Our transmission died and so did my college age son's laptop. I don't want to be the Grinch but this pretty much wipes out my gift giving funds, so I want to eat from the pantry til Christmas to free up some cash. I have a small stockpile. Suggestions?
Pantry meals
- Thread starter danygirl
- Start date
pjlla
DIS Legend
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Can you tell us what you HAVE in the pantry? No specific quantities but at least an idea....
canned soup?
dried beans?
pasta?
rice?
canned meats?
baking supplies?
I can definitely help you come up with some ideas if you could tell me what you have on hand.................P
canned soup?
dried beans?
pasta?
rice?
canned meats?
baking supplies?
I can definitely help you come up with some ideas if you could tell me what you have on hand.................P
java
<font color=darkorchid>I am embracing the Turkey B
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Inventory what you have. Last night I found sausage and spinach in the feezer so I made. Quick pasta sauce with those plus a splash of heavy cream. It was yummy and filing on a cold night.
When I am facing this I go through what I have on hand and try to divide it up into possible meals. What is in your pantry. I would have quick marinara ingredients to serve over pasta.
When I am facing this I go through what I have on hand and try to divide it up into possible meals. What is in your pantry. I would have quick marinara ingredients to serve over pasta.
mom4graceandlogan
DIS Veteran
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I also suggest going to www.couponmom.com to help round out what you need. SHe will show you what is on sale at your stores, and has a link to printable coupons making many things close to free or very cheap and then shop based on those sales. I recently stocked up on rice boxes, mac n cheese, canned veggies, and packs of mashed potato mixes super cheap and filling. Pasta was on sale for .70 a box today and sauces under 2.
exaclty.....pasta and soups are pretty good things you can make out of a pantry.
pjlla
DIS Legend
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Here are some basic healthy meals that most folks could make from their pantry supplies, to get you started.....
Pancakes (made from scratch or from Bisquick or other baking mix.... could be made healthier with whole wheat, etc). Serve with applesauce (homemade or jarred) or fruit.
Rice and beans.... so basic, so easy, so cheap, and I love it! Lots of different combos available with brown rice, wild rice, white rice (although that would be the least healthy), black rice... and of course pinto beans, black beans, kidney beans, etc. Jazz it up by cooking the rice with stock (chicken or vegetable, homemade or canned), add cilantro, lime juice, chili powder, etc.
Pasta.... top with a wide variety of things.... obviously red sauce/marinara sauce (homemade from scratch or from canned tomatoes, jarred sauce, etc), light white sauce (homemade from lowfat milk and parmesean cheese), tuna (a la tuna casserole), or just a bunch of diced and sauteed veggies (try mixing some sauteed onions and peppers with a can of diced tomatoes.... cheap, fast, and yummy!). You can google recipes for "baked" pasta dishes too.
Canned soup... if it isn't exciting enough, try doctoring it up with some other pantry ingredients..... tomato soup can become tomato tortellini soup by throwing in a can of diced tomatoes and some cooked frozen tortellini.
Semi-homemade vegetable soup... start with stock/broth or vegetable juice (V-8 or tomato).... add in whatever veggies you have on hand... carrots, potatoes, onions, peppers, corn, peas, beans, cabbage, celery, tomatoes (fresh, frozen, leftover, canned all work). Dig through your freezer for those lost bags with just a handful of veggies in each of them. Serve with some grated parmesan to sprinkle on top and a few homemade biscuits (made from scratch or using Bisquick).
Fried rice.... cook up a nice big batch of rice (brown is my choice)... grab a handful of leftover cooked meat (ham, chicken, pork) or canned meat... or tofu, plus some diced up veggies (peas and carrots are great, but corn or even broccoli work well) and a scrambled egg or two. Stir-fry all together and add some soy sauce. I do like to splurge and and add some chopped bok-choy.
Dig around in the pantry and find those things that you thought you might never use and find a way to use them! You will be so pleased with yourself!
I'll try to come up with some other ideas when I know what you have on hand.............P
Pancakes (made from scratch or from Bisquick or other baking mix.... could be made healthier with whole wheat, etc). Serve with applesauce (homemade or jarred) or fruit.
Rice and beans.... so basic, so easy, so cheap, and I love it! Lots of different combos available with brown rice, wild rice, white rice (although that would be the least healthy), black rice... and of course pinto beans, black beans, kidney beans, etc. Jazz it up by cooking the rice with stock (chicken or vegetable, homemade or canned), add cilantro, lime juice, chili powder, etc.
Pasta.... top with a wide variety of things.... obviously red sauce/marinara sauce (homemade from scratch or from canned tomatoes, jarred sauce, etc), light white sauce (homemade from lowfat milk and parmesean cheese), tuna (a la tuna casserole), or just a bunch of diced and sauteed veggies (try mixing some sauteed onions and peppers with a can of diced tomatoes.... cheap, fast, and yummy!). You can google recipes for "baked" pasta dishes too.
Canned soup... if it isn't exciting enough, try doctoring it up with some other pantry ingredients..... tomato soup can become tomato tortellini soup by throwing in a can of diced tomatoes and some cooked frozen tortellini.
Semi-homemade vegetable soup... start with stock/broth or vegetable juice (V-8 or tomato).... add in whatever veggies you have on hand... carrots, potatoes, onions, peppers, corn, peas, beans, cabbage, celery, tomatoes (fresh, frozen, leftover, canned all work). Dig through your freezer for those lost bags with just a handful of veggies in each of them. Serve with some grated parmesan to sprinkle on top and a few homemade biscuits (made from scratch or using Bisquick).
Fried rice.... cook up a nice big batch of rice (brown is my choice)... grab a handful of leftover cooked meat (ham, chicken, pork) or canned meat... or tofu, plus some diced up veggies (peas and carrots are great, but corn or even broccoli work well) and a scrambled egg or two. Stir-fry all together and add some soy sauce. I do like to splurge and and add some chopped bok-choy.
Dig around in the pantry and find those things that you thought you might never use and find a way to use them! You will be so pleased with yourself!
I'll try to come up with some other ideas when I know what you have on hand.............P
Minnesota!
Shoeless in Minnesota
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When we were at our most desperate $$ wise, I would cook up noodles, sautee up a chopped onion, and then throw a package of frozen spinach in with the noodles in the last few minutes. Drain the noodles/spinach, toss with the onion, and throw any kind of cheese I had in there. It was good, filling, cheap, and easy.
Also, baked beans on toast. With an egg.
White rice, chopped celery, chow mein noodles, and soy sauce. Throw chicken in there if you have it.
Soup - can be made out of anything.
Beans go a long way and are filling and cheap. I would make up a pot of black beans, portion out enough to fit in the bottom of a 8 x 8, mix them with some seasonings, then throw cornbread mix on top and bake.
1# hamburger, browned and drained.
2 cups white rice, cooked
2 cans stewed tomatoes, heated up.
Layer rice, meat, tomatoes on your plate. We have this with peas and buttered braed. It was a staple meal when I was growing up and we all still love it. Even better with lemon pepper on it..
Also, baked beans on toast. With an egg.
White rice, chopped celery, chow mein noodles, and soy sauce. Throw chicken in there if you have it.
Soup - can be made out of anything.
Beans go a long way and are filling and cheap. I would make up a pot of black beans, portion out enough to fit in the bottom of a 8 x 8, mix them with some seasonings, then throw cornbread mix on top and bake.
1# hamburger, browned and drained.
2 cups white rice, cooked
2 cans stewed tomatoes, heated up.
Layer rice, meat, tomatoes on your plate. We have this with peas and buttered braed. It was a staple meal when I was growing up and we all still love it. Even better with lemon pepper on it..
worm761
<img src=http://photopost.wdwinfo.com/data/500/sw.
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We were furloughed all summer and then went through the government shut down. I got pretty good at stretching what I had.
Soups are fantastic for stretching a budget. But make your soup from leftovers. Make a roast, potatoes, veggies. Leftovers become beef stew. Make a roast chicken, veggies. Boil/simmer the chicken bones for broth. Use leftover chicken and veggies for chicken soup. Serve with homemade bread. Super easy no knead bread: http://www.mommysavers.com/c/t/227242/fail-proof-no-knead-bread-trust-me-you-just-cant-kill-it
Also, Use the above bread with some garlic granules and onion granules (powder) and serve with your spaghetti.
We all loves Italian shred. Really good! http://www.grocerybudget101.com/content.php/541-italian-shred-dirt-cheap-recipe
Here is the link to my frugal meals board on Pinterest. http://www.pinterest.com/disneybug/frugal-meals/
Also, if you go to allrecipes.com there is a section you can enter what you have on hand and it will find you recipes using those ingredients.
Soups are fantastic for stretching a budget. But make your soup from leftovers. Make a roast, potatoes, veggies. Leftovers become beef stew. Make a roast chicken, veggies. Boil/simmer the chicken bones for broth. Use leftover chicken and veggies for chicken soup. Serve with homemade bread. Super easy no knead bread: http://www.mommysavers.com/c/t/227242/fail-proof-no-knead-bread-trust-me-you-just-cant-kill-it
Also, Use the above bread with some garlic granules and onion granules (powder) and serve with your spaghetti.
We all loves Italian shred. Really good! http://www.grocerybudget101.com/content.php/541-italian-shred-dirt-cheap-recipe
Here is the link to my frugal meals board on Pinterest. http://www.pinterest.com/disneybug/frugal-meals/
Also, if you go to allrecipes.com there is a section you can enter what you have on hand and it will find you recipes using those ingredients.
Marionnette
Children see magic because they look for it
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Take inventory of what you have. Group them by proteins, vegetables and starches. Make your menus up based on using one from each category. It might take a little bit of imagination for some ingredients.
Don't be afraid to have breakfast for dinner, even if it is just cereal and milk with a piece of fruit. Canned tuna stretches pretty far for sandwiches or in a casserole. Peanut butter is a lifesaver. Reconsitute your powdered milk and mix 1:1 with regular milk to stretch it further. Or do the same with canned milk if you don't have powdered milk. Learn to love leftovers.
Christmas is still 16 days away. You have 2 weeks+ of meals to plan. Good luck! I hope you make it!
threecrazykids
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- Feb 6, 2007
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Here is a blog where she does an entire menu (2 weeks I believe) out of only pantry items.
http://theprudenthomemaker.com/index.php/menus/strictly-pantry-menu
Even if there were a few things you were missing, typically pantry items are fairly inexpensive to add to what you'd already have on hand.
http://theprudenthomemaker.com/index.php/menus/strictly-pantry-menu
Even if there were a few things you were missing, typically pantry items are fairly inexpensive to add to what you'd already have on hand.
pjlla
DIS Legend
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- 11,654
Here is a blog where she does an entire menu (2 weeks I believe) out of only pantry items.
http://theprudenthomemaker.com/index.php/menus/strictly-pantry-menu
Even if there were a few things you were missing, typically pantry items are fairly inexpensive to add to what you'd already have on hand.
What lovely recipes and pictures... all made from pantry supplies! What a pleasant surprise! So many of those "strictly pantry" menus are just boxed mac and cheese and "cream of ?? soup casserole" (ICK!). I have been to that website before, I don't remember seeing that. Thanks for sharing.
OP.... have you come back with a list of your pantry supplies yet? Lots of help here ready and waiting for you!
..............P
pjlla
DIS Legend
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- Oct 21, 2003
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- 11,654
Few more thoughts while I'm here.....
baked potato night .... one large potato for each person plus whatever toppings you can come up with..... homemade cheese sauce (or even just shredded cheese), salsa, leftover cooked veggies, beans (baked, refried...whatever), sauerkraut, chili, etc.
If you have a box of Bisquick, google their recipes. They have a TON of casserole and quiche type recipes you could make that would be really flexible, depending on what you have in your pantry.... plus you could make it with powdered milk and soy flour instead of the egg (substitute 1 TB of soy flour and a TB of water for an egg in many recipes). I don't always think of this as the healthiest dinner, but it certainly was handy when the kids were younger and things were definitely a bit tighter here!
FWIW, I make my own vegetable stock for most of my soups and stews. I am careful to scrub my veggies well before peeling/chopping them.... then I save the peelings, skins, etc in the freezer. When I have a HUGE ziptop baggie full, I dump it into my largest stock pot full of water, a few bay leaves, a few peppercorns, and maybe some celery seed (if I have it on hand). If it summer I might throw in a few stems from my herb garden (sage, rosemary, parsley). Bring to a boil, turn it down, and let it simmer for several hours. Then I cook it and strain it twice.... once through a regular colander then through a finer mesh sieve. I put it in containers based on the amount I usually use in a batch of soup (5-6 cups for me) and freeze it. I can easily make 25 or 30 cups of this stock in very little time. I buy many organic vegetables and we do grow some of our own, so I consider this stock "semi" organic. I don't save ALL peelings... some just would make the stock taste too strongly of one thing or another, but my "usual" is celery (very bottom of each stock but not the root area, plus the leaves), carrot peelings (not greens though), onion skins (pretty much all of it), broccoli stems (the harder ends that we don't eat), asparagus stalks (again, the harder woody ends we wouldn't eat).... I also toss in any leftovers that we won't get to eating before it heads south (like before we head out for vacation), and any veggies that just aren't quite "fresh" enough to eat on their own, but are still perfectly edible (like when celery gets really limp). I don't add anything starchy like potatoes and I don't add tomatoes... makes every soup taste tomato-y!
Since my DS has a poultry allergy, I make a LOT Of soups that originally called for chicken stock, with my homemade vegetable stock. The only thing that I need to do differently for the recipe is add salt, since my stock is sodium free.
If you have any fresh veggies on hand that you are using up, you could do this for now and by the end of your two weeks, when you are down to the bottom of the pantry, you could make a batch of homemade vegetable stock as the basis for some soup!
HTH.....................P
baked potato night .... one large potato for each person plus whatever toppings you can come up with..... homemade cheese sauce (or even just shredded cheese), salsa, leftover cooked veggies, beans (baked, refried...whatever), sauerkraut, chili, etc.
If you have a box of Bisquick, google their recipes. They have a TON of casserole and quiche type recipes you could make that would be really flexible, depending on what you have in your pantry.... plus you could make it with powdered milk and soy flour instead of the egg (substitute 1 TB of soy flour and a TB of water for an egg in many recipes). I don't always think of this as the healthiest dinner, but it certainly was handy when the kids were younger and things were definitely a bit tighter here!
FWIW, I make my own vegetable stock for most of my soups and stews. I am careful to scrub my veggies well before peeling/chopping them.... then I save the peelings, skins, etc in the freezer. When I have a HUGE ziptop baggie full, I dump it into my largest stock pot full of water, a few bay leaves, a few peppercorns, and maybe some celery seed (if I have it on hand). If it summer I might throw in a few stems from my herb garden (sage, rosemary, parsley). Bring to a boil, turn it down, and let it simmer for several hours. Then I cook it and strain it twice.... once through a regular colander then through a finer mesh sieve. I put it in containers based on the amount I usually use in a batch of soup (5-6 cups for me) and freeze it. I can easily make 25 or 30 cups of this stock in very little time. I buy many organic vegetables and we do grow some of our own, so I consider this stock "semi" organic. I don't save ALL peelings... some just would make the stock taste too strongly of one thing or another, but my "usual" is celery (very bottom of each stock but not the root area, plus the leaves), carrot peelings (not greens though), onion skins (pretty much all of it), broccoli stems (the harder ends that we don't eat), asparagus stalks (again, the harder woody ends we wouldn't eat).... I also toss in any leftovers that we won't get to eating before it heads south (like before we head out for vacation), and any veggies that just aren't quite "fresh" enough to eat on their own, but are still perfectly edible (like when celery gets really limp). I don't add anything starchy like potatoes and I don't add tomatoes... makes every soup taste tomato-y!
Since my DS has a poultry allergy, I make a LOT Of soups that originally called for chicken stock, with my homemade vegetable stock. The only thing that I need to do differently for the recipe is add salt, since my stock is sodium free.
If you have any fresh veggies on hand that you are using up, you could do this for now and by the end of your two weeks, when you are down to the bottom of the pantry, you could make a batch of homemade vegetable stock as the basis for some soup!
HTH.....................P
cluvsdisney
DIS Veteran
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- Jul 6, 2010
- Messages
- 6,210
Check out supercook.com. You can enter the ingredients you have on hand and it will generate a menu for you.
Thanks! Here is a rough estimate of me pantry
1pork roast
1 London broil
2chucken breasts
2steaks
1package pork sausage.
1 pack hit dogs
All meat is frozen
Cereal - we are good on cereal, mainly cheerios
4 bags frozen cirn
1 5 lb bag potatoes
2 cans green beans
1 can black beans
1 can cranberry sauce
Several bags rice both white and brown
2 boxes bisquick plus a big bag if pancake mix
Eggs
Assorted boxes breakfast bars
Pasta
4cans tuna in water
Pasta sauce
3 cans cream soup and 1 can progreso meal starter
Apples, tangerines
Big bag frozen berries
6 frozen bananas
Pasta sauce -jar
3 jars peanut butter
1 jar jam
4 loaves bread in freezer
4 packs of guacamole in freezer
Ramen
These weird taco bowl things
I plan on getting fruit/veg and have 1 and1/2 gal milk, plenty if butter and mayo and various sauces
1pork roast
1 London broil
2chucken breasts
2steaks
1package pork sausage.
1 pack hit dogs
All meat is frozen
Cereal - we are good on cereal, mainly cheerios
4 bags frozen cirn
1 5 lb bag potatoes
2 cans green beans
1 can black beans
1 can cranberry sauce
Several bags rice both white and brown
2 boxes bisquick plus a big bag if pancake mix
Eggs
Assorted boxes breakfast bars
Pasta
4cans tuna in water
Pasta sauce
3 cans cream soup and 1 can progreso meal starter
Apples, tangerines
Big bag frozen berries
6 frozen bananas
Pasta sauce -jar
3 jars peanut butter
1 jar jam
4 loaves bread in freezer
4 packs of guacamole in freezer
Ramen
These weird taco bowl things
I plan on getting fruit/veg and have 1 and1/2 gal milk, plenty if butter and mayo and various sauces
pjlla
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2003
- Messages
- 11,654
Lordy be! You are GOLDEN! Let me go over the list a bit and I'll be back with some ideas!...................P
disneymagicgirl
Been there, Done that, Going back!
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- Dec 13, 2005
- Messages
- 10,535
That's what I was thinking! Even a ton of meat!
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