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Under: Food & Cooking
The Pantry Investment
  • messylilthings
    Hi everyone!

    One of the best ways I have found to save money in the kitchen area is a long-term investment in a stocked pantry. Over the past year, I have tried to buy at least one of these items with every shopping trip and over time as you find recipes, your grocery list becomes smaller and smaller. It's also incredibly satisfying to cross things off the list.

    Some of my own personal bulk pantry items I try to keep stocked at all times!:
    - Olive oil
    - Various vinegars: red, white, apple cider, balsamic
    - Spices!- cayenne, cumin, bay leaves, etc.
    - Capers
    - Pastas
    - Grains such as rice and quinoa
    - Breadcrumbs
    - Flour
    - Sugar
    - Canned tomatoes
    - Soy sauce
    - Dijon mustard
    - Chicken stock

    Any others?
  • winterstarpromo
    Canned vegetables are something I try to keep on hand- green beans always, and I've been keeping stocked on canned diced potatoes here super lately.
  • MarieJ
    Wow, great list, messylilthings! That covers a lot of my staple pantry items. Even though they aren't "pantry" items, I would add eggs, butter, and milk. There is a TON you can do with just those simple ingredients! My biggest challenge is figuring out how much to go wild on spices - I tend to hold off until I'm *really* sure it's worth it, because they are expensive.
  • orangemonkeys
    I also stock the freezer when meats go on sale: bacon, chicken, ground turkey. I recently got over my fear of roasting chicken, and then making stock out of what's left, and then freezing that in one-cup portions. Its much, much easier than I would have thought.

    We participate in a CSA from June-October, so when our share has a lot of carrots, for example, I'll dice them up and store them in the freezer, so they are our staples there as well. Put it all together and I can usually make something.

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