Friday, January 27, 2012

Food items I always keep on hand

Pioneer Woman's show last Saturday showed her making meals from food she always has in her pantry.  This got me thinking about which food items I keep on hand all the time. 

1.  Ketchup.  I don't care for it, but Cliff absolutely cannot live without it.  He considers it a food group all by itself, and if we run out, it means a special trip to the store or a phone call to any relative who might be going past a store.  
2.  Dry beans of all kinds:  kidney, pinto, garbanzo.  Also lentils and split peas.  
3.  Popcorn.  I often have popcorn for supper.  
4.  spaghetti, macaroni, and dry noodles.  I don't use these as much as I did in the past, but I try to always have them available.  
5.  Canned tuna: if all else fails I can make tuna-noodle casserole or tuna salad sandwiches.
6.  Celery and carrots, because I add them to anything imaginable:  Today I have pinto beans cooking, and you will find celery and chopped carrots in the mix.  I've also added lots of...
7.  Onions and garlic.  How can anyone live without them?  I like to chop onions and freeze them, so if I run out of fresh ones I have some to cook with.  It's nice if I'm in a hurry, too.  Just take a cup to the freezer and dip into the freezer bag.     
8.  Potatoes.  Cliff doesn't get mashed potatoes as often as he would like (that would be every day), but it's handy to nuke a potato in the microwave to go with a meal.  Quick, filling, and easy.  
9.  Cabbage.  It's cheap, and we love it boiled or stir-fried.  If I stir-fry it, I add onions, celery, garlic, and carrots, because I always have them in the house.  I add it to any kind of beef stew, also.  Slaw is good, but I don't seem to make it much any more.  
10.  Miracle Whip
11.  Sweet pickle relish
12.  Grape jelly
13.  Rolled oats and cream of wheat, because that's what we usually have for breakfast. 
14.  Raisins, to dress up number 13.  
15.  Bananas, unless we don't get to the store often enough.  
16.  Lettuce and tomatoes, most of the time.   
17.  Yellow corn meal, because soups and beans require corn bread.  
18.  Crisco, because there really IS a difference in shortenings.  


In the freezer, of course we have plenty of beef at present; when we weren't butchering on a regular basis, I usually only bought ground beef, because it is economical and versatile.  
There's cooked, diced chicken and frozen chicken broth that I prepare and divide into portions periodically for casseroles and soups.  There are two-cup portions of kidney beans I cook and freeze for chili and meatless casseroles.     
As long as I have all these items in the house, there is no problem with figuring out what's for supper.  


11 comments:

  1. Sounds like a well-stocked kitchen. I could not even tell you what's in my pantry at the moment. Or the freezer, for that matter. I bet my mom knows what's in hers, right down to how many cans of each.

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  2. Your kitchen is well stocked for sure. It's a good idea to have staples on hand. I also keep mayo in the fridge because to me somethings just taste better with it. I don't keep Cream of Wheat much any more but I used to and I don't keep lettuce much unless I have company as I wind up throwing half of it away. I know I should eat more salads. You do much better at freezing things than I but right now I do have some chicken soup in the freezer. It will be nice to pull out later on. Hope your Friday is a fantastic one!

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  3. Your pantry is without a doubt, stocked. That is good. Never tried freezing chopped onions. Going to do that now. We never ever use grape jelly here, has to be strawberry or apricot for me and orange marmelade for the hubby. BUT you hit the nail on the head when you said, Miracle Whip. We can NOT live without it. We both hate regular mayo. My hubby NEVER uses ketchup. I LOVE it like Cliff. And we always have horseradish mustard on hand too. Popcorn is a must, cans of SARDINES, tuna and canned salmon, plenty of eggs, SNOW PEAS, parmesan/romano cheese, olive or canola oil, my rack of spices, and greek yogurt. Crazy about them all. I could go on and on. LOL Glad you are ready for any cooking emergency with plenty of options. Take care.

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  4. I am on a mission to clean out and use up what I have on hand right now before stocking up again. It seems to get shoved to the back of the cupboard or freezer and I buy more, so now its time to use it so I dont' waste it. I too use only Miracle whip here, and Heinz Ketchup only... some things I am a snob about..LOL and Crisco too!!
    Wendy

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  5. John covers up the flavor of everything with ketchup. I think smoking for years killed his taste buds. Nothing like Miracle Whip in salads for us.

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  6. You put me to shame but thankfully the small grocery store that I go to is only a mile and a half away. I'm with Cliff on ketchup, I could eat it with a spoon! Must be all that sugar that's in it. :o(

    I missed Pioneer Woman darn it. Will write myself a note to catch it tomorrow. Must set the DVR.

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  7. Anonymous6:32 PM

    I'm sitting here chuckling to myself, as I eat a little bit of mayo with my sliced tomatoes.

    Miracle Whip tastes like a candy bar to me. Too much sugar in it.

    A few things I always have on hand:

    eggs
    bread
    catsup,mustard,mayo,butter
    fresh fruit
    fresh veggies
    yogurt
    noodles,pasta,rice
    salt,pepper,broth powder,jelly
    nut butters of various kinds
    good quality hot dogs for grandgirl
    instant coffee
    powdered creamer
    distilled water

    I can't think of much else, that I have, that I would miss if I didn't have. I don't use much sugar or flour (takes me 6 months or more to go thru 5# of either... and there's 4 of us in the household with 2 grandgirls here many a time). The things on this list are pretty much our staple foods. Pretty simple stuff... which makes for simple shopping. :)

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  8. Do you want the recipe for the bread? It makes two huge loaves, I really should cut the recipe in half as it's too tempting to have around. My waistline is expanding rapidly!

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  9. I want to eat at YOUR HOUSE!! I am such a lousy cook.

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  10. Me: Hey, Adrian! Come look at this video! I used to watch this show when I was a kid!

    Adrian watches it and looks at me total straight face and says "I'm sorry you had corny TV when you were a kid."

    Oh. Um. WELL, I THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY! heh....

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  11. I try to make sure I have beans and macaroni, corn,and green beans..tuna and mayo,ketchup and mustard among other things!

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