Garlic, onions. Garlic, onions.

There's basically no excuse not to have those two.

1. Carrots are also a solid pantry item. Plus, you can just eat them raw!
2. Celery, sure, if you like it, but I seldom have it.
3. Ginger is something I am not above buying in a jar, but with the coming cold and flu season (and given my seeming eternal susceptibility to germs in this "southern" locale), ginger will often be finding its way into my shopping basket.
4. Potatoes, yeah.
5. In the fall, there's kind of no excuse not to keep squash around. So just do it already.