My Go-To Pantry Items Always In My home.
Everyone keeps saying that “food is expensive” this is something I will wholeheartedly agree with. As a family of 5 we spend $250 or more every two weeks for staple items in my house. We don't over-stock things simply because we have very little space, but there are things we keep around not only to add to meals but sometimes also as the main meal themselves.
Here are a few of those items in no particular order.
Dehydrated Foods.
Canned Foods.
Shelf Stable Meals.
Beans and Potatoes.
Flour and Sugar.
Powdered Milk and other “just in case” items.
The first item on our list is Dehydrated Foods, this is a very big window of items. This includes the items we home dehydrate and the dehydrated stuff we get from the store. If you're looking for a good dehydrator I recommend the Magic Mill brand, we have a 5 rack and it works for us so well as it does a lot for such a small unit (Not sponsored). We also have a 40 year old dehydrator that the brand has long since rubbed off that was passed down to us from a family member.
At the store dehydrated food is usually in box form or even in the bulk section, it is so much more than just banana chips. Like I mentioned, we have a dehydrator and we will dehydrate everything that we get from food banks or sales. My pantry is full of dehydrated squash, mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach, swiss chard, carrots, peas, corn, bell peppers, and much much more. This saves us so much money but also so much food waste. We also make powders like spice mixes and just plan old dried herbs we either grow or again get in food boxes. I highly recommend dehydrating as a food security measure. The start-up could cost a little but the upkeep is low, if you're using reusable bags to store foods or even if you use mason jars with a jar sealer you will have to do routine maintenance on these items but it's worth it in the end.
The next item on the list is an oldie but a goodie, Canned Foods. This is everything from veggies to meat. You can't go wrong with an extra can of soup. Beyond that, I remember getting Canned Chicken from the food boxes growing up and my mom would make Chicken Salad and even a Chicken Tostada, some of my favorite things for sure. You can always get a whole meal out of cans with no issues, some of the veggies just need a nice rinse. But, remember that cans are more than just soups and canned meats. In my local big box store we have the bulk size cans of things like SpaghettiOs and Raviolis and such. If you have a big family these are items that are a good bang for your buck, and you can freeze what you don't use. Imagine having a freezer full of canned ravioli in perfectly portion sizes for a quick lunch but you didn't pay the quick convinces price. You can also make a good quick "lasagna" with canned raviolis, it's not perfect but it will put food in your belly that makes you say “that was a game changer” on the canned food game.
The third item on our list is another good one, Shelf Stable meals, a good old thing of Dinty Moore Chicken and Dumplings is something that just feels nostalgic. I remember when you could get a whole box meal that included everything to make a nice casserole or pot pie. It was fast and simple, plus everything was there. They had suggestions of what to add but that was completely optional. They also make things like shelf stable (dehydrated) potatoes, veggies, soups and gravy all boxed up. You could get an entire meal for relatively cheap, now I see these in store brands mostly but they do still exist. Not only ramen is shelf stable anymore.
This item or rather trio of items are some Dave Ramsey favorites: Beans, Potatoes and Rice. We can all agree that these items are still relatively cheap at our stores, yes you may need to buy a bigger quantity but you can always go in halves with another family, maybe even your neighbors. If your buying in bulk its true that if you don't need 20lbs of rice or beans but the price breakdown is a good enough difference you can always pull out your phone (it's probably already in your hand) and call someone to ask “would you like to get in on this amazing price with me!”. You may also know someone with a can sealer, we have one that cost us around $25 but they have so many different types both electric and non, there able to be used with many sizes of mason jars and their lids. You can always make jars full of rice or beans in the amounts that are much more suitable to you and your family's needs. Also, I have mentioned freezing already in a different blog here but, you can freeze after cooking these things to have a whole freezer meal to pull out later. You can freeze mash potatoes too, just add a little extra fat or even a little butter to the top so that when you go to reheat it helps prevent that gritty feeling (also a thermometer helps to make sure it comes to a safe internal temperature, this helps make them creamy again as well). I wouldn't freeze with milk or cheese unless you have it down, you can always look on youtube for ideas and how to guides like the classic Bon Appetit but also some of my favorites like Struggle Meals, Life With Mike G, Simply Sarah Heart, Living Planet Friendly and oh yeah I have a series too. I have Souper Cubes and these come in handy to freeze things like rice and more, literally everything I’ve frozen in them has turned out amazing. I highly recommend it.
The last few items can all go under this section: flour, sugar, dehydrated and powdered milk plus more “just in case” items. I don't know about you but I like having things in my kitchen as a backup. If something happens and I need some milk in a pinch for a recipe, powdered milk will be good, it may not taste the best to drink but it will make a mac and cheese creamy. Flour, yeast, sugar and more are all staple items that you can make a quick bread if needed, thicken a soup, and more. These are items that again you can buy in large amounts and split with others if needed, but these items are usually always on sale. If not they will be around the holidays, both before and after the holidays especially if they have holiday images on them the store will get rid of these items after the holidays, they don't want to sell halloween branded sugar for christmas cookies even if its the same sugar. This is your chance to again stock up what is needed and keep a little “Just in case” back up box in your pantry, with the items you know you use.
These are just a few simple things we do to keep our food costs down, and food accessible in our house. We are a mix of an Ingredients household and a Homestead household because I garden what all I can and we like keeping things on hand. We go through and rotate our items as often as we purchase using the FIFO method (first in, first out) and we do our own versions of “Pantry Clean Outs” whenever we are short of funds. But one thing is for sure, we never go hungry, not the kids or the adults. That's what matters the most.
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