There are three great reasons for cooking from your stockpile. You may want or have to skip your shopping due to budgetary concerns, you may be moving soon and want to use up the food you have, or you may need to clear out the food that is close to expiring, to avoid waste. I have been concentrating on this third reason for getting creative with the pantry food, but I’ll forgive you if you have one of the other reasons to do it.
This post is part of the Ideas for Cooking from Your Stockpile Series.
Hopefully you have had a chance to pull out some of those food items that are close to their use by or best buy dates and have a selection of things. In my house, these foods tend to be cereals, believe it or not. Although I avoid cold cereals whenever possible, many times I’ll get some good deals. When this happens, I organize the cereal on the pantry shelf by the date. Of course sometimes someone will prefer a cereal in the back, and this is where my problem lays. So if I do have any cereal left over, I generally make it into treats (such as rice krispy treats), snack mix, use it for a casserole topping or make it into a pie or cookie bar crust. Some cereals can be made into muffins as well.
Let’s take a sample of some typical items you might find. Let’s say you pull out a box of instant potatoes. Yes, you can use them as a side dish, but what about turning them into potato pancakes for a meal? Pair them with an almost expired soup to make the dish even more filling.
Do you have a collection of canned vegetables? Drain and throw them all together in a casserole dish. Add some cooked chicken if you have it or want it, as well as that almost-expired soup (cream soups work best). Then add those instant potatoes for a topping (or substitute a biscuit crust or a pie crust).
Click here for more articles by Mary Ann Romans.
The Difference Between Being Frugal and Being Cheap
Tips for Slicing Homemade Bread
Stock up on Flour, Bread and Cereal Now While You Can
Cooking by Numbers Makes Pantry Shopping Easy!
Pantry Challenge: Falling Off of the Wagon
Pantry Challenge: What You Can Do with A Box of Potatoes
Pantry Challenge: Campbell’s to The Rescue!
Are you subscribed to the Families.com Frugal Living Blog? With the click of a button, you can receive an email notification anytime a new blog is posted in the Families.com Frugal Living Blog!
Just look to the right of this blog and find the subscription center (it looks just like this picture, although you’ll have to find the “real” one just above the category listing ). Click on “Subscribe via Email”. You’ll be instantly subscribed and the email address that you registered at Families.com with will receive an instant notification whenever we post a new Frugal Living Blog! Don’t miss a thing – subscribe now!