A Look in My Pantry

Here are a couple shots from behind the scenes in my kitchen:

 

Since I live in the country and I don't like to make a lot of trips to the stores, I stock up on non-perishable foods. To reduce my food costs, I buy extras when they are on sale.  Using a permanent marker, I mark the date on packages and place the newly purchased ones in the back so that the older items get used first. 

I am blessed with two large closet pantries in my kitchen, and I have two teenage sons to feed, so my pantries look like a mini-store!  I also have two refrigerators and two deep freezers where I store meats, homemade bone broths, nuts, dairy, our eggs, extra grains, frozen fruits, and other perishable items.

Even though we have all this food available, we have minimal junk food (chips, crackers, pasta) and no store bought sweets (cookies, candy).  The few 'junk foods' that we have are good quality, organic ones containing none of the ingredients on the foods to avoid list.

I made a list of what I think is essential for a well-stocked pantry and have included it here.  I have listed the brands I like for many things.  Of course, this has changed and will continue to change as small companies are bought out, new products are introduced, and foods become more toxic and thus eaten less by my family (such as corn due to GMO corn contaminating all crops).

 

 

A Well Stocked Pantry (the items I use most in my kitchen and keep on hand):

March 13, 2008 (updated June, 2013)

Room temperature storage:  refrigerate items, like nut butters and maple syrup, after opening.

Produce/dried fruits
Fresh organic garlic (store in a garlic keeper)
Organic potatoes -  russet, red and sweet
Organic Onions -  bag of yellow, red in season
Organic bananas
From my garden - sweet potatoes, spaghetti squash, butternut squash
Organic raisins, goji berries, dried unsweetened fruits like mangos or apricots

Nut Butters and Jams (store in refrigerator after opening)
Arrowhead Mills plain or crunchy peanut butter
Raw almond butter
Tahini
Other specialty butters when on sale - cashew, walnut, sunflower, etc.
Bionaturae or Crofter's fruit spreads (fruit-juice sweetened) in a variety of flavors - raspberry, strawberry, blackberry, superfruit, bilberry, etc.

Organic Flours/Grain/Legumes (all items listed I buy organic):
Organic berries and groats that I grind in my stone mill:
    Wheat berries – soft white wheat, hard white wheat, hard red wheat, Einkorn, Emmer, Prairie Gold
    Kamut, spelt and rye berries, buckwheat, short grain brown rice (for baking) 
    Oat groats, rolled oats (I flake oat groats to make my own rolled oats)
    Barley (not pearled), long grain brown rice, quinoa, amaranth, millet
    Popcorn
Organic flours – unbleached white, yellow cornmeal, semolina (I would also have whole wheat pastry flour, whole wheat flour if I did not have my grinder.)
Dried Peas - black-eyed peas, yellow split peas, lentils

Dried Beans - mung, pinto, Anasazi, black, kidney beans, garbanzo, small red, navy, cannellini

Baking Supplies

Rumford baking powder
Rumford cornstarch

Frontier baking soda
Spices -  Frontier (organic), Simply Organic and Sun Organic (too many to list)
Flavorings - organic pure vanilla, almond extract, peppermint extract
Other seasonings - organic kelp granules, seaweed Gomasio
Sea salts - course and fine Celtic sea salt, Himalayan sea salt, other sea salt grinders 
Organic black pepper, white pepper, smoked black pepper (in grinders)
Sweeteners -
    Raw, unfiltered honey – I buy different brands, buy local for allergy problems (to find contact local bee club)
    Pure maple syrup (store in refrigerator after opening)
    Molasses
    Dates, date pieces with oat flour (sometimes I store in refrigerator depending on how soon I think I will use them)
    Dried organic figs
Oils -
    Organic expeller-pressed and unrefined coconut oils

    Organic palm shortening

    Organic olive oil (a small bottle by my stove, the rest stored in the refrigerator)

Pastas

Organic semolina pastas like penne and fusilli, lasagna noodles

Organic soba noodles

 

Can Goods/Jars

Westbrae, Natural Grocer, Eden Organics or 365 organic beans:  black beans, chili beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, etc. (I keep these for emergency quick meals otherwise I cook my own from dry beans)
Bearitos or Amy's refried beans (again, only for emergency quick meals - typically have homemade in the refrigerator)
Bionaturae strained tomatoes (use as tomato sauce), diced tomatoes (also buy Muir Glen) and tomato paste
Muir Glen organic diced tomatoes with green chili
Muir Glen salsa (we like the Chipotle) and other organic salsas
Annie’s salad dressings (read ingredient labels, some use soy oil) -  organic Caesar, French
Organicville BBQ sauce and ketchup
Hain's safflower mayonnaise
Eden or Annie's mustards - German, yellow, Dijon, stoneground

Bragg's raw apple cider vinegar

Bionaturae balsamic vinegar

McIlhenny Tabasco sauce

Cereals  (I buy only those with less than 4 grams/serving of sugar from natural sweeteners such as fruit juice concentrate or honey)

I use dry cereals only mixed in my cereal recipe:
     Arrowhead Mill's bite size shredded wheat
     Arrowhead Mill's spelt, kamut or amaranth flakes
     Arrowhead Mill's Organic Puffed Kamut

Pocono buckwheat hot cereal

Snack Foods/Crackers

Natural Grocer whole wheat sesame sticks
Qua Pasa Tortilla Chips – white, yellow, or blue
Bora Bora Organic Snack Bars, Larabars
Mary's Gone Crackers
Doctor Kracker's Crackers - different varieties
Whole Foods brand, 365 Organic water crackers

Drinks
Izzie sodas (for special treats and guests) - various flavors
Herbal teas - lots of different varieties and brands

Miscellaneous
Various seaweeds
Dried organic mushrooms
Dried Bonito (fish) flakes

 

I will give you a list of what I stock in my refrigerators and freezers in another post.