Grandma’s Pantry

When I was younger I remember looking into my grandma’s pantry and cupboards and wondered to myself…”how was she going to feed everyone when there seem to be nothing to fix?”  When dinner time came I was amazed to see all the yummy food before me, she seemed to have whipped it up out of thin air…because I did not see any of those yummy things in her pantry or cupboard when I looked inside of it.

That is what you call being a industrious woman in the kitchen!  I now have my own “Grandma’s Pantry”…I have worked hard over the years to get to that point and it has been so rewarding because I can fix just about any good simple recipe in a minutes notice.

With a few important ingredients on hand in my pantry I can fix several healthy fulfilling home cooked meals. 

I don’t buy a lot of convenience food because they tend to be expensive and not very healthy to eat everyday especially if you also like to visit the restaurants once a week.  There are a lot of ingredients in those foods that are NOT HEALTHY at all and you pay in more ways then one when you stock up on convenience foods.  I have learned how to make a lot of the convenience foods from scratch and I store them for future use.  I save a lot of money on my grocery bill by doing this, plus they are healthier this way.

I LOVE TACOS!! It is my favorite food but I do not spend a $1 or whatever the cost is for a packet of taco seasoning.  I make my own homemade taco seasoning with (salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, paprika, dried onions, sugar, oregano, cumin).  I have total control of the taste and salt content of my seasonings.  The best part is I am able to use some of the same ingredients for my Chili Seasonings, Spaghetti Sauce, Seasoning of Meats, Stews, and Soups etc.  I could not do all of that if I was to purchase a taco seasoning packet, I would need to purchase more pre-packaged or pre-made foods to accomplish chili seasoning, spaghetti sauce, stews etc.

So as you can see you get less then what you pay for when you purchase convenience foods.

 I also do not use recipes that require me to purchase an item that I would only use for that specific recipe …ex: Dry Sherry, Hollandaise sauce.  These would not be beneficial to me and my dinner preparations because I would only use them once for that specific recipe.  I fix simple meals and use recipes that use simple ingredients it ensures that my food bill stays low.

With adopting the “Grandma’s Pantry” cooking techniques, I spend less money on my grocery bills and feed a family of 5 for $250 - $400 a month.  I use what I have and I have learned how to substitute certain things with what I have in my pantry.   

I will be posting more information on how to make your grocery bill dollars stretch without having to use coupons to save money.  I will also talk about the possible pitfalls of using coupons in a later post.

You can find out some of the ingredients I keep in my “Grandma’sPantry” by clicking the link.