Cozy Cottage

Packing the Pantry

I have been so blesssed by reading everyone's comments about their kitchen pantry closets and what they keep them stocked with. I have learned so much about how to better care for my family in this area. I used to have little respect for my pantry. I would consider it a place to store junk, canned goods and everything else that wouldn't fit elsewhere. But I have discovered that a pantry can be such a blessing to me in my kitchen.

For inspiration on this I recalled both of my grandmother's kitchens. Both were excellent cooks and neither of them had a kitchen pantry. Instead they had a cellar or a corner of the basement under the stairs to store excess food. They utilized their space wisely and stored all kinds of wonderful canned foods, fruits and vegetables. They could always accomodate last minute company with ease knowing they had food ready to prepare into a meal. And boy, did they ever have the company!

They probably would have loved to have the convenience of walking two steps to their pantry to gather whatever they needed. As it was, they ran down the stairs several times a day to get things they needed as they cooked their daily meals.

After reading the message boards and recalling my grandmothers, I realized that I was taking my pantry for granted and not using it wisely. It should be well stocked with useful, nutritious things to eat and make into meals, not filled with processed, expensive junk, or unused appliances or boxes. I realized I needed to use this space wisely to help me bless my family. And so I did!

I want to share with you some things I learned about stocking my pantry from other, more experienced women:
1) We use sucanat instead of white sugar. It's healthier than the refined stuff.
2) Replaced instant white rice with brown, basmati, and jasmine rice.
3) Drastically reduced refined white flour and use wheat or spelt from grinding my own wheat berries. Much more fiber and vitamins!
4) Cut way down on the chips (we used to eat 2 to 3 bags per week..think of the salt alone!). Now we snack on pretzels, nuts, seeds, and fruit.
5) Keep extra baking soda, powder, salt, etc on hand so I can bake more and don't run out of ingredients. We have made homemade cookies, brownies, muffins, cakes, granola, crackers (still working on that one), and much more. They are so much healthier and cheaper than the processed, store bought kind.
6) Replaced canola oil with olive and vegetable oil. Canola is not supposed to be good for you at all.
7) Cut down on processed cereals (we still buy only occasionally when we can afford to...we just love them unfortunately!). Now we mostly eat homemade granola or oatmeal.
8) Replaced quick cooking oatmeal with old fashioned oatmeal. Healthier!
9) Slowly replacing white pasta with the whole grain kind. There are many more brands to choose from these days.
10) Keep ingredients for quick meals on hand like spaghetti and sauce; taco shells, taco sauce, seasonings (I make my own now), & black olives for tacos; tuna for sandwiches, etc.

And this is only 10 things I have learned. I continue to learn all the time and strive to make healthier choices. It takes time and doesn't happen overnight. But I have noticed that the "simpler" my pantry becomes, the healthier and happier we all are! Getting down to basic ingredients and making my own food is sooo much better in the long run.  And, that's how God intended for this to be! Not all quick and processed because our bodies were not made for that type of food....but rather SIMPLE! 
Here is a picture of my pantry, nothing fancy.....have a blessed day!

Hi

7:03, Saturday, April 29, 2006 .. Posted by MyThreeDaughters

What a great blog entry Tammy.

In Australia canola is supposed to be very healthy and we are encouraged to use it!

Your pantry looks wonderful.

For our breakfast apart from porridge or oatmeal, we have muesli with is just oatmeal mixed with things like coconut, wheatgerm and golden raisins, kind of a mix you just add milk too. Wish I could find an old-fashioned recipe for it though, I used to love it homemade.

Untitled Comment

7:06, Monday, May 1, 2006 .. Posted by crewchief

Canola isn't healthy? I switched to canola because I thought I read somewhere it was healthier than vegetable oil. sigh.