How full is your pantry?
CSN Stores has offered for me to do a review! Which is awesome, because there is a lot of things on their site I want:
- My own swing set or trampoline
- This awesome Peek and Play Box for Data
- Some yoga blocks
- A home gym
- Maybe some drapes since we are returning the ones we bought at Target
- A waffle maker since I never got the one I wanted
- A headboard to complete our bedroom
- This sweet tea box
Okay, some of the things on my wishlist are a bit more realistic than the others, so we went with the tea box. Because we need a space for our tea.*
Right now, some of our tea is in a plastic shoe box in our pantry, and the rest of it is out on the counter.
All together – not such a good solution for our tea…
The new tea box will look pretty out on the counter and give us some more space in the pantry.
So let’s talk about our pantry. And how full it is!
Steven and I don’t plan out our meals for the week. We kind of fly by the seat of our pants. We go grocery shopping once a week and stock up on the items we have used (as well as buy fresh produce). We keep our pantry (and fridge) full with our normal staples so we** can cook whatever our heart’s desire come dinner time.
Is that odd? Do other people keep a full pantry? Do other people feel like they need to be “stocked” on certain items (for example, we like to keep a back up can of veggie stock and garbanzo beans, as well as keep grains, pastas, baking supplies, dry cereal, and canned items).
How full is your pantry? Do you shop by what you are planning to cook for the week or do you have a list of items you like to be stocked up on?
I sometimes feel like we don’t need to keep our pantry as full as we do – that it’s kind of weird that we keep it so stocked. It’s not like we grew up during the Great Depression or something. But at the same time, we aren’t wasting food either. We just like to have a lot of options.
Of course, others disagree about how full our pantry is. My younger brother said, “Your pantry is like an optical illusion – it looks like there is food in there, but none of it is edible.”
Ha. I supposed Steven and I do have different eating habits than my brothers (plural because they have both made comments on how there is no “edible” food in our house. Don’t worry – it makes me laugh. I am the only vegan (vegetarian) in the family.).
*My second cousin introduced a new flavor of tea to me – Green Tea with Jasmine, and I mostly like it!
**Meaning Steven
Themocracy
Since I live at home, my mom is in charge of the pantry but she actually just cleaned it out and now I can’t find anything because she rearranged it!
I always feel like our pantry is too full. I blame it on the kids, but even when I didn’t have kids I was the same. I don’t waste anything either, just like to be prepared. Not like depression prepared, just prepared so I can make whatever I feel like having for dinner and not have to worry that I’ll have what I need. Every once in a while I do a pantry clean out and kind of make everyone eat everything in it (well…almost everything) before I will restock it. I usually do that in the summer because there are no school lunches to pack.
I have a huge walk-in pantry (8’X 4′), and it’s always pretty full, but we live out in the middle of nowhere, so we never know when we won’t be able to get to a store in the winter. It’s mostly staples, so I can come up with stuff to fix just about any time, but half of the time, I don’t have what I’m really hungry for!
I love being able to make something with food I have in the pantry and not have to run out to the store all the time.
Glad you found a green tea you like – jasmine green tea is pretty good. BTW, I tried the 30 day shred for the first time today – it was HARD!
Yay, 30 Day Shred! Don’t worry, it will get easier 😉
Your ** (meaning Steven) made me laugh out loud! And I love what your brother said, too. My nieces/nephew say that about my food and snacks when they spend the night. 🙂
I will say…since I can’t really cook (without a specific recipe), I only usually buy what I need each week. My pantry does have stuff like cereal, flour/sugar/baking stuff, almonds, peanut butter, etc. all the time, but usually not a whole lot of extra stuff. I’m pretty boring!
“How full is your pantry? Do you shop by what you are planning to cook for the week or do you have a list of items you like to be stocked up on?”
Our pantry is pretty full, but nowhere near as organized as yours! There are some items that are a good idea to stock up on!
I would say our pantry is pretty stocked, not as stocked as yours because we don’t have the room, but we make sure we have the basics on hand.
There was a time when we didn’t even need a pantry … we just didn’t keep that much food around. Now? We’ve got a full pantry (though we have room to expand) because we eat at home most of the time.
I go back and forth between planning meals for the week and just making dinner with whatever I have on hand. I do like to keep certain things stocked in my pantry just in case. I almost always have ingredients for homemade spaghetti sauce and dried pastas, canned beans and veggies, and chicken stock. My new favorite thing to be stocked up on is quinoa! I tried it for the first time last week and I love it already! I made it for dinner last night too (along with butternut squash and pinenuts).
HAHA! Matt and I were just having this conversation last night. Our pantry is pretty well stocked, especially with basics (pastas, grains, cereals, etc) b/c we quasi-meal plan for the week but like you guys, we like to have options. (And the food isn’t going to waste) We shop once a week and I try to “stock up” on the basics that we always use when they go on sale so that I’m not paying full price for stuff I KNOW we use regularly. Matt joked that we could probably eat for a month on our stash if one of us lost our job/we were struggling financially.
One more thing, I wonder why I am like this too. I never grew up hungry (or went without food). Maybe I just like the convenience? I HATE having to run to the grocery store for “just one thing” even though it is only a 3 minute drive from my house.
Yeah, it must be the convenience thing. If we could, we would just stock up once a month to save ourselves the inconvenience of going to get groceries once a week! But that damn produce… you can’t really stock up on that! 😉
That’s hilarious about your brothers! I think mine would say the exact same thing. He needs chips and cookies in his pantry. I think a well-stocked pantry is a good idea. Especially for when the zombies attack! You will be ready. 😉
I know! Being prepared for the Zombies is important! Make sure you take this quiz (http://theoatmeal.com/quiz/zombie_bite) to know how long until you are infected after being bitten.
Ours is no where near as stocked as yours mostly because I typically only buy what we need for the week. I’ve never been good at having “the basics” available to just create a meal without planning in advance.
The tea box is a good choice! Plus, its pretty.
I dont have a proper pantry. Just a cupboard. A small cupboard. Its a disaster.
Mine is full but I never (at least rarely) cook. I dont even know whats in there. But, I can tell you its horribly disorganized and I just ordered some OXO pop up storage containers … about 2 minutes ago in fact 😉
Thanks for the great Valentine’s gift idea of a tea box!
Our pantry is pretty full, but what bugs me more is when it gets disorganized due to the “right” shelf being full.
We’re not quite as stocked or as organized, but we do make sure that we have most of the basics. I actually do not mind going to the grocery store at all – there is one that is 3 minutes away (a Trader Joe’s), and I would happily go there every day of the week. I don’t need to, so we limit it to 2-3 times, and we go to the farmers’ market on the weekend. We (I) usually have one or two dishes that we know we want to make it, and then we can add something or change if we need.
Our pantry is messy (boo), and mostly stocked with stuff my husband cooks with regularly. Also with cereal, peanut butter, and whatever snacks we felt like buying that week. I need one of those beautiful tea boxes – ours stay in the originals and always end up contributing to the mess! Your pantry looks SO organized!
Aww, thanks. It’s because my husband is very organized 🙂
What kind of tea do you like?
That’s awesome! My favorite tea used to be Tazo Honeybush, but I can’t find that flavor to save my life anymore. Otherwise I love jasmine tea, most herbal teas (unless they contain anise – blech), can get behind most green teas, and am learning to appreciate various black teas 🙂 Do you have a favorite?
I think I might like an anise tea! Right now my fave is Chai 🙂 With Milk. And Sugar.
My pantry is a a few cabinets and they are packed. It is my goal this weekend to clean them out but I do have a half shelf full of tea!