The Bare Necessities Part 1 - Ingredients

I love cooking. I love the whole process, from picking out ingredients at a market all the way to plating the dish and making it look pretty before digging in and destroying any semblance of presentation. I don't always have the time to take all the steps in sequence and let's face it: sometimes it isn't about crafting a gustatory masterpiece for the ages.

Sometimes it's Wednesday night and I've got maybe 30 minutes if I'm lucky and I'm hungry. When this happens, I've got to have the basics on hand or I'll be stuck with a protein shake and a banana. When I say the basics, it's those items that I find myself using more than half the time. They change dinner from simple sustenance to enjoyable eating.

Lets look at just a few to start:

1. Oil: It's the starting point for so many quick and dirty meals. First thing into the pan (or wok or pot or baking sheet). It's that little buffer between some nice browning and burnt. It doesn't have to be super expensive or exotic, but it can't be old since oils will degrade over time. Aside from freshness, my main criteria for cooking oil is smoke point, since I tend towards a lot of searing, sauteing, and stir-frying. Good old extra virgin olive (smoke point 365ºF) is fine, but I love to use avocado oil when I can since you can heat it up to 520ºF. 
2. Dried spices: Yes, I love fresh herbs as much as anyone, but absent growing my own (that project is on the list) I can't justify paying out for a bunch of cilantro every time I need it when a jar of dried flakes can sit in the cabinet waiting to be used. I do tend to be snobby about using pre-blended spice mixtures (with the exception of a family secret called Rosa's Recipe) and this leads to a cabinet packed with little jars and packets. The bare minimum, though, includes: 
   
   

   Salt Rosemary Oregano Cumin Sage Coriander Basil

   Black Pepper Cayenne Pepper Smoked Paprika Curry Powder Chili Powder Celery Seed

   Note: You're probably noticing a glaring omission. That's because it gets its own entry.
3. Garlic: Get it fresh. Use it. The pre-peeled bags are fine (peeling can be a hassle), but I seem to do best to just keep a head or two sitting out. Slice it thin or press it, cooked, raw, soaked in oil, roasted, blended into sauce, finely chopped and thrown in with the water for pasta. I'll admit to owning granulated garlic, but it's really a pizza topping. I'll only cook with it in a pinch.
4. Last but far from least, I must have some hot sauce. I like to fiddle about, but Tabasco is always a safe bet. I'm currently plumbing the dollar store depths with a generic habanero sauce and packets of Fire Sauce liberated from their captivity at Taco Bell.

I'll talk about other basics soon, but this covers the options I absolutely need. Is there anything that you simply cannot deal with not having on hand that I missed?