Now is a great time to work on your three-month supply of pantry food. Choose foods and recipes that you and your family like to eat. Get started. If you are a beginner on a limited budget start with an extra two-week supply. Pick 2 delicious pantry recipes. For example, if you choose Pinto Bean Wraps (recipe below in the blog) purchase:
rice (at least 7 cups)
cumin (spice)
7 cans (8 oz) tomato sauce
7 cans (4 oz) can diced green chiles
minced garlic
7 cans (15 oz) pinto beans
7 jars of salsa
Then pick a second recipe, such as Fiesta (recipe below) and purchase enough to make 7 recipes:
14 cans of chili
rice (at least 7 cups)
7 cans (15 1/4 oz) can corn
7 cans (15 oz.) can diced or crushed tomatoes
salt
dehydrated onion
oregano (spice)
chili powder (spice)
cumin (you've already purchaesd above so maybe you have enough)
cheese--optional
(Check date on a block of cheese. Cheese keeps a few weeks in the refrigerator. It can be successfully frozen for months but will not hold together when unthawed. Bottled or processed sharp cheese spread stores quite a long time -- or you can eat Fiesta without cheese.)
If you have chosen two meals and purchased incredients x 7 you will now have an extra two weeks supply of dinners. The next week pick 2 more recipes and buy it times 7. In a few weeks you will have a three-month supply of dinners. You may want to add to it a canned vegetable and a canned fruit, such as a can of peaches or pears. You may want to add a dessert, such as chocolate pudding. If so, purchase these times 7 also. You can choose any increment you would like--I have actually chosen ten as my magic number so I have at least ten cans of everything I need to make my particular pantry recipes.
For breakfast and lunch you can do the same thing--plan what you like to fix for breakfast and buy it in bulk. Oatmeal is on sale at QFC, so buy a few boxes. Powdered milk, sugar, and fruit would be good additions. Perhaps, your second choice for breakfast could be pancakes. Do you have the ingredients for 7 days of home-made pancakes. (Do you want to learn about egg substitutes or powdered eggs? They are available.)
For lunch it's the same principle--peanut butter, canned soup, tuna fish, etc., depending on what you or your family like to eat. Buy 7 jars of peanut butter and 7 cans of your favorite soup. If you buy tuna, you will need to also buy salad dressing or whatever you mix with your tuna. Buy some crackers if you like but they will have a shorter shelf life. You will probably want the ingredients for and know to make biscuits, muffins or whole wheat bread when you are ready. This can always be a staple for lunch for hungry people.
Now carefully store these in your pantry, cupboard, or under your bed--wherever you can find space--and rotate them.
In our family we choose to have a pantry meal at least once every two weeks. Then I rotate the items and replace them. Like squirrels and so many other little animals that gather and prepare for the winter--you will be better prepared for winter.
