23 Quick and Easy Pantry Meals
Pantry cooking can save you time and money but what can you really make with dry goods? Check out these 23 quick and easy pantry meals.
It took me years to learn how to cook without having to run to the store for every recipe. I save a ton of time and money using my daycare menu, planning out meals for the fam, and only shopping once a month for staple items. Here are 23 quick and easy pantry meals you can make with a well-stocked pantry to save you tons of money and time.
Staple meals
I shop at the farmer’s market once a month for my beef, chicken and pork plus fresh veggies.
We go to a local fruit company to buy produce in between my monthly shopping trip. I can get in and out of the small store with some local products and it doesn’t take me as long as going into a big supermarket. We also, during the gardening season, eat from what we grow, so I don’t usually go to the fruit store during summer.
Also, I shop for dairy products at Braum’s every week. I use Braum’s because there are no hormones in their milk. I get milk, cottage cheese, and butter there. We can pick up bananas if I don’t need anything else from the fruit store to save a trip.
When planning our monthly shopping trip, I make a detailed list of what I would buy from the store we shop at. If I send my husband to the store, we save money because he only gets what is on the list and doesn’t do a lot of impulse buying like I do. He’s willing to go, so that’s a good way for us to save money.
Menu planning saves time and money
I have a shopping list that corresponds to my daycare menu, and I go through that and write down on our shopping list what we need. A great way to save money would be to use the grocery store ads to plan your family’s meals for the month. Use whatever is on the front page of the ads that is actually healthy, whole, real food, to plan them out.
For tools that will help you plan out dinner and get your shopping organized, check out these dinner planning sheets on etsy.
Another great way to save time and money is by buying in bulk. I love to order bulk grains online and have them delivered in 25 or 50-pound bags so I don’t have to buy that for months and I don’t have a ton of tiny packages that get wasted in the landfill or have to be recycled.
I get as much of my food in bulk as possible. Also, if you have 25 pounds of several products, if something happened to interrupt your food supply, you are prepared. I like knowing I have something to feed everyone no matter what. I can come up with tons of easy pantry meals.
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I order these items in bulk:
Food pantry list
Wheat berries to grind whole wheat flour (Soft and hard wheat)
Organic, unbleached white flour
Raw sugar
Salt
Baking Soda and Powder
Spices
Chocolate chips
Cocoa powder
Cream of Tartar
A couple of kinds of cereal
A couple of kinds of crackers
Tortilla chips
Tortillas
Olive oil
Coconut oil
Beans
Tuna
Pasta
Rice
Oatmeal
Bulk assorted meats frozen
A few bags of frozen vegetables or multiple packages of veggies frozen from the garden
Sour cream
Cream cheese
Butter
Cheeses (I always have cheddar, mozzarella, and parmesan, but like lots of kinds of cheeses.)
Cottage cheese
Eggs
Milk
Rice milk for those of us who cannot tolerate cow’s milk
Peanuts
Sunflower Seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Sesame seeds
Dried herbs
Fresh fruits and veggies including lemons and limes plus whatever is in season
Onions
Garlic
Tomato products (usually frozen from garden produce, but some canned for when we run out)
Jars of pickles
Raisins (sometimes homemade)
White vinegar for cleaning and cooking
Balsamic vinegar
Apple cider vinegar
Honey
Cheap pantry meals
I can pretty much make anything I want to make with these items. I rarely have to go out and buy something to cook with and I cook an average of 4 meals a day including a snack for the kids.
If we want any sweet treats, I make those here, they are much healthier than store-bought. They taste better too.
It’s so much easier to come up with a plan for dinner when you have food on hand and don’t have to run to the store every day to come up with a meal. I love knowing if we got snowed in or anything like that, we could still find something to make to eat.
If you buy your food in bulk to cut down on packaging and well as wasting gas and time running to the store every night.
I have everything I need for tons of different easy pantry meals made from scratch. I cook inexpensively using lots of oats, rice, pasta, and beans for our meals. These items are nutritious and very inexpensive.
Pantry cooking
Here are 23 easy pantry meals I could make from what I have:
Scrambled eggs, bacon and toast
Muffins
Pancakes
Broccoli rice casserole
Cucumber salad
Chili
Roast with potatoes and carrots
Omelets
Grilled cheese sandwiches
Sausage Biscuits or Biscuits and gravy
Chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and veggies
Beans
Pasta salad
Cookies
Obviously there are hundreds more, these are just a few ideas. I hope you take these ideas and make a plan of your own to save time and money. There are so many benefits to easy pantry cooking.
For ideas in changing your family to healthy eating, check this out.
For more easy dinner ideas, this post is full of information.
Quick and easy pantry meals
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