Food Storage Friday: Five Pantry Staples and Their Many Uses

Guest post by Brandy Simper from The Prudent Homemaker
Is your pantry looking a bit full? Are you wondering how to use up an abundance of a few items?

Or perhaps money is tight right now, and you need to eat what you’ve stocked up on, but you’re not sure how to use what you have to provide variety to you family. Here are 5 items that you may have on your shelves that make quick and inexpensive meals.

Cream of Chicken or Mushroom Soup

I only buy these soups once a year, when they’re at their lowest price right before Thanksgiving. I’ll buy 2-3 cases of each kind. Yes, you can make your own, but this is one convenience item that helps me to make some quick meals. I like to use them to make beef stroganoff, chicken-fried steak, and when I have a bit more time, creamy chicken enchiladas.

Pasta

When stocking up on pasta, I aim for a variety of pasta shapes. I’ll use angel hair with a simple tomato-based sauce, or I’ll use it to make Lemon Basil pasta. I’ll also use it to make homemade rice-a-roni. I use penne to make lemon parmesan penne, or I’ll add sour cream and some herbs to make a simple side dish. Rotini is great to use in cold pasta salads, which are a great way to use your summer garden vegetables. I also stock up on bowties so that I can make Museum Pasta Salad and Pasta e Fagioli. Simple buttered egg noodles are a great side with most meats. Keeping a variety of pasta on hand keeps your meals interesting. And if you don’t have the kind of pasta one recipe calls for, substitute whatever pasta that you do have in your pantry.

Tomato Sauce

We love tomato sauce at my house! It’s so much less expensive than buying pre-made sauces. In fact, I now buy it in #10 cans from Sam’s Club for under $3 each! With that big can, I can make spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, and chicken cacciatore.

Canned Beans

Canned beans can be a great blessing on those days when you need lunch or dinner on the table in 15 minutes. Refried and pinto beans can be quickly heated to make burritos. I’ll use kidney beans and cannellini beans when I’m making minestrone soup, which is my children’s favorite lunch. Taco soup is a great way to use canned black beans. Even though canned beans are pricier than dried beans, these are still inexpensive meals, coming in at $3 and $2.50, respectively, for my family of 8.

Canned Fruit

Can’t get to the store this week? Canned fruit will help you still have fruit for your family. Should you not have the money to buy food, canned fruit in your pantry is an ever greater blessing. A simple side of canned peaches or pears at any meal is an easy way to give your family some fruit. We have fruit salad as part of our breakfast several days a week. I’ll use canned mandarin oranges in stir fry or in salad. Canned pineapple is great on homemade pizza, in a citrus fruit salad, and in carrot cake. Applesauce is great with ham and pork roast, or just a side dish to a simple lunch.

Canning your own fruit is an even-less expensive way to keep fruit in your pantry. I can hundreds of jars of fruit every year, taking advantage of sales and my garden. Earlier this week, I bought 80 pounds of peaches at .33 a pound. For $26.40, my family can have peaches for several weeks, all bought in season for the lowest price of the year! So far this year, I’ve canned apricots, figs, bananas and peaches. In addition to canned fruits, jellies, and jams, I can peach and pear nectars, homemade baby food, and applesauce. In fact, today I’m canning apples from my tree!

How do you use these five pantry staples in your meals?

Brandy Simper lives with her husband and 6 small children in Las Vegas. This week she’s canning peaches, apple butter, and grape juice from her kitchen garden.

Photos copyright The Prudent Homemaker