What's in your pantry?

Erin · Guru

RE: What's in your pantry?

Lizzy · Guru

Erin wrote:
A good way to start is to just think of one protein, one vegetable and one bread. Frozen is better than boxed/canned (which can have a ton of sodium in addition to preservatives). Fresh is better than frozen. Then mix and match. You can keep it simple with an easy marinade of olive oil and salt or something like "everyday seasoning" which is a combo of peppers and salt.

So, for example, I buy bags of frozen grilled chicken, shrimp, scallops, tilapia. We also have on hand (sometimes frozen sometimes fresh) pork shops, salmon burgers, stuffed chicken breasts and some other pre-prepared meats from trader joes or Target. I also buy frozen broccoli, peas, edamame, corn, mixes (cauliflower and broccoli, snow peas, etc), and bagged salad. Then for dinner, I grab a bag of each, heat or cook the frozen stuff in the microwave and cook the fresh stuff in the oven. Add some toast, naan, or french bread, and done.

for quick foods, like kids mac and cheese we add frozen peas or broccolli - just put the frozen stuff in with the noodles for 2 minutes before draining and prepare as directed. Same with spaghetti - I throw olives, mushrooms, ground beef in to make jar sauce a little less processed. Bertolli makes some frozen pasta and veggie mixzes, we use those, and add another half bag or so of veggies to make enough for the family and add veggies.

So, in sum, we try and eat clean, but really, take shortcuts to accomodate our busy schedules and the fact that if we buy too much fresh, it just goes to waste.

I like all these ideas, Erin!! Thanks! I still remember your idea of using shrimp and veggies in a ziplock - something like that - i always wanted to try it and now I can't remember it :bag

and the fresh thing is us too - i can't tell how much food i throw out which is due to my lack of meal planning.

Lizzy · Guru

3s_a_crowd wrote:
mine is pretty embarrassing.

I would love to cook from scratch using real ingredients that arent pre boxed or whatever, but I hate the mess of cooking that way. Also everything we like is super unhealthy anyway. LIke things with 5 types of cheeses. My real problem is my family is picky. DH and I mostly. I wont make new things i fi think Ill not like them. Im always embarrassed when I put my groceries up at checkout

me too!!

Sonya · Guru

I would say our grocery list looks exactly like Melissas (except we don't have trader joes (wah!)).

We do almost all of our veggies fresh, sometimes frozen peas and canned corn.

I like to cook more elaborate things but Mike makes dinner over half of the time and he does very simple meals.

We might have steak - fried (or broiled) (to fry it i put it on a dry frying pan for one minute over med high heat, then put on cover, remove from heat until the sizzling stops, flip it over and put back on heat (no cover), repeat until it's done. We also buy the best cut of steak we can afford - and go with smaller portions. With the steak we normally have oven potatoes (potatoes cut into 1 inch cubes, tossed with olive oil, garlic salt, parmesan, pepper, and oregano or basil - done in the oven at 400 or 425 for about 25 -30 mins), broccoli steamed and raw carrots and peppers cut up.

Or we might take thin chicken breasts (boneless) and bread them with bread crumbs (or corn flake crumbs), grated parm, and a few herbs (or not) (dip them in milk or egg and then the bread crumb mix and fry them in a little oil (or do them in the oven). We either serve this with spaghetti with a simple tomato sauce (olive oil, crushed garlic clove, can of crushed tomatoes, garlic salt, onion powder, basil, oregano, pepper) or egg noodles with fresh parm and butter. Then have fresh raw veggies on the side.

Pork tenderloin is so easy to cook. I pinned a great recipe in my food board that has become a staple. Balsamic vinegar, crushed garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil - put in dutch oven (or covered casserole dish) and cook for 30 mins at 425. We usually serve this with plain white rice or cheesy rice (garlic, broth, and parm).

supergrover · Guru

This would be your reaction to our pantry

When we aren't mid-move, we typically have 3 months worth of food in our pantry. Between my background in emergency preparedness, and Travis literally feeling panicky if we have less than that- um, yeah. There is a lot of food.

We do have a lot of canned vegetables. We buy salt free, and always rinse them- but canned we do. We do frozen too, but the bulkk is canned.

Other canned items: variety of soups, baked beans, canned fruits, spaghetii ohs, Ravioli, sloppy joe mix, pasta sauce. Other items: Pastas of all kind, rice both brown and white. Ramen. Several packs of: flour, sugar, evaporated milk. Home Preserved foods: apple sauce, apple pie filling, jams of a bunch of varieties. Honey from my inlaws farm. Canned chicken/ham.

Next year we will also be making our own pasta sauce, and freezing veggies from the garden.

Weekly shopping: Ridiculous amount of yogurt (organic for the kids, generic for poor hubby), cheese sticks, shredded cheese, eggs, cheerios, kix, shredded wheat, sometime grape nuts, 2-3 gallons milk, in-season on-sale fruit, fresh carrots-celery-lettuce-cucumber-onion, organic fruit bars, raisins, iced tea, I can't Believe butter spray, Ritz Crackers, juice boxes, Whole wheat bread (not organc, but the very bulky bread with no high fructose corn syrup) etc

Monthly Shopping: bulk frozen chicken, bulk ground turkey, a couple ground beef (we use very sparingly in a couple dishes where we found ground turkey didn't cut it), chicken nuggets, and fries (yup, fries.). We bulk buy whole chickens/turkeys/pork when it goes on crazy sale in our large freezer. We also pick up some quick meal things on occasion: hamburg helper, frozen pizza, etc. Bulk size coffee/creamer, etc.

Next year or the year after we will actually be purchasing half a cow or more from a local farm. They cut down all the meat to normal sizes.

More info than you were probably looking for, huh :) In fairness, this will all look a little different next year. RIght now we eat 4 meals or so a week with the college students.

Juanita · Guru

Liz, you totally need to try roasted veggies

oh my stars they're good!

my favorite is by far purple onion..but i like broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts roasted too

all you need is veggies, olive oil (i use extra virgin) and seasoning (whatever you like, i mainly use salt and pepper)

SO GOOD!

Lizzy · Guru

Juanita wrote:
Liz, you totally need to try roasted veggies
oh my stars they're good!
my favorite is by far purple onion..but i like broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts roasted too
all you need is veggies, olive oil (i use extra virgin) and seasoning (whatever you like, i mainly use salt and pepper)
SO GOOD!

okay...so I get the frozen veggies and do what with them? or if i get fresh, what do i do? i know...lol

supergrover · Guru

oh, Liz- Super Easy and quick- buy the ziplock steam bags. You can toss fresh veggies in (potatoes, carrots, brocholi, whatever) some spices, and done.

I love using those for small red potatoes. Yum Yum Yum.

CoffeeQueen · Guru

No, when you roast in the oven you use fresh.I toss them in a gallon zip lock with the olive oil and seasoning of choice. Then lay on a baking sheet and bake in oven for like 30-40 min on about 375. Depends in the veggie. Some roast quicker then others.

Me personally I do not use steamer bags or steam fresh. I am a massive freak with heating anything in Plastic. It is so quick to do it in a pan that I do not even bother.

I limit cans too because I hate alumninum taste and health reasons.however, I undertstand people using them. I just opt not to.

I will pu together a few simPle and child friendly dinners for you.

Have you ever made like chili or soups?

supergrover · Guru

CoffeeQueen wrote:
No, when you roast in the oven you use fresh.I toss them in a gallon zip lock with the olive oil and seasoning of choice. Then lay on a baking sheet and bake in oven for like 30-40 min on about 375. Depends in the veggie. Some roast quicker then others.

Me personally I do not use steamer bags or steam fresh. I am a massive freak with heating anything in Plastic. It is so quick to do it in a pan that I do not even bother.

I limit cans too because I hate alumninum taste and health reasons.however, I undertstand people using them. I just opt not to.

I will pu together a few simPle and child friendly dinners for you.

Have you ever made like chili or soups?

I struggle with the canned/plastic thing too. I go back and forth. For the pantry size we have, cans are bound to happen. We can't do all frozen- dorky us believe in hacing shelf stable foods that don't need refrigeration. <insert dork glasses here>

Robin · Guru

CoffeeQueen wrote:
No, when you roast in the oven you use fresh.I toss them in a gallon zip lock with the olive oil and seasoning of choice. Then lay on a baking sheet and bake in oven for like 30-40 min on about 375. Depends in the veggie. Some roast quicker then others.

Me personally I do not use steamer bags or steam fresh. I am a massive freak with heating anything in Plastic. It is so quick to do it in a pan that I do not even bother.

I limit cans too because I hate alumninum taste and health reasons.however, I undertstand people using them. I just opt not to.

I will pu together a few simPle and child friendly dinners for you.

Have you ever made like chili or soups?

Don't forget to take them out of the zip lock before you lay them on the baking sheet.

CoffeeQueen · Guru

Oh gosh, yes, was thinking that was a given.

CoffeeQueen · Guru

Jenn- we do have a whole garage full of food that is canned for same of emergency, but we do not use. I rotate it out by donating it.

Corey · Guru

liz, when i got my first apartment after college and had never cooked before i went and bought "the idiot's guide to cooking basics." it was seriously the best thing i ever did. lol. i just looked and i still have it in the cabinet if you want me to send it to you. it lists every type of veggie, etc and how many minutes you need to boil, steam, etc. plus descriptions of ones you may not know about. how to/how long to cook all types of meat and seafood. what spices and herbs to use with what.

Jo · Guru

Get a steamer. Dom found ours at Walmart for only like $20, and I love that thing. Just wash and cut up veggies, toss it in the basket (there are 2 for double steaming), add water in the reservoir and set the timer. So easy and the clean up is pretty minimal.

I grew up on a lot of processed foods, and I admit it's still a challenge sometimes to eat better and eat fresh. When Dom travels I still try to keep up with cooking, but it's tough when my kids would rather eat only rice, pasta and mac&cheese, forget meats and veggies.

Juanita · Guru

CoffeeQueen wrote:
No, when you roast in the oven you use fresh.I toss them in a gallon zip lock with the olive oil and seasoning of choice. Then lay on a baking sheet and bake in oven for like 30-40 min on about 375. Depends in the veggie. Some roast quicker then others.

Me personally I do not use steamer bags or steam fresh. I am a massive freak with heating anything in Plastic. It is so quick to do it in a pan that I do not even bother.

I limit cans too because I hate alumninum taste and health reasons.however, I undertstand people using them. I just opt not to.

I will pu together a few simPle and child friendly dinners for you.

Have you ever made like chili or soups?

And I don't even use a bag

I put foil on a baking sheet, lay my veggies on there, season them, sprinkle olive oil on them and then bake in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes (depending on the veggie)

Lizzy · Guru

Thank you all!! Melissa, I am taking your list to the store with me (and then I'll have a million questions about what to do with it all...lol) Corey, that is so sweet about the book. I don't want you to go to any trouble though. I can see if the library carries it (I plan to get some more anyway).

LOL at telling me to not put the bag in the oven, Robin

I would definitely do something like that ;) we actually are without an oven currently. Our oven door shattered and we need to replace it, but it has not been a priority since we never cook - but I really want to start.

thanks again for all your help!!

Lizzy · Guru

Jo wrote:
Get a steamer. Dom found ours at Walmart for only like $20, and I love that thing. Just wash and cut up veggies, toss it in the basket (there are 2 for double steaming), add water in the reservoir and set the timer. So easy and the clean up is pretty minimal.

I grew up on a lot of processed foods, and I admit it's still a challenge sometimes to eat better and eat fresh. When Dom travels I still try to keep up with cooking, but it's tough when my kids would rather eat only rice, pasta and mac&cheese, forget meats and veggies.

I have a rice cooker that has a steamer as well. Don has used it before, but i need to try it!

supergrover · Guru

Jo wrote:
Get a steamer. Dom found ours at Walmart for only like $20, and I love that thing. Just wash and cut up veggies, toss it in the basket (there are 2 for double steaming), add water in the reservoir and set the timer. So easy and the clean up is pretty minimal.

I grew up on a lot of processed foods, and I admit it's still a challenge sometimes to eat better and eat fresh. When Dom travels I still try to keep up with cooking, but it's tough when my kids would rather eat only rice, pasta and mac&cheese, forget meats and veggies.

ooohhh...good to know on this one. I will need to pick one up (I grew up on Chef Boyardee, etc. Honestly, I don't know how to cook a thing either, I'm just slowly learning).

Corey- I'm so buying the book you posted as well. I confess: I actually had to do an internet search on how to boil an egg. Sadly.

CoffeeQueen · Guru

Liz, ya kind of need an over or something to cook, lol. Do you have a grill?

Another thing that may be good for you is a george foreman counter top grill. since you are not into major cooking. You can grill anything on that sucker and it is super easy. I have one and on nights I am short on time I toss on pork chops, veggies, etc. It is super simple and easy.

I do not do a lot of elaborate dishes. Only because I eat pretty boring in the sense of I do not do creams sauces, etc.

What about pasta dishes? Do you do that? Those are easy and you can make them a bit healthier by adding stuff to the sauce.

I will post a few of my basic weekly meals. They are simple because I do not have tons of time after work and my kids like them also.