Stocking your pantry

It’s September, and for most of us in the Northern Hemisphere, that means one thing – winter’s coming. Ok, so it means more than one thing, but the fact is that the cold weather will be here before we know it. One of the challenges of eating right during the winter is, oftentimes, convenience – there’s no food in the house, and we don’t want to brave the cold weather to get something from the supermarket, so we order pizza, Chinese, or some other fast food for dinner. Well, by stocking your pantry, you can easily make sure you always have something in your house that you can quickly throw together for a decent meal:

1. Stock up on dried foods: Some of the best staples to have on hand are rice, dried beans, and dried legumes. Even for those on low-fat or gluten-free diets, these make great pantry items because of their convenience and ease-of-cooking. Although dried beans need to be soaked before cooking (or require a pressure cooker), lentils and rice can be cooked in less than an hour and, when combined with curry, paprika, or other spices, make a great savory dish. Tired of rice and beans? Try quinoa, barley, or couscous.

2. Stock up on frozen foods: Folks with smaller freezers can’t stock up too much on frozen items, but even when you don’t have a lot of room, there should still be enough room for several bags of frozen vegetables and quick-cooking cuts of meat (ones you can cook even when frozen, such as thinly-sliced chicken breast or beef). Buy several extra packages of each and keep them in your freezer, only to be used when you’re all out of food and need to make a meal. Consider these items to be “outside” the weekly groceries, and when you use them, replenish them next time you shop.

3. Learn to make your own bread. Even if it’s a skill you rarely use, you may be glad for it the next time a blizzard hits and you realize you have no bread in the house – and no way to get any for three or four days. If you have the room for it, you might want to consider baking a few extra loaves and keeping them in the freezer, but if all you do is keep the essentials for a couple loaves on hand (a bag of flour, several packages of dry yeast, etc.), you’ll be fine if you need to make your own.

4. Keep a well-stocked spice cabinet. Some curry, grains of paradise, cumin, or turmeric can go a long way in making a simple rice-and-beans dish tasty. A list of spices no cook should be without includes curry, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, paprika, coriander, dill seed, bay leaf, powdered mustard, ginger, peppers (red and black), cardamom, and capers. A list of dried herbs should include basil, dill, thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano, and parsley.

By following these simple guidelines, you can guarantee that you’ll almost alwats be able to put together something tasty, nutritious, and filling for dinner any night of the year – even when it’s 20 below and snowing outside!

What do you do to make sure you always have supplies on hand? We’d love to hear about it – share with us in the comments!