Pantry Party Part I

Good Wednesday morning! I'm in NY, posting from the beautiful Hamptons...there's a ton of snow here, but it's still nice to get out of the city and relax. I love being home for a bunch of reasons. I obviously love seeing my family, and I love that I don't have to clean, or run errands, or even really cook for myself. It's great. The flip side of that, however, is that I have to wake up with the baby every night by myself (last night from 1 am to 3:30 am).

Anyways...Dylan's napping and I am here to talk to you about stocking your pantry. This is part one of a series...today I will discuss your dry cabinet pantry which includes: grains, dry beans, and pastas.

What do I mean by pantry?

*Pantry refers to all of your non-perishables or foods that stay fresh for an insanely long time. My pantry includes my cabinets, my refrigerator, my freezer and my fruit and vegetable bowls. Today I'd like to share with you tips for building your cabinet pantry.

Why stock a pantry?

*I believe stocking your pantry is one of the most budget friendly tactics you can employ to keep your food costs low, low, low. By having your basic essentials on hand, you eliminate the need to buy a ton of ingredients for every meal you cook. If you have a well stocked cabinet pantry, you can just buy perishables every week, and rest assured knowing you have most of what you need at home.

*Many items in your cabinet pantry are amazing multi-taskers. All you need to do is buy one jar of dried basil, but that one jar will take you through tons (probably hundreds) of meals! The same goes for most spices. This applies to oils, too. You will probably use some sort of oil in almost everything you cook, so it's important to always have it at hand.

*You can often throw together meals entirely from your pantry in a pinch. A little garlic, oil, pasta, and a can of beans goes a long way when you have nothing in the house (like when you get home from a vacation - or you've exhausted your grocery budget for the month).

What's in a cabinet pantry?

I have organized my cabinet pantry into 3 sections. This works for me, but feel free to organize yours any old way! I will draw a beautiful picture:

Grains and Dry Beans

These are staples of meal planning in my house. Here's what I keep on hand at all times. Those with a "*" are bonus points!

• Steel Cut Oats (for breakfast and babies)
• Brown Rice (use like pasta under chilis, baked beans, in soups)
• Rice Sticks* (for stirfries and asian)
• Quinoa* (use as you would rice)
• Barley* (soups)
• Dry Red, Black, or Pinto Beans
• A 16 Bean Mix*
• Lentils
• Split Peas

By keeping the above items in your pantry, you can be sure you'll always have the ingredients to make a healthful meal on hand. From the above, depending on the quality of your overall pantry, you can make: fried rice, rice and beans, stir fry, and a bunch of different soups.

Pastas

I cook with pastas a lot - especially whole wheat ones (which are as good as any other whole grain, nutritionally). They're a great, inexpensive option for dinners, and I try to cook with them several times a week to keep the grocery costs down. Keep a variety of pastas on hand for different uses.

• Penne (stands up to fresh vegetable toppings and heavy sauces, also good for ziti)
• Farfalle - bowties, or literally - "butterflies" in Italian (perfect in place of noodles in casseroles)
• Spaghetti and/or Linguine (perfect for lighter sauces, but also stands up to meatballs and other toppings...can be used in asian cuisine as well in place of noodles - as in sesame noodles, yum!)
• Lasagna noodles (for lasagna...duh)
• Rotini (perfect for all sorts of pasta salads and baked macaroni dishes)

If you stock your pantry correctly, you'll always have a pasta-based meal just 20 minutes away.

Canned Goods

Having canned goods on hand ensures you always have at least something to eat. They're a great way to stretch your grocery dollars and always have something to cook with at hand.

• Beans (for dips, pastas, and soups)
• Clams* (for clam sauce and chowder)
• Tomatoes (for sauce and chili)
• Soups (especially cream of mushroom for casseroles)
• Olives* (as a throw in to pasta salad or topping for pizza)
• Artichoke hearts* (for use in pasta, pasta salads, or pizza)

If you keep some of the above on hand, you'll always be able to make a bean dip for entertaining, a pot of sauce for dinner, or some garlicky bean soup...assuming your refrigerator and basket pantry are up to par!

My scrimpyPantry Tips

Here are some tips to help you stock your pantry as inexpensively as possible.

Brown Rice - WFs has a good deal on organic, TJs has sells conventional at around $1/lb.

Beans - if you're going conventional then Stop and Shop is the way to go @ 3 cans/$2. Organic go for about $1/can at both TJs and WFs.

Dried Beans and peas and lentils - Whole Foods has the best deals on these. A pound of organic will cost you $1.99 across the board, only $.50 more than what conventional costs at Stop and Shop. TJs does not carry dry beans. TJs does, however, sell a 16 bean mix with some grains in it for $1.29 (or something like that).

Clams - these go on sale at Stop and Shop and CVS 4/$5. I stock up then. 2 cans makes clam sauce for 4, and with a pound of pasta this is a $3.50 dinner.

Canned Beans - if you're going conventional then Stop and Shop is the way to go @ 3 cans/$2. Organic go for about $1/can at both TJs and WFs.

Pasta - hands down, TJs has the best prices on pasta in town. White will cost you $.99/lb and organic whole wheat will set you back a mere $1.29/lb. Amazing!

Tomatoes - if you're going conventional then TJs, WFs, and S&S are all comparable. Organic are cheapest at WFs at $1.79/28 oz. can...that's a GREAT price considering you generally pay $1/28 oz. conventional can.

Soups - Campbell's coups can often be found buy one get one free making them under $1. Add in some sale tuna and organic whole wheat pasta for a $5 casserole that serves at least 4.

Olives and Artichoke Hearts - Unlikely versatile ingredients that can be added atop a pizza (prepared crust from TJs @ $.99 + a handful of organic canned tomatoes @ $.75 + can of olives @ $1 = a vegan pizza for under $3) or a pasta dish. Also good for a quick antipasto platter for entertaining!

Jarred tapenade or bruschetta - I like to keep a $3 TJs jar of these on hand in case of entertaining or dinner emergencies. The tapenade can be served along a loaf of bread or with crackers to make a quick platter, as can the bruschetta. Alternately, the bruschetta can be tossed with hot penne for a $4 dinner for 5.

I hope this post helps you develop and build a working pantry. Stay tuned in the coming days and weeks for:

• tips on stocking a refrigerator pantry
• how to build a fruit and veggie pantry
• spice, seasoning and oil pantry
• building a baking pantry
• creating a freezer pantry
• pantry recipes