Pantry

Always

• salt
• pepper
• sugar
• bread
• butter

With these five you have toast, sandwiches, fried eggs if a neighbour has eggs, and the beginning of every recipe on this site.

Nice to have

• Vegeta, the all-purpose seasoning: salt, dried vegetables, a little celery. Replace plain salt with it and almost every dish tastes better. Any Polish or Balkan shop, most supermarkets.
• Maggi, the dark liquid seasoning in the bottle with the yellow label. A few shakes go into broths, sauces, eggs, fried pasta. Boil vegetables in water, shake in some Maggi, and you have a vegetarian dinner. What it is.
• flour, for coating, thickening and the bread
• rice and pasta, the two things leftovers are made of
• onions, garlic, a lemon
• oil for frying, olive oil for finishing
• stock cubes, bay leaves, allspice berries, paprika

Rule

If a recipe here says "season", it means salt or Vegeta, pepper, and a shake of Maggi. Taste after each.