How to Stock Your Pantry
(and not just for emergencies)
Hi friends and welcome! We are in the middle of an 8-week series called Good to Know where we discuss good things to know about saving money on groceries. Ways to do this include menu planning, effective grocery lists, and today’s topic: how to stock your pantry. I’ve linked the articles for you in case you’ve missed any.
And if you’d rather listen than read, the audio version is at the top of this article.
Before we get started, you may have noticed that I turned on the Paid Subscriber option. Don’t fret, the Betty Eatz Newsletter and the delicious information will remain free for everyone. But if you would like to contribute, the option is there, starting at less than what you’d pay for a box of Kellogg’s cornflakes. Regardless of whether you are a free or paid subscriber, I’m really glad you are here!
Let’s talk about stocking a pantry.
It’s Not Just for Those with a Little House on the Prairie
Why keep a stocked pantry? What does that even mean? Visions of Laura Ingalls Wilder fill our minds with thoughts of canning, pickling, and jamming. Yes, preserving the backyard bounty is one thing. But for many people, a stocked pantry is life-sustaining, figuratively and literally. My friend Tangerine lives in Western Canada in a rural and remote area where the temperature is well below freezing right about now and blizzardy driving conditions are dangerous. So she has to always keep extra food and fuel on hand.
Depending on where you live, you may have to deal with hurricanes, tornadoes, or tropical storms. As a Southern California resident, I have different problems. Top of mind for me is earthquakes. According to the Earthquake Authority, there is a 99% chance of an earthquake larger than 6.7 magnitude striking California in the next 20 years. Most Californians, including myself, live within 30 miles of an active fault line.
***Update: we just had an earthquake this Wednesday that registered 4.2 and it jolted me out of my chair!***
In the aftermath of a major earthquake, there are often road closures, a lack of power and water, and no way to buy food or supplies. The Earthquake Authority recommends a three-day supply of nonperishable food items like canned fruits and vegetables, cereals, crackers, jerky, soups, tinned fish and meats, trail mix, plus instant coffee and tea bags. I would add that it is smart to choose canned items with plant protein like legumes. Next week’s article is all about plant protein, so we won’t go into it now, but be sure to come back next Friday for that.
There are other benefits of a well-stocked pantry.
Fewer trips to the grocery store. I’m not a once-a-month shopper but I know a few. My friend Ann hates grocery shopping so she only goes once a month. Seriously. She stocks her fridge, freezer, and pantry with all the things she needs for a month in her one big shopping trip. But for the rest of us mere mortals, a once-a-week trip is normal. No running to the grocery store every other day for a missing ingredient because you have a supply at home. I find the more often I am at the store, the more likely I am to overspend.
Shorter time at the grocery store. Keeping extra items in your pantry means less time on your shopping trip because you have a well-stocked larder. You just don’t need as many items so there are certain aisles you can skip completely.
Less food waste. This one might surprise you. We all have that one person in the family who doesn’t like to eat leftovers. However, it is easy to repurpose leftovers into another meal the next day that is completely different from the one you just ate. Have leftover roasted chicken? Don’t let it go to waste. Add it to some pasta or rice from your pantry and you have tonight’s dinner without too much effort.
More options. I’m not going to lie. Sometimes I just don’t feel like cooking what I have planned for that night’s dinner. Or I find myself short on time, energy, and patience. Having a well-stocked pantry gives me options. Maybe I can’t bring myself to prepare the bacon-wrapped meatloaf I had planned, but I am willing to cut up an apple, slice some cheese, unwrap some crackers, and pour myself a glass of wine for a simple meal. Options are good.
Now that we know the why, let’s take a look at how.
How to Do This
Many people say that there are two approaches to stocking a pantry. All in, meaning, list everything for a well-stocked pantry and buy it in one go. The other way is gradually. Pick up an extra can or box of whatever and slowly build up your reserves. Both ways work, but I think stocking a pantry is more nuanced than that. Here’s what I mean.
The first thing to do is identify your goal. If you are creating a shelter-in-place or to-go emergency kit, you will have specific food items you want in it. So create that list and add items to your weekly shopping list as your budget allows. If you are building up your in-home pantry for week-to-week living, think about items that you consume regularly and start with those.
See what you already have. Chances are you have several items sitting on the shelf of your pantry or in your freezer right now. Take note of what you currently have so you don’t wind up with 15 cans of black olives.
Think about meals. That’s great that you have extra cans of corn and green beans. But can you assemble a meal from those? Think about what you need to make a meal from freezer and pantry staples. Pasta with sauce, chili, and soups are all good ideas.
Buy what will get eaten. No one in my family likes lima beans. So I don’t have those in my pantry. List what you and your family like to eat. Don’t purchase “healthy” things with the hope that they will get eaten in an emergency or otherwise.
Take advantage of sales and giveaways. Grocery store sales are cyclical and seasonal. Certain items go on sale every six weeks while others get marked down after certain holidays. You know I love sale items, so I stock up when something I normally purchase is on sale or marked down. When ground beef goes on sale, I buy a few extra pounds. In the weeks before Thanksgiving, my grocery store gives away free turkeys to anyone spending over $150 on one trip. That is about what I spend weekly. So for three weeks, I scored three free turkeys. We ate one at Thanksgiving, one on New Year’s Day, and I’ve still got one hanging out in the freezer.
A Word about Storage Containers
You’ve seen it all over social media and so have I. Perfect pantries with dry goods in pretty glass jars, labeled and arranged in uniform rows. It’s beautiful, but how practical is it? What actually needs to be decanted out of the original box into clear glass or plastic containers?
A good rule of thumb: if you don’t use the entire box or package in one go, move it to an airtight storage container. Dry items like cereal, rice, rolled oats, and snack items are good candidates. So are baking ingredients like baking soda, flour, and sugar. These often do not come in resealable packages (or if they do they frequently don’t seal well) so airtight containers make sense.
I like square and plastic containers since they are stackable and lightweight. Because I have tile floors and am frequently clumsy, glass is not a good option for me but it might be for you.
Sample Pantry List
A pantry list can be overwhelming. But, breaking things down into bite-sized pieces always helps me, so let’s do that here. What follows are ideas of what to keep on hand. This may vary wildly from what you eat, so adjust the list to your needs.
Dry Items
Canned fruits, vegetables, meat, fish
Pasta, rice, grains, beans, nuts
Bouillon, spices, oil
Flour, sugar, oats, baking soda and powder
Freezer Items
Fruits, juices, meats, vegetables
Butter, bread, cheese, puff pastry (if you are bougie like me)
Fresh Items
Long-lasting dairy items like butter, cream cheese, sour cream, and yogurt
Long-lasting produce such as apples, beets, cabbage, carrots, celery, citrus fruits (grapefruit, lemon, lime, orange), garlic, onions, potatoes, spaghetti squash, and other hard-skinned squash
Meals using Pantry Items
Now, to show that you can construct a meal from your pantry, fresh, and freezer items, here are three meal ideas with recipes. There is a build-your-own pork teriyaki bowl, an interactive party on a sheet pan meatball gyros, and a leave-me-alone-I-want-to-eat-carbs-in-silence pasta sauce with pasta. And just because we talked about grocery lists last week, I’ve included a downloadable shopping list, too.
Pork Teriyaki Bowl
I like to always have a pork tenderloin (different from pork loin, mind the difference) in the freezer. These narrow, long cuts of pork are boneless and cook quickly. They are relatively cheap and adapt to most flavor profiles. I think they are great in these Asian-inspired build-your-own bowls.
2 cups rice
2 pounds pork tenderloin
2 tsp olive oil
1 cup frozen edamame, thawed
1 cup carrot, shredded
1 cup red onion, thinly sliced
Teriyaki sauce:
½ cup low-sodium soy sauce
¼ cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp honey
½ Tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp fresh minced garlic or ½ tsp granulated garlic
¾ tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cornstarch stirred together with 2 tsp water
Cook the rice according to the directions on the package either on the stovetop or in a rice cooker.
Preheat the oven to 400F/205C. Lightly oil a baking dish and set aside.
Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the oil and the pork tenderloin. Sear the pork on all sides until brown, about 5 or 6 minutes. Move the pork to the baking dish. Roast uncovered for 10-ish minutes or until it reaches 140F/60C on an instant-read thermometer. Don’t overcook it or it will be tough! Remove from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes (it will continue to cook from residual heat and rise in temp to 145F/63F). Slice the tenderloin into 1-inch thick slices.
Meanwhile, make the teriyaki sauce by adding all the sauce ingredients to a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil while stirring the whole time. Allow to boil for 1 minute. The sauce should be glossy and syrupy. Set aside to cool.
Set out the rice, pork, veggies, and teriyaki sauce buffet-style, and let your peeps assemble their bowls.
Marcella Hazan’s Pasta Sauce with Pasta
The first cookbook I ever purchased was Marcella Hazan’s The Classic Italian Cookbook. I paid $5.95 for it in 1991 and have cooked many many dishes from it including this velvety unctuous pasta sauce. So good. I decided to give San Marzano canned tomatoes a try after watching Stanley Tucci eat them on his TV show Searching for Italy. Well, now I’m hooked on their intense tomato-y flavor and lower acid. They are about twice the cost of generic-brand canned tomatoes. For me, it’s worth it, especially in a dish like this one where tomatoes are the star, but you’re an adult so use whatever tomatoes you want.
As for the pasta, you decide how much to make. If you like your pasta saucy, make a half-pound (about half a sleeve of pasta). Otherwise, use the entire one-pound package.
28 oz canned whole tomatoes
½ cup (4 oz) butter
1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half
1 tsp salt
½ tsp granulated sugar
½ to 1 pound pasta (spaghetti, penne, or ziti are perfect with this)
Optional: shaved parmesan cheese, chopped fresh parsley
Dump the tomatoes and their juices into a medium saucepan. Cook, covered, over medium-low heat (low simmer) for 10 minutes. Depending on how chunky you like your sauce, you can either squash the tomatoes with a potato masher or blitz them with an immersion stick blender right in the pan until smooth.
Add the butter, onion, salt, and sugar to the tomato sauce. Cook at a low simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes. You can either discard the onion or eat it on the side like I do.
Prepare the pasta according to the package directions and don’t forget to salt your pasta water. Drain the pasta and serve with the sauce. Garnish with Parmesan and parsley if you’re feeling it.
Sheet Pan Meatball Gyros
It’s so helpful to have ground meat packed in 1-pound packets in the freezer. I won’t list all the things you can do with ground beef, as you most likely already know. But, I encourage you to experiment with ground lamb. I know, most Americans aren’t into lamb. But what I find at the store is almost always high-quality, grass-fed, and New Zealand-raised. I catch it when it goes on sale and it is about the same cost as ground beef. Ground lamb is perfect for these Mediterranean-inspired meatball gyros! Serve them topped with crumbled feta and a squeeze of lemon.
The recipe is here: Sheet Pan Meatball Gyros
Shopping List for All 3 Meals
You can download and print it here.
Dairy
Milk (any kind)
Feta or goat cheese - 1
Parmesan - 1
Dry
Brown sugar
Whole tomatoes 28 oz - 1
Cornstarch
Garbanzo beans - 1
Ground ginger
Honey
Olive oil
Pasta - 1
Pita bread - 1
Rice
Rice vinegar
Salt
Saltine crackers
Sesame oil
Soy sauce
Fresh/Frozen
Edamame - 1 bag
Ground beef or lamb - 1 pound
Pork tenderloin - 2 pounds
Produce
Carrots - 1
Garlic - 1
Green bell pepper - 1
Green onion - 1
Lemon - 1
Parsley - 1 bunch
Red bell pepper - 1
Red onion - 1
Shallot - 1
White or yellow onion - 1
Tell Me
Do you have a stocked pantry? I’d love to know what’s on your list of must-haves! Which pantry meal are you going to try? Leave me a comment below.
I’m excited about next week’s topic, which is all about plant proteins. It’s not just for vegans anymore and they are a great way to save a few shekels. See you next Friday!