Pantry Starter Pack

A simple base set for your shelves

The Pantry Starter Pack is meant to feel like a steady neighbor on the shelf. Inside you will usually find a sauce, a salsa, a pickle, and a fruit jar, all chosen because they can move between meals instead of staying tied to one recipe. Everything starts with produce from Ohio and Great Lakes farms, then heads into our kettles where Amish and family partners help with the trimming, stirring, and tasting. Small batch cooking keeps the flavors close to what you might make at home, with simple ingredient lists you can read in a glance.

Many of the jars come from our Great Lakes Favorites collection, which holds the kinds of pickles, sauces, and spreads that show up often on local tables. A pickle from Pickled Vegetables might land beside sandwiches one day and tuck into a salad the next. A mild salsa can handle chip duty during a game, then move into scrambled eggs or taco meat later in the week. A tomato or fruit sauce from the same pack can stand in for pasta sauce, glaze baked chicken, or finish a pan of roasted vegetables.

The fruit jar usually traces back to Fruit Preserves & Jams. It might show up on breakfast toast, slip into yogurt, or top a quick dessert of ice cream or pound cake. When there is a bit left in the bottom of the jar, many people whisk it with a splash of vinegar and oil to make a small batch dressing for greens. Because the recipes use straightforward fruit, sugar in a reasonable amount, and familiar spices, the jars fit easily into both everyday breakfasts and quieter weekend brunches.

Families who like to keep their shelves rooted in local flavor will notice that many choices overlap with our Ohio Pantry Picks. Those jars lean especially on recipes and ingredients that feel at home in this region. The starter pack simply gathers a few of them together so a kitchen can stay flexible without needing to buy every flavor at once. It works well for a first apartment in Ohio, a cabin pantry that only gets stocked a few times a year, or a household that wants a refresh before a busy season of visitors.

When holidays come around, the same mix of jars often appears in our Holiday Gift Boxes. The idea is the same. A small variety of jars that earn their keep at breakfast, lunch, and supper, then step in again for gatherings and desserts. With one pack nearby you can build pasta meals, taco nights, sandwiches, snack boards, and simple sweets without feeling like you need a crowded pantry. The work that starts on Ohio and Great Lakes farms carries through each jar, giving you a handful of dependable pieces to cook with in real, everyday kitchens.