I read an article in Parents magazine about having a well-stocked pantry. The article suggested what to have on hand for kids’ snacks, entertaining and cooking basics. Great, right?! Even better, they put it all in a handy cut-out list at the end of the article. So I snipped that baby out and went merrily off to the grocery store. You see I am the type of mom who goes to the store almost daily to get what I need to make dinner. I always have snacks and lunch items on hand for the little ones (OK, not always, but most of the time), but little else. I’m that mom who never has anything to serve a drop-in or last minute invited guest. Except for wine, of course. And maybe some stale gold fish crackers. But really that’s not the image I’d like to convey to my friends.
I loaded up my cart, brought all the loot home and was putting it away when it hit me. “What the hell am I supposed to do with all this stuff?” I totally get the tortilla chips and salsa. No brain-er, right? I can even figure out what to do with olives, cheese and crackers. But what about the Panko breadcrumbs? What the hell are Panko breadcrumbs? What if my kids won’t eat dried mangoes? And the spices? Cumin, coriander, turmeric and cinnamon. The article says to “liven up a ho-hum dish with these kid-friendly, no-cal spices.” What dish? How much do I put in? Which spices go in which dish? Do they all go? And all this whole grain crap? Really? Are my kids going to like whole grain pasta? Do I really need whole wheat flour? Well, I’ve got it! I drew the line at the baked tortilla chips. Seriously? No. Healthy chips = blech. Can’t have that. What’s the point of eating chips if they taste like cardboard? (if anyone has some delicious baked tortilla chips suggestions, please pass them on (like anyone reads this but me and Lisa)).
In any event, I have a well-stocked pantry and may just figure out what to do with all this crap! Come on over. I’ll open a bottle of wine and you can tell me what to do with the Panko breadcrumbs!
Here’s the list in case you’re interested:
- Almonds
- Beans (low-sodium)
- Canola oil
- Cereal (whol- grain)
- Cereal bars (whole-grain)
- Chicken broth (low-sodium)
- Chocolate-hazelnut butter
- Cinnamon
- Coriander
- Crackers (whole-grain)
- Cumin
- Dark chocolate
- Dried fruit (raisins, mangoes, apples
- Fennel
- Garlic
- Graham crackers
- Mango chutney
- Nut butter
- Olive oil
- Olives
- Onions
- Panko crumbs
- Pasta
- Popcorn
- Potatoes
- Pumpkin (canned)
- Raisins
- Rice-wine vinegar
- Roasted red peppers (jar)
- Salsa
- Soy sauce (reduced sodium)
- Sparkling juice
- Tomatoes (canned)
- Tomato sauce
- Tortilla chips (baked)
- Turmeric
- Whole-wheat flour
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8 Responses to A Well-Stocked Pantry
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SITS Girls
Panko breadcrumbs are awesome on top of just about anything you’d put in the oven (mix ‘em with a little melted butter, put ‘em on top of mashed potatoes, and pop the whole thing in the oven for a few, and you’ll see what I mean. hello, starchfest!)
The olives you eat by themselves, or if they’re black olives, you put them on the ends of each of your fingers, then eat them off one by one.
The chocolate-hazelnut butter (I assume you bough Nutella, unless you’re some sort of heathen) is for slathering on everything else.
I hope this cleared up a few things.
btw, why in the world would they put “mango chutney” on there? i cook a wide range of exotic dishes and have never used it in my life. i smell a challenge in this. wanna have a chutney-off?
What a relief! I couldn’t find the damn mango chutney! I say you write Parents magazine and give ‘em what for! I used the panko crumbs instead of Italian breadcrumbs on crunchy chicken tenders. Num! Num! Everyone ate them up! Now what do I do with all those spices they made me buy?
oh man. i’ll put up a recipe for you this weekend!
panko breadcrumbs are good stuff!!! i have recipe for them with some blue cheese and worcester to mix up and put on anything: chicken, steak, fish, etc…
JR, give me the recipe!! I will use it tonight.
I used mango chutney in a vegetable dip the other day! Not like “oh look mango chutney in my pantry so I will make dip” or anything: it was a recipe I followed. and I can’t say I would use it enough to make it a staple but the dip was very good I thought. Plain whole milk yogurt, curry, lemon juice, scallions and the mango chutney. Maybe some other things in there too but don’t have the recipe now!
ps: wine and gold fish (stale or not) is what we all secretly want anyway!
Thanks for the Information.