Ever wonder how our ancestors always seemed to have food on the table even in lean times? When we are visiting the grocery store every week to the tune of hundreds of dollars, we long to know their secret. In fact it isn’t a secret at all. It is actually good planning and preparation on their part. Once we realize this and begin doing as they did, we too will see our dollar stretch further.
The items that we have on hand are what determine how far our food will go. Filling your cabinets or pantry with a few useful staples can be the difference between a trip to the grocery store each and every week versus once or twice a month. Stocking just a few choice items is all you need to create wonderful meals.
1. Flour. Flour is a starter item for many recipes. You can add it to some water and make gravy in the pan for many meat dishes. Flour is used to make bread (biscuits, rolls, loaves) and to coat chicken. It can also be used to coat a round or square cake pan to prevent the cake from sticking. Of course, one of the favorite uses for flour is in cookie recipes that make scrumptious desserts.
2. Rice. My husband loves rice so much that we once bought a fifty pound bag from a grocery store in his hometown. Fifty pounds! Rice is a side dish, but it doesn’t have to be plain. It can be jazzed up with veggies to accompany dinner. My mother uses leftover rice for a dessert called sweet rice. Just add evaporated milk and some sugar to a bowl of rice and warm it in the microwave. It is a tasty treat for after dinner. Another popular dessert is rice pudding. Rice can also be mixed with leftover meat and a cream soup to form a casserole. Rice has many uses and your sure to find a few that your family will love.
3. Pasta. There are many different pasta choices and all have great uses. Manicotti can be stuffed with tomato sauce and cheeses. Macaroni can be used to make a creamy salad and also is great combined with cheese or spaghetti sauce. Spiral pasta is used in many different pasta salads. Spaghetti can be used in a casserole topped with cheese or in the traditional way with tomato sauce and meat.
4. Spices. There are other ways to season food besides salt and pepper. In fact, many spices taste better than salt. Even diehard salt-a-holics won’t miss the salt in foods if other seasonings are used. Cayenne pepper, chili powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, oregano, and garlic powder are all useful tools in your flavor arsenal to give foods a fresh new taste.
5. Beans. There go those beans again. Beans can top your salad (edamame), make an awesome dip (black beans), and go well with grilled foods (baked beans). They provide a good source of protein with very little fat. Beans are good in soups, stews, and over rice for a simple yet filling meal.
Do you have these staples in your kitchen? You can probably think of several more that will enhance your pantry and save money. Start with these and grow your own list of basic kitchen staples that are versatile and economical.
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I simply love dried tomato powder. Adding water you can have paste, sauce, or tomato juice. For a hot drink adding a few Mexican spices and herbs if you like or go Italian with dried herbs. Also, I really like dried refried beans. The #10 cans go a really long way so I share with my dgt, friend and mom so it is used up fast. Thanks everyone for your ideas.
I appreciate the list and would add, Cocoa for brownies (add some nuts and choc chips!), for home made hot chocolate – read the ingredience in the prepared cocoa mixes, scary stuff. Also I can make anything chocolaty with cocoa, like those cookies or dipping fruit in or dressing up other desserts. I also love real farm eggs – even if they are more – egg omelettes, fried rice, for the potato or pasta salads, eggs are fast and cheep! LOL. I buy as large a bag of potatoes as I can get too. creamy potato soup with veggies (carrots, celery, onions, bok choy) with shredded cheddar cheese on top is delicious and filling, plus baked potatoes stuffed with whatever is a nice side and crock pots love potatoes,. veggies (don’t forget the onions) with just a little bit of meat for a stew. In fact, just cutting back on meat is better – so if you do buy meat buy good quality like Sirloin roast (to make into steaks, stew meats, and then just roast the rest for sandwiches, etc.) or chicken breast (if it’s on sale) and frozen prawns can be very cheap sometimes, when it is I buy 5 bags for fetticine alfredo, prawns and dips or add it to a soup. Canned tomatoes (I don’t know about the odd white stuff coating the cans now) but I love to make tomato, garlic, italian seasoning with celery and onion – that’s it – no meat. Love this web site, keep on with the tips.
If you live in Ct. you should check out Aldi’s. Very low prices – I do my bulk shopping every month and a half at a really prices – Canned veg. & soup – $.49/can – Blue Bonnet margerine – $.59/lb. low prices on baking ingredients —– etc. etc. etc.
we have a save a lot but i find aldi’s cheaper. also, price right is very good for prices especially fresh veggies.
Hi, I think there are a few more staples that I keep in my kitchen pantry. First of all I buy in bulk and that 50 lb bag of rice is standard in my house. As a matter of fact, I don’t buy anything small. I mostly only buy in bulk. I use a rice mill just like in Asia. It holds a 50 lb. bag of rice.
Now, on to other staples besides what is listed above..
Powdered milk. I keep this on hand because I don’t always drink milk and need it for recipes and cooking.
Corn Meal. Another staple for making various things like cornbread, coating foods for frying and making cornmeal mush and polenta. It is cheap and can be made into many other things.
Cooking Oil and Crisco… Nuff said?
Sugar….. Nuff said?
Cous Cous…. It is a nice change from making rice or potato as a side dish. It is cheap and you can do so many things with this.
Powdered Egg Substitute.. For when I run out of eggs and need to have eggs to cook with in a recipe. This is a life saver!
I could probably go on, but you get the gist of it. As long as it is dry, and has a long shelf life we keep a good supply of it on hand. I cook from scratch and rotate stock in our pantry
I think that this is a list of foods that you can live off of, not things that are nice to have when you run out of other things. A person could probably live on these five things for a long time, if needed.
I don’t think a person living in poverty would purchase cous cous.
Couscous is actually very inexpensive if you buy it in bulk. I live in poverty. I like couscous.
What is a rice mill??? What do you do with it??
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This is a good website for better priced 5 gallon food grade storage pails w/lids. If you can find a free source, good for you! I could not, so searched for the best prices I could find for bulk food grade storage.
If you can find a better price food grade 5 gallon with lid, please let me know!
Check with your local bakery for icing buckets. Walmart is a good one. They will give away buckets with lids. You may need to wash some icing out but they seal great!
For anyone looking for cheap food grade storage pails ask for pickle buckets at Burger King restaurants. I work at BK and we throw away these buckets all the time. If you ask them they will save them for you. Remind them to save the lid too.
Just beware of left-over taste! I once made yogurt in a glass pickle jar (thoroughly washed, of course). It made beautiful yogurt – that tasted like pickles!!!! The pickle taste/smell was caught in the rubber seal, and couldn’t be washed out.
For the food grade storage pails you can also check in the bakery at your local grocery store. They usually give these away free. They usually have had icing in them so they aren’t so hard to get the smell out. I usually end up with the 2.5 gallon ones but this size makes it easier for my kids to tote in to me. (Food storage area is not in my kitchen)
You can pick up your buckets and lids from a local grocery store, baker and/or deli. They are used for frostings and creams now and they are happy to get rid of them, I just picked up 5 with lids for $1.50.
We also have stocks of dried lentils and grains, canned tomatoes (so versatile), drums of oil (olive, canola), food seeds (pepitas, sunflower, sesame) and soy sauce, ketchup and hot sauce.
I agree with having dried lentils and grains, canned tomatoes (diced, crushed, whatever), CORN MEAL, sugar, powdered milk…But I think really the cornmeal, sugar, and CANNED TOMATOES are the most used of the bunch
I keep a store of dried vegetables for use in soups, stews, casseroles, etc. Dried fruits can be added to cookies, breads, cous cous, rice, stuffing, scones, pancakes, and trail mix. Dried fruits and veggies take up little space, are light weight, and keep for quite a long while on the shelf – even longer if frozen. Using a seal-a-meal allows me to vacuum pack them in bags which reduces their storage space even further. In one small drawer of my RV I can store enough fruit and vegetables for a months worth of meals.
I am with Linda on this one. Dehydrated food is easy, and takes up so little room! My cousin and I do this. She recently dehydrated 4 lbs of frozen broccoli. When all was said and done she had filled a quarter of a gallon ziploc bag! You can dehydrate just about anything. If you check out YouTube you can get a LOT of information about proper handling and storage. I have learned a lot from Dehydrate2Store, just search for that user name.
Also about buckets: Check the bottom of the bucket for the little recycle triangle. The number should be a 2. Those buckets are, for sure, safe for food storage. I bought mine, with a lid, for $3 each at Wal*mart. But I am sure looking into free ones. Thanks for the tip!
And one last thing, check out your plastic canisters. If they have a screw on top you can probably purchase a plastic gasket at a home improvement store that will fit inside the lid. This will make your canister virtually waterproof and air tight. I use some 2 quart and gallon size containers to hold pasta and rice and this is working well for me. (Hint: I just learned that if you put a cup of table salt in your pasta container it will deter weevils. After the pasta is used the salt may be reused for other purposes. Go figure!)
One of the cheapest and quickest things to make is FIDEO. You can get a bag for about 65 cents, or if you go to the mexican food aisle, 35 cents. There are 2 ways of making it, like a soup, or like a spaghetti. You can adjust my recipe by adding less water to make it spaghetti like. First, I crush the bag while its closed to break up the noodles. Then, I brown the fideo lightly in a pan with about 2 tbsp cooking oil. After it browns, I add about 2 1/2 cups of water and a small can of tomato sauce. I also put salt, some garlic powder, and a small chicken buiollon cube. You can adjust the seasonings to your taste. While its boiling, get a spoon, and taste the soup. At that point, this is what your fideo will taste like. If you need to add a few more dashes of anything, this is your chance. I let it boil for a minute or two, and then I lower the flame and cover it. Within about 5 minutes, the noodles are soft and ready to be eaten. It cooks very quickly, so keep your eye on it. I love to add grated sharp cheddar cheese for protein. For my husband, I’ll also add a pound of ground beef that was flavored with garlic powder. He loves it. If I have a lot of company, and everyone is starting to look hungry, I make 2 bags and feed about 10 people for under a dollar. You can also use this recipe for macaroni, alphabet and shell pasta. It’s very hearty.
o my goodness Gina, I never heard of that. Where we have 6 people in the house, that sounds good to me.
I buy rice and dry beans by the case, in #10 cans, and cooking oil in 5 gallon jugs. For all of these, I have smaller containers to use once these are opened and use the foodsaver to make smaller bags that go in the freezer. Dried blueberries and craisins are a staple for me. I buy canned green beans and tomatoes by the case so I always have them available. I also have dried carrots, dried sweet peppers, dried onions on hand. Last week I made soup by putting dry soup mix (corn, split peas, etc.) in a pot of water and boiling for a while, then letting it sit overnight and adding the carrots, peppers, onion, and some leftover hamburger that I browned first. A bit of seasoning salt and dry hot pepper finished it off.
The other thing I didn’t see on the list was potatoes. I buy a 10lb bag for about $1.50. When I make mashed potatoes, I always make extra so that I can use the leftovers to make mashed potato tacos the next day. Everyone’s favorite. We warm up the corn tortilla, hold it in our hands to shape it like a taco shell, and fill it up 2/3 with mashed potatoes. We then place it in a pan that has been heated with cooking oil, and fry them pretty quickly. Just as if you were making regular tacos. For toppings, I sometimes make guacamole, grated cheese and/or salsa, depending on what I have on hand. With a side of spanish rice and a salad. It is a treasured staple in my house. I also like to make potato cheddar soup with the potatoes, and we usually use potatoes for our morning breakfasts, papas con chorizo. It’s peeled & chopped potatoes, about 8 for my family, cooked in an oil heated pan, with the chorizo, more or less depending on how hot we want it. With a fried egg on the side and chile. Or in tortillas for a quick burrito in the morning. The kids magically appear at my stove when they smell the aromas.
I also stock up on the gallon size of vinegar, the bigger box of baking soda which is often found in the laundry detergent aisle, and borax and washing soda. These items are easy to use as substitutes for all kinds of cleaning in the kitchen, bath, and laundry.
I also keep 5 gallon buckets in my kitchen of flour, oats, and rice.
Oatmeal, grits, rice, sugar, powdered milk, powdered buttermilk, flour, cornmeal, molasses(make your own brown sugar)anything canned.
dried beans etc…and of course anything you have canned yourself!!!
Think country and waaaay tooo far from the store. My Grands kept everything in the storm celler.
I like to keep frozen seasoning blend which is onions & red & green peppers. Onions keep for a long time or you can always use dried onions. But bell peppers don’t last that long and I find that a lot of recipes start with cooked onions & peppers. I am having trouble finding dried vegies in my neck of the woods (I live in Kansas, produce is terrible and very expensive). I also like to keep dry buttermilk on hand. Don’t forget to put it in the fridge. Dry tomato, sounds good. Where do you find that?
I dry a lot of my own fruit and veggies. I know you can grow veggies in Kansas. Start a garden and by a dehydrator. I have a four tray Excaliber. I love it. If you go to their web site you can learn all kinds of great information on how to dry and store food. There is only the two of us plus a grandchild in our house so I really don’t have to stock up heavily.
Don’t try to keep flour very long, it gets rancid. Grain stores for decades. Use a grain mill and grind it into flour as you need it.
Grain stored in some Egyptian pyramids for thousands of years has been sprouted. Keep it in new plastic barrels dry and rodent proof.
And keep your beans that way too. Sprouted beans and grain are great sources of vitamin C and other good stuff.
Actually, I buy flour in bulk and freeze it. I buy it in 20# increments at Costco and it keeps forever, or at least as long as it takes my little family of four to use 20# of flour. I only take out about 5# at a time.
Check out http://www.barryfarm.com/our_store.htm, They have a ton of dried veggies, spices, fruit, and cheese. Plus, they have tons of different types of grains, flours, sugars, etc.
I also keep a variety of nuts on hand in bulk, popcorn, and dried herbs that I’ve either grown and dried myself or bought in bulk. I use these dried herbs to make my own vegetable broth mix and other dry rubs.Coffee beans in bulk which I keep in the freezer and grind as needed.
2 years ago, somewhere on this site, another bulk supply company was recommended, Out of the west, Cant remember the name, It was a mother and her children. All I remember is red checked background. does any one have a clue about what site I am talking about? Im fairly certain It was on this site
If it’s the same one I am thinking of it’s called Azure Standard. They are based out of Oregon.
Try Winco (stands for Washington-Idaho-Nevada-California-Oregon…kinda obvious where they are.) They have a large selection of bulk foods, and if you plan ahead a bit (call them 48 hours before you shop) you can get their bulk foods in BULK – in the original packaging, at up to 25% less then their already low bulk food prices (most of which equals or exceeds Costco prices.) You don’t have to call for Oatmeal, Rice and AP flour – they have those bags on hand, but if you want, say, powdered milk, beans, brown sugar, baking soda, or parmesan cheese, even, you need to call in advance. I gave up my Costco membership after discovering Winco. They’re that good. All I have to do is buy paper goods, meats and fruit at Cash n Carry, and I’m set.
Hope this helps.
I am from the south so I vote for Grits, baking soda, baking powder, yeast and vinegar to keep on hand in the pantry. The flour and cornmeal would be hard to make into much without these things. I can think of hundreds of things to make with these ingredients and the rice, flour, beans, cornmeal, sugar, salt, pasta and spices. Think about what they made in the 1800′s! Pancakes, hoe cakes, breads, cakes, cookies, baked beans, rice and beans, bean patties, bean soup, dumplings, hoppin’ john, gumbo’s, and many other dishes. Add in some meat, eggs and fresh garden vegetables and they ate very well. They just didn’t have Hamburger helper or frozen dinners but convenience food for them was to go out to the garden and pick a few vegetables like squash or onions or to go to the root cellar to get their carrots, apples, and potatoes in the winter and spring. They were in hog heaven to be pulling a ham out of the meat shed in the winter. They could eat for a week or two on one small ham. Meat was rarely a large part of the meal. It was a treat. Today we are all backwards with our cooking and purchases. Me included. We need to all learn the old ways of purchasing the basics and being creative with them and having the family meal together as the important part of day. Our families would be much better off, I believe. Sorry for the history lesson. Shirley
I also buy popcorn in the 50lb bags which last us about a year and it will not go bad.We buy mayo in gallon jugs and I reuse those for storing rice,beans ect.