Between the fact that I just had to empty, move and refill my entire fridge / freezer and summer break beginning, It is time to inventory what I have. When I was putting all our frozen food back into our new freezer, I must have said 5 separate times, "I totally forgot we had this"
You had better believe that I was smart enough this time to label Everything! (even the things I was sure I would remember. And I made a list in my planner of everything we had. It will be a month before I have to grocery shop for anything in the frozen food aisle.
With summer upon us I have been shocked recently by a pretty obvious fact: the food at my house is getting eaten at an alarming rate. I buy the food and bring it home, most times I even put it in the pantry, but then something mysterious happens to it and it gets consumed.
So after quite a few (more than I am comfortable admitting) scenarios where I would attempt to make dinner only to discover that I was lacking a can of olives or pineapple or mandarin oranges I sat down to make a complete pantry inventory and do some serious restocking.
Food $ense has compiled an amazing list that you can refer to that will help get your started.
Well Stocked Pantry
Staple items you should have on hand to create meals on the fly. Mix and match these with fresh vegetables, meat and/or seafood
- broth: veg, chicken, beef
- butter
- carrots
- canned tomatoes ( I prefer to have all types - whole, diced, and both sauce and paste)
- canned vegetables ( I don't buy a lot of canned vegs, but I think this list can include frozen)
- celery
- cereal (Be sure you are buying a whole grain)
- coconut milk (unsweetened) - (I skipped this, I am not sure when I would ever use it)
- corn meal
- cream soups (If you prefer you can use the S.O.S. mix instead. It is ideal for this purpose!)
- cream
- dried peppers
- dry beans
- dry herbs
- dry pasta
- dry spices
- flours ( I always use a whole grain and an all purpose flour 1/2 and 1/2. If you use pastry, cake or bread flour, be sure you put it on your list)
- grated cheese
- grains: barley, quinoa
- honey
- jalapenos ( I don't know if this refers to diced green chilis in the can, but I always love to have those on hand)
- lemon juice
- maple syrup
- mayo
- molasses
- mustard
- nuts
- oatmeal
- oils
- olive oil
- olives
- polenta
- rice
- salt & pepper
- shredded cheese
- soy sauce
- spices
- sriracha
- sugar
- tortillas: flour or corn
- tomato sauce
- vinegars
- yogurt
