Kitchen Basics: Organize your pantry
Stocking all of your pantry places doesn’t have to be a
daunting task, especially when you are organized. In this section, we will talk
about the following:
·
What staple foods to stock (or what
foods/products I always have on hand)
·
Organizing your pantry places
o Cabinets
and pantry shelves
o Refrigerator
and freezer
o Non-food
essentials
·
Shopping to stock
If you keep these three things in mind, your pantry-stocking
experience can be easy peasy.
All that said there are times I let supplies get intentionally low—in most of my pantry places (except for the non-food areas)—and I do it for two reasons. One, when food supplies are low, it is easier to clean both places. I’d much rather clean a near empty refrigerator or freezer, than to remove food from a fully stocked one. Same thing with the pantry and cabinet shelves.
The second reason is to use up most of the purchased
supplies so they don’t get shoved too far back on the shelves, roll past their expiration
dates, and eventually get thrown out. Although many staple items have
relatively longer shelve lives, it’s best to keep track of what is what. Use it
up, don’t throw it out, is one of my mottos. So, a couple of times a year, I
intentionally stop grocery shopping, and tell myself that I can only prepare
meals with the foods I have on hand, in order to use them up.
I do love a challenge.
This can be creative and a little fun. Some of my best new
recipes were created by making “something out of nothing.” By that I mean,
making things from scratch and using up what I have on hand. Many people can
open up a pantry door and proclaim, “There is nothing to eat here!” I’m not
that person. I enjoy looking at what I have, and creating a meal of what is
there. It is a challenge but it is also being resourceful. I feel good knowing that
I’m not wasting food and money.
I’m all into that sort of thing.
My upcoming The Home Ec Teacher's Guides cookbook series starts with the Kitchen
Basics book, and helps the modern cook to look past the deficit, and to the
positive. I'll be posting sections of the book here too, as I write. I like helping a new cook realize that the leftover (and still good)
rotisserie chicken and the half-eaten bag of perfectly good tortilla chips, are
the beginnings of a meal. And, to realize that with the addition of the jar of
salsa in the fridge, plus a few other ingredients and spices, we could have
share lovely bowl of chicken tortilla soup for dinner.
Sound good? Does to me. Watch for future posts on getting back to the
basics. The Kitchen Basics.
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