Cooking from the pantry can save you time and money. Don’t know what to cook for dinner tonight? Need some dinner ideas when you don’t want to go to the store? Have to stretch the budget for a few more days? Use the following advice and resources to help you cook from your own pantry.
Taking an Inventory
First, figure out what ingredients you have to work with. Sometimes it is helpful to start with the more substantial items such as the type of protein (chicken, beef, beans, eggs) and go from there.
Eyeball your shelves, fridge and freeze and make a mental note of what you have available. Many times this is the only thing that you need to do. You may just be inspired by what you see in front of you.
Don’t forget to move boxes and cans and other items that happen to be in the front on your pantry, fridge or freezer, to see what might be hiding behind.
Get Some Good Recipes
The next thing to do, once you know what you have to work with, is to figure out what meals that you can make. You can turn to your cookbooks, of course, create your own creative dishes, or go an easier route by turning to one of the many resources out there that will help you come up with a recipe based on the ingredients that you have on hand.
My Fridge Food (www.myfridgefood.com) is a nice little site that allows you to check off items you have at home in your pantry, either through the quick find or through the detailed kitchen list. Then the site will generate a list of recipes that you can use.
Users to the site can also upload their own recipes, so if you get creative with, let’s say, a can of diced tomatoes and some tuna, you can help out other people on the site.
*Image from myfridgefood.com
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