I’m getting really tired of my food expiring before I make anything with it, and I want to quit buying anything that can’t be frozen or last several months in the cupboard.
Here’s one that’s lazy, pretty much foolproof, and uses all canned food from the pantry. (If you know what it’s called, good for you.)
- Add oil to stockpot, put in anchovies, dried red pepper, and garlic, fry it up a little bit until it smells good.
- Add in a can of crushed tomatoes, drained olives, and caper. Boil, then simmer.
- Cook some spaghetti to al dente(approximately 6-7 minute, SALT THE WATER, DON’T OIL THE WATER)
- Drain the pasta and mix into sauce, add olive oil and Parmesan to taste, serve.
Beans and rice, and dry spices, countless varieties of beans and even rice will keep the dish from feeling stale and samey.
Not specific answers for recipes, more of here’s some fundamental ideas look online, so for example if I said flour, water, yeast, salt that is bread. Remove yeast you have crackers. Add baking soda you have soda crackers. Add olive oil, you have pizza dough exct.
Flour
Water
Beans
Oats
Nuts
Wheat Gluten
Oil
Dried fruit
Dehydrated vegetables
Sugar
Salt
Rice
Oats
Peanutbutter
Jelly
Tyme or other spices
Lentils
Corn meal
Baking soda
Vinegar
Baking powder
Yeast
Coffee
Tea
Dehydrated meat?
Now, I don’t know your situation but if you need food and you are in a financial bind not just looking for stuff that doesn’t expire. Check out your local food bank/pantry. There’s no shame in that.
Personally I do a lot of canning and foraging for things. So food storage is pretty important. I don’t buy a lot of groceries. There are a lot of options for long lasting food, but too many to share.
I definitely would look up homesteading and some recipes from that.
Ah, I’m not doing this because of money or anything. I’m just getting frustrated whenever I buy an onion for a recipe, and it goes squishy before I can actually cook the thing. If I can get rid of all the stuff like that from my diet, then I’ll be happy.
Thanks for the homesteading suggestion, though. I’ll keep that in mind when I’m searching for recipes online. That community might also have some nice tips for how to live like this.
Chickpea curry is made entirely with pantry items and is very delicious. You can throw in non-pantry items if you have them but they are not necessary
https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a57629/chickpea-curry/
Spam musubi is a popular snack in Hawaii that’s also entirely pantry food. I love spam but not everyone does; if you want pantry meals though chances are you would be okay with it.
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/49785/spam-musubi/
Obviously canned soups are a good pantry meal source, no special recipe there
Flaked ham or tuna cans with Mayo & relish (or chopped celery if you have them) are delicious to eat on any type of crackers
https://www.food.com/recipe/simple-ham-spread-397918
That’s what I can think of for now haha
Canned milk, jarred tomato sauce or pesto, pasta, frozen vegetables, frozen shrimp or chicken. Cheese lasts a while and you can put it in the freezer if you don’t care about texture (such as for cheese sauce). Whole wheat pasta is a while grain and decently healthy and significantly more filling than white pasta. You can make white sauce or mac and cheese with the canned milk.
Most meat can be frozen when packaged without fair (look for tubes instead of flat packages). Flash frozen vegetables are pretty good. You can also portion and package meats for the freezer yourself, it just takes a while and you may want to get a vacuum sealer.
Dry whole grains and dry beans or legumes are the good basis for vegetarian diets, and together will make a whole protein. Just don’t forget B12 or also eat meat. Both whole grains and legumes go bad after about a year on the shelf but will last much longer in the fridge or freezer (depending on how bulk you are buying). Oils will also go rancid eventually, especially olive oil or sesame, I keep those in the fridge too but they will last a few years like that.
I want to note that non-whole grains last longer, such as white rice or white flour, due to the oils and proteins (and most of the nutrients) removed.
Soups and stews can be made in advance, portioned for a few meals and frozen. You can use meat, beans, canned tomato for chili. Lentil soup doesn’t always need much else aside from stock and seasoning.
If you make or buy fresh bread, you can let it completely cool, then slice it, then put it in as air tight a bag as you can and freeze it. This is great for toast but not as great for sandwiches. You can do the same with bagels, defrosting them in the microwave until still cold and then put them in the toaster. Frozen bagels make for decent sandwiches, maybe because they are already supposed to be chewy.
A soup portion with a side of grain or bread is pretty filling and delicious.
You can probably freeze Burger buns and treat them as I’ve described bagels, using them for burgers. Pickles are jarred and last a long time in the fridge.
“American cheese” lasts a very long time in the fridge. Unwashed eggs lasts about a month out of the fridge and a few months in the fridge. Use some frozen sausage for breakfast sandwiches.
Frozen vegetables usually have a slightly cooked texture, so cooking them is better. Roasted broccoli or cauliflower from frozen is pretty good. Served with a side of beans and rice with a baked chicken breast from frozen and that’s a big delicious healthy meal. Don’t forget to season and maybe use hot sauce.
