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You open the pantry, stare at the shelves, and feel like there’s nothing to make. Meanwhile, your hungry family is circling the kitchen and dinner still needs to happen fast. What’s a busy Mom to do?
The good news is that you don’t need fancy cooking skills. What you do need is a simple plan to get dinner on the table. These tips to make a meal from your pantry will help you turn odds and ends into something filling and doable on a busy night.
A well-stocked pantry can be a blessing to feed your family when times are tight or when items you need are simply not available. Having a well-stocked pantry is a little bit of insurance that you’ll be able to feed your family no matter what comes your way.
If you find yourself low on food, snowed in, or simply needing to make some cuts to your grocery budget you can turn to your pantry to make a meal for your family. You can also use this pantry challenge guide to make the most of the food you have on hand.
Stocking Your Pantry To Build Meals
The best thing you can do to make it easy to put together meals from your pantry is to plan out how you stock your pantry. Look to fill in basic categories like proteins, fruits, vegetables and grains to complete easy meals from your pantry. Doing this ensures you always have the basics on hand for meals.
Don’t forget to stock up on items your family likes to use by purchasing extra when you find these foods are on sale. This will make it easier to use your pantry to pull together meals and gives you the confidence to do so because you know these are foods your family will willingly eat.
How To Make A Complete Meal From Your Pantry
It’s important that pantry meals are just as nutritious as fresh meals. You’ll want to build balanced meals with a main protein, fruits, vegetables and a whole grain if you have it on hand.
Don’t forget that protein doesn’t have to be from a meat source. Try combining plant-based proteins like beans with rice or build bowls with quinoa or lentils. These meatless options are very filling and can help keep food costs down.
1. Take A Quick Check Before You Plan
Give yourself 5 minutes to look at what you have in the pantry and freezer before you decide dinner is impossible. Doing a quick check can help you focus. And it can help you catch food you may have forgotten about (like those 1/2 bags of frozen veggies in the back of the freezer).
You don’t need to make a list but you’ll want to look at the ingredients to see what can be grouped together. That could mean canned tuna, a box of mac and cheese, condensed soup and frozen broccoli for an easy tuna casserole dinner.
2. Keep It Simple
If you didn’t plan ahead of time for a complete meal, you may want to go with a simple option like rice and beans to make a healthy complete protein. Add salsa, a slice of bread and a vegetable for a complete meal.
3. Use What You Have At Home
Use a simple formula of base + protein + flavor to create a meal. Try combining soup, canned chicken and crackers for a warm, filling meal. Or bump up the flavor of your meals by using seasoning packets, gravy mixes, salsas, and sauces to turn even the blandest of pantry staples into something fun and tasty.
4. Make A Casserole
Most people have the basics in their pantry to toss together a casserole of odds and ends to make a filling meal. These easy dishes are a great way to use up what you have on hand because they use pantry staples like pasta or rice. Then add other basics like meat, vegetables, and canned soups to add flavor and bulk up the dish.
These are a few easy casseroles to try:
5. Skillet Dinners
Skillet dinners are another easy way to make a filling meal from odds and ends. These one-pan dinners can be tossed together with pasta, rice, sauces, veggies, and canned meats from your pantry. And they’re a great way to use up those little bits of leftovers hanging out in the refrigerator.
6. Soups And Stews
Most of us have the random ingredients needed to toss together a hearty stew or filling soup. Ingredients like chicken or beef broth and tomato sauce can be used to make a soup base. From 3-bean chili to a hearty vegetable soup you’d be surprised what you can pull together when have a well-stocked pantry and get creative.
Easy soup recipes:
7. Use Pre-Made Convenience Foods
If you have things like cans of chili, soup, or beef stew hanging out in your pantry it’s easy to use them as the base of a meal. Bulk them up by serving over other pantry staples like rice, pasta or mashed potatoes made from shelf-stable dried flakes. This can turn common grab-and-go options into full-fledged meals.
Bonus Tip: Keep A List of Go-To Pantry Meals
Write down five to seven pantry meals that already work for your family. Keep the list on your refrigerator or store it in your phone so it’s handy for grocery shopping. If you keep it simple with meals like tacos, sloppy joes, pasta night or soup and sandwiches, you’ll cut down on the stress of what to make for dinner.
Frequently Asked Questions to Make Pantry Meals
Adding a crunchy, creamy or fresh item can keep the meal from being too plain. Try items like colorful vegetables, crunchy crackers or canned fruit for variety.
Good pantry staples to keep on hand include pasta, plain rice, beans, canned meats like tuna and chicken, soup, marinara, salsa, broth, and canned vegetables and fruits. These items can be used in many different meals which gives you more options.
Pantry meals don’t have to be fancy to work well. Pasta with jarred sauce, chili over baked potatoes, quesadillas or even breakfast for dinner make for a filling meal.
You don’t need a full grocery haul to get dinner on the table. Once you start seeing ingredients as options and using these tips to make pantry meals, dinner gets easier.
