Friends. Sending you all so much love! I want to do my best to make your life easier. If you’re like me and are staying at home, you probably want some recipes using your pantry ingredients – while also wanting them to taste delicious and be very easy. This is my first instalment of pantry staple recipes to get you started on some wonderfully easy recipes that are primarily made up on pantry ingredients! There are so many recipes that you can make from shelf-stable, frozen and fresh foods (that last a bit longer) plus your handy seasonings that you probably already. These recipes are also very comforting, perfect for these times. I also wanted to share some of my favourites tips for extending the shelf life of recipes, along with some common swaps. Since your pantry might look slightly different from mine, feel free to swap for what you have.
Coming NEXT:
Freezer Friendly Guide for freezing vegan baked and cooked goods Easy Pantry Snacks (that are also kid-friendly) DIY Hand Sanitizer Stocking Your Pantry: check out my post about stocking a healthy vegan pantry. This isn’t a hard and fast list of course, but a good guide in general.
Tips for prepping and storing recipes
Utilise your freezer! I’ll be sharing a freezer-friendly guide next, but you can freeze many of the recipes on this list. Then organise your freezer so you actually use the items in it. If your freezer looks overwhelming, chances are you won’t go into it. But you can freeze anything from curries to soups to sauces and gravies and pestos! P.S. instead of cartons of vegetable broth – use bouillon cubes or vegetable broth paste which lasts WAY longer. We only use this and our homemade vegetable broth (which you can freeze) and it saves us a lot of money and waste.
FRIDGE
Keep a small whiteboard or chalkboard on your fridge (or even a piece of paper) to keep a running list of what’s in the fridge. I can’t tell you how many times my husband will make more rice when there’s a container in the fridge with it. I like to keep one for “INGREDIENTS IN THE FRIDGE” and one beside/under it for “MEALS PREPARED” so I know what I can pair with what. I also have a separate pantry list I can look at at a glance. Sometimes it really helps to see everything at one glance. Keep made dishes that will spoil quicker near the front of your fridge. Anything can get buried in the back of your fridge, and this way it’s the first thing you see. Give your fridge a quick weekly clean – that way you’ll catch anything you might’ve missed before it spoils! Bulk prep where you can. It’ll make your life a lot easier in the long run, and as mentioned before, you can always freeze these items.
SWAPS/MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU
If you don’t have the required spice, it’s usually not a big deal unless that spice totally rules the dish. Usually, a general seasoning mix can go a very long way or an easy swap. Don’t have garam masala? You probably have most of the ingredients to make it up. Don’t have enchilada sauce? Use tomato sauce + some chilli powder and chipotle powder. When in doubt, google “substitute for…”. Remember to choose some staple recipes that you know you’ll love, and then rotate them, adding in something new every now and then! That way you don’t make too much of something that you don’t even know if you’ll like, and you and your entire family are more likely to actually finish it!
I hope this post helps so much, friends! I will continue to update this post and keep it current. Look out for other pantry posts!
