A certain friend of mine (ahem, Kara) has a beeeeuuuteeeful pantry. Her pantry was built by her super talented husband, and then stocked with gorgeous rows and rows of mason jars sealed with homegrown veggies. Kara has always been great at planning ahead and preparing for what her food needs will be in the future. Which is why she raises chickens, buys in bulk and grows yummy stuff in her garden.
I am the exact opposite. I never have anything in my non-existent pantry, cannot keep a plant alive to save my life and have a small secret fear of chickens. But I'm sure I have other qualities Kara likes about me, you know, like how I can change all the clocks in my house without my kids realizing it, so they go to bed an hour earlier....
Anyhoo.
As an effort to become a better person, I decided to try and stock my pantry some this summer. Actually it is more like an effort to crack down on the number of trips I take to the grocery store. I like going to the store everyday, but now that I can't confine a single one of my children to the car cart, I realized I don't necessarily like taking three kids to the store with me. The employees at the store are not too fond either.
So, here are ten things I am going to try and always have in the house:
1)canned tomatoes -diced, sauce and paste
2)cereal
3)beans-dried and canned; black beans, black-eyed, pinto and chickpeas
4)rice-brown, wild and instant white (side note: I LOVE Trader Joe's frozen boxes of microwavable rice)
5)olive oil, white wine vinegar, garlic and onions-Every good meal starts with these, right?
6)peanut butter and jelly
7)pasta
8)canned veggies -I loathe canned veggies, but there are a few worthy of keeping around-canned corn and canned olives are good drained and added to salads or quesadillas. (Another side note: if you know me, you know the one food I can't stand is olives. But I do realize that is not a universal feeling.)
9) nuts-especially walnuts and cashews
10) spices-cumin, Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute, cinnamon, rosemary and dill are my faves.
3 comments:
What a beautifully written post ;)
BTW: my pantry isn't pretty either, but I have nearly everything on your list. I still go to the store twice each week for milk and fresh furits and veggies. If I could ever get on the gardening train (easier if I was gardening my own yard and not one two hours away), I wouldn't even have to buy so many veggies.
Good luck to the new pantry stock!
Thanks for making my pantry sound better than it is. The mason jars really mostly have dried beans in them right now. But I could throw a meal together if I had to just from the pantry!.
that is actually eleven items...
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