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    Home » Round-ups » Easy Pantry Recipes - 20 recipes for the entire family

    Easy Pantry Recipes - 20 recipes for the entire family

    Published: Mar 25, 2020 | This post may contain affiliate links·

    77 shares

    With readers requesting for more recipes to cook from pantry and freezer supplies, I have put together some of my favorite meal ideas from the pantry.

    A collection of pantry recipes

    Please keep in mind that a well-stocked pantry and freezer doesn’t mean that you need to go overboard with your supermarket purchases. Be mindful when shopping - Rather than buying 2 months’ worth of pasta and rice, you could do well to plan your purchases such that you can balance your meals – shop for fresh vegetables and greens such as kale, spinach, carrots, bell peppers, etc., to balance out the carb overload from pantry staples such as noodles, pasta, rice, flour and potatoes.

    Tips for stocking your pantry and freezer:

    Meal planning:

    A little meal planning can bring about some structure and help you to calmly shop for a few weeks or up-to a month. Follow a weekly schedule of meals if you like structure, or just keep a list of recipes handy - it’s good to have an idea of around 50% of the meals you will be making for the next couple of weeks – its ok to wing it for the rest! Finally, write out your shopping list. Make sure you go through your pantry and freezer and take note of what you already have, before you prepare your shopping list.

    Have fun with new recipes and new cuisines!

    Cooking at home can be so much fun when you Bookmark some of your favourite recipes that you would have otherwise ordered at a restaurant, or some of your favourite takeout meals. Trying out new recipes will get rid of the monotony of cooking at home. Mix it up! Try out different cuisines and space them out over a week along with tried and tested family recipes.

    Make the most of your freezer:

    Whether you have a tiny freezer or a chest freezer that can fit frozen meals for an entire week, its important that you make the most of your freezer space. I have limited freezer space, and we eat very little meat, so my freezer is usually stocked with frozen fruits and veggies, frozen dough or puff pastry, frozen poultry and seafood, frozen ginger (I grind ginger and freeze for daily use) and frozen coconut (for Indian cooking). If your freezer is large enough to hold frozen meals, make some of these freezer meals and ensure that you pack them the right way to avoid freezer burn.

    Buying wisely and eating well:

    It is easy to get overwhelmed at the grocery store and stock up on double the number of things you actually need. Avoid getting carried away, and stick to your shopping list. If you feel there is something you want to cart back home, but isn’t on your list, ask yourself if you will be using it in the next 3-4 days. If the answer to that is no, you probably don’t need it anyway.

    What kind of ingredients do you need to stock up on?

    Commonly used ingredients with a stable shelf life:

    Rice, flours (all-purpose, whole-wheat, etc), quinoa, rolled oats, pasta and noodles, dried beans and lentils, oils and vinegar, spices and condiments, dried herbs, onions, canned goods, dried fruit and nuts and seeds. Onions, potatoes and garlic also can be kept for 3-4 weeks when stored correctly – you can save precious fridge space.

    Frozen goods:

    Frozen vegetables such as spinach, peas, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, butternut squash and green beans, frozen fruit such as frozen berries, pineapple, mangoes and peaches, meat and poultry, seafood.

    In the fridge:

    Use your refrigerator to store fresh produce (vegetables, salad greens, citrus fruits, etc.) dairy (cheese, milk, yogurt, butter) and eggs, olives, mustard, etc.

    Good to have ingredients:

    These may not be typical ingredients that you cook with very often, but these ingredients are excellent for making some delicious meals. For examples, I always have coconut milk for my curries such as a quick egg curry, condensed milk cans to whip up desserts such as this easy rice kheer (pudding), frozen grated coconut for appams and curries such as Goan prawn curry, and gram flour (besan) is a staple at my home – I use make these pakoras, to marinate chicken hariyali tangdi kababs, etc.

    Easy pantry recipes by category:

    I have grouped together recipes by category (Breakfast, Lunch + Dinner, Snacks and Sides), to help you make this easier to navigate. Take your pick from breakfast, lunch and dinner and snacks. With schools shutting down, keep your kids engaged and share tasks and responsibilities by encouraging them to cook along! Happy meal planning!

    Breakfast

    French crepes with lemon curd

    Crepes on a plate with lemon curd

    Chia seed jam and overnight oats

    Chia jam with overnight oats in a glass

    Oats and banana waffles

    Waffles with bananas, strawberries on a plate

    Lunch and Dinner

    Asian Noodle Bowls

    Noodle bowl being served with chopsticks

    Egg Curry

    Close-up of egg curry and rice

    One-pot rice and veggies

    Instant Pot Rice and Veggies

    Vegetable fried rice

    Easy Instant Pot Fried Rice

    Shrimp Biryani

    Instant Pot Shrimp Biryani

    Shrimp Linguine

    Instant Pot Shrimp Linguine

    Chickpea tagine

    Instant Pot Chickpea tagine in a bowl

    Lentil soup

    Instant Pot Lentil Soup with Kale and Sweet Potato in a bowl with a spoon

    Easy naan bread

    Naan bread stacked on a kitchen towel

    One-pot chicken and rice

    Serving of chicken and rice on a plate

    Cauliflower curry

    Cauliflower curry in a bowl

    Snacking and Sides

    Herb-garlic smashed potatoes

    Instant Pot Herb Garlic Smashed Potatoes

    Sweet potato and pea samosas

    Sweet potato and pea puff pastry samosas

    Corn and spinach muffins

    Savory Corn Muffins in a basket

    Egg puffs

    Sliced egg puffs, stacked on top of each other

    Stuffed bread rolls

    Feta and sun-dried tomato bread rolls

    Vegetable pakoras

    Vegetable pakora on a plate
    « Ginger Lemon Tea - Instant Pot and Stovetop version
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    77 shares

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Supriya Kutty says

      April 03, 2020 at 10:56 am

      This is the best article that I ever came across thank you so much for sharing these amazing recipes with us I am surely going to prepare it and also share it with my friends and family as well for their reference too.

      • Shinta says

        April 08, 2020 at 12:44 am

        Thank you so much!

    2. Andrew Macmilan says

      March 26, 2020 at 7:28 am

      I will try this at home.

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    is always on the lookout for inspiration for her next meal. She shares recipes for family meals, Instant Pot recipes and more

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