddar at a minimum)
• yogurt, Plain--very versatile and used in many cuisines
• buttermilk
• cream
• unsalted butter
• evaporated milk-canned
• sweetened condensed milk-canned
• sour cream

Condiments

• ketchup
• mayonaisse
• mustard, dijon
• mustard, whole grain
• mustard, yellow

Stock. Make your own often. You should have some Swansons Natural Goodness Chicken stock in cans for those times you are OUT of the real stuff. And it's worthwhile to have a quality base for both chicken and beef stock. They must be LOW sodium. Better than Bouillion is a good brand, but a bit high in sodium. McCormicks has an organic low sodium base I've only seen at Costco I've found worthwhile. And if money is no object, the More than Gourmet bases/glace are excellent but $$$.