Getting our kitchen "well-stocked"

Picture Originally from Closet-Solutions

One of mine and Jack's struggles after moving in together has been diet planning. Back when I was at home, between my mom and I it was super easy to have veggies, fruit, or salads on hand and just about everything we ate was extremely healthy. Moving into what has always been a place of "vacation diet" has been a bit difficult! Both Jack and I are starting to break out of vacation diet-y mode (for him, bachelor diet) and moving towards cooking at home, and eating less food that comes directly out of a package.
One of the resources we used to help stock our pantry is the Well-Stocked Kitchen list over at FeastOnTheCheap.Com. I like how their recipes work- making sure you have a good base built up in order to make cheaper, well rounded recipes.

Jack is the cook here- I am merely an assistant, and he always asks me for recipes so I've been going pretty crazy with Pinterest lately getting recipes saved. I think having a good kitchen will really help me get over just saying "oh, we don't have that"- Jack keeps trying to break me out of this habit. Partially because I limit myself, and partially because he can't make cool stuff.

Some other great sources I've found for kitchen stocking tips:

• Essential Tools for a Well Stocked Kitchen via BonAppetit.Com
• Well-Stocked Kitchen via DoItDelicious.Com
• The Well Stocked Kitchen: Staple Foods You Should Always Have on Hand via TheSimpleDollar.com
• Well Stocked Pantry via TerisKitchen.com

As I'm getting more used to googling, and searching out what I look for it's been like a gold mine finding resources on all these websites and blogs. 20 years ago I would've been at the library every day checking out organization books!

What is the most important item in your pantry or kitchen?