We have so much food in our pantry! Now that the kid has gone, we haven’t quite adjusted to buying so much less food. I need to use up some of it. (My camera’s hiding, but when it resurfaces, I’ll show you how overstuffed the pantry is.)
Step One is to be very grateful for all the abundance. It’s not always this way in a house full of part-time workers and students. There have been months when buying any food at all was out of the question. I am filled with gratitude that it’s not that way for us right now.
Step Two is to use up some of this bounty so that (a) nothing goes bad, and (b) my food-storage areas stop looking like an episode of “Hoarders.”
This means it’s–ta-da!–Pantry Cooking Month!
In other words, for the rest of May, I plan to make as many pantry-heavy meals as I can, and blog about it.
In keeping with my past Pantry Cooking Month practices, I’m going to see how many nice meals I can make without going out and buying anything besides the small handful of highly perishable things (fresh veggies, eggs, milk) that we buy in small quantities anyway. Oh, and James will buy coffee. There’s no stopping James from buying coffee.
While the meals may not be super-exciting, I’ll try to keep it from being all tuna casserole, all the time, and maybe among us, we can come up with some great ideas. Once a week, on Saturdays when I’m making my menus, I will tell you what I’ve got on hand, and if you’re up for it, you can give me thoughts. Or point me to your blog, so I can make one of your recipes–that would be fun! Then on Sundays, I’ll post the menus. If I make your recipe, I’ll link back to you and post pictures.
This week’s stuff to use up:
Meats and other proteins:
Beef (some ground, some thinly sliced top round steaks)
Bacon
Shrimp
Chicken thighs
Seitan
Veggie burgers
Pollock (frozen)
Tuna (canned)
Salmon (frozen)
Beans:
Yellow split peas
Red lentils
Brown lentils
Refried beans
Kidney beans
Pinto beans
Garbanzos
Grains and other carbs:
Oats
Rice (jasmine, plain white, sushi rice)
Many kinds of pasta
Fresh and frozen potatoes
Rice noodles
Cornmeal
Panko crumbs
I also have plenty of most of the staples I keep on hand: flour, spices, canned tomato products, soy sauce, etc.
Put your thinking caps on?
Wow, lots of yummy ingredients there. And a lot of beans. I don’t actually like beans very much, so I don’t cook too many things with them in. And I feel like I’m not a very good cook, but I kind of like this game. So here are some of my ideas.
If I had that pantry, I would make:
Pasta, first. I am the pasta queen. I would probably have shrimp, garlic, misc veggies, a little bit of bacon to make the frying tasty, toss all of that with, I dunno, fake-pesto and/or cream/sourcream/parmesan. (Fake-pesto = chopped basil, chopped pine nuts, and oil.)
Ground beef cooked in a frying pan with onions and garlic and a green pepper or whatever, then mixed with canned tomatoes, chili powder, rice, beans, and baked. With about three times as much spices as my mother’s version. Also works with no beef or very little. Might work with a nice-textured alternative protein.
Scrambled eggs and noodles, from the More with Less cookbook. (Ideally, with some coloured crunchy vegetable alongside). Cook noodles. Put a little fat in a frying pan, heat it, dump in cooked noodles, dump in beaten eggs over top maybe with some cheese in. Keep lifting and stirring until the eggs aren’t shiny. Grate black pepper over. Reheats surprisingly well.
Oh, and if you have some veg which aren’t quite nice enough to eat raw, a frittata. I cook the potatoes in the microwave wrapped in a wet tea cloth, then saute a bunch of fading veg (celery, zucchini, mushrooms are my favourites), add chopped cooked potatoes, again dump beaten eggs with cheese in, put a lid on the frying pan and cook on medium until it looks done, perform sleight of hand with a big plate to flip it and cook the other side (Pat K has a frying pan with a non melting handle so she does the top under the broiler). Fancy company version has fresh dill. Home version, leftovers go in fridge in frying pan, cut pie wedges when cold and eat for breakfasts.
Your “fake pesto” sounds lovely!
What’s the rice ratio in the baked-ground-beef thing? Does it come out soupy or solid, or…?
I have the More With Less cookbook, and it’s a really good idea for me to go look in there for ideas. I like the noodle/egg thing, but I’m wondering how James will like it. Guess I could try it out!
Mmmmm, cold frittata with lots of salt. (Though with potatoes in, we call it a tortilla around here, because the Spanish version always has potatoes.)
Thanks for playing along with me! These are great ideas.
When the baked ground beef thing works right, it comes out thick and moist. You eat it with a fork off a plate. Mum’s version (circa 1960) has 1 20 oz can of tomatoes, and the rice is cooked beforehand (it says “one batch Uncle Ben’s rice”). Dad’s version (circa 1985) has no meat, 1 28oz can tomatoes (in both cases you don’t drain the tomatoes), more peppers, beans, and onions, and 3/4 cup rice. Also it has that you cook the veg in a little bit of oil and some water, which I had forgotten, I just fry them in oil. Yes, my fritatta is pretty much equivalent to Spanish tortilla – I once brought one to a tapas party.
wow you have a serious ABUNDANCE of goodies to cook with–we too are boom and bust in our house-not from lack of money just seasonal and we buy in bulk once a month so there are time when we have little food and others when we are overflowing! good luck reigning it in :)
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Yeah, exactly so here! We both get paid at the beginning of the month. Some months, if I didn’t borrow from my mom, we’d be out of luck around the 25th of the month.
I would use some pollock, some salmon and some shrimp and some potatoes to make a fish pie. Make mashed potatoes. Poach the fish in some liquid – could be milk, a milk substitute, fish stock, water with white wine – your choice! When the fish is cooked, thicken the cooking liquid with cornstarch (or however you usually make sauces) check for seasoning and tip the fish and sauce into a shallow dish. Cover it with the mashed potatoes (you can add cheese to the potatoes if you like, and/or sprinkle some grated cheese on the top and then brown under a grill (uk term – I think the US term would be broiler?). Serve with salad or fresh veggies of your choice. Broccoli goes well. Frozen peas are a good standby option if fresh veg not available.
Ooh, fish pie sounds awesome! Have never had anything like it. I’m in! (Not sure why Akismet decided your comment was spam; sorry!)
One of the grocery store chains here does a “fisherman’s pie” which is like shepherd’s pie or cottage pie, with mashed potatoes on top, but I had never really thought of making one. Thanks!
Sounds like a good list for casseroles and bean dips!
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Mmmmm, bean dip!
There are really lots of awesome ingredients that you have shared and I will surely love to try them out sometime. Thanks for sharing.
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