Meal Planning, Saving Food and Cluttered Pantries (2)

by Nicole Humphrey | More from this Blogger

26 Jul 2007 07:29 AM

After spending all that time cleaning out my cluttered pantry yesterday, I was absolutely amazed by what I found. More than enough meals to cover several weeks without more than a $10 grocery bill to boot! Since I had so many items I had forgotten about, and found a need to incorporate them into meals in the upcoming weeks, I set out to create a good meal plan.

Here are a few tips to help you after you clean out your pantry:

• Canned Veggies go great in casseroles, soups, add them to some noodles to create a pasta dish. Canned veggies can extend a meal and make it a bit heartier.
• Canned fruit can be drained and then added with some frozen yogurt to your blender and you will have a nutritious, extremely yummy shake. You can even have it for breakfast.
• Rice and Noodles can be added to all sorts of meals to extend them. If you have some hamburger meat, brown in a skillet, add some cooked noodles or rice and add some gravy or other sauce. Makes a delicious skillet meal. Almost like a hamburger helper, only from scratch.
• Bread that seems hard can be crumbled up into crumbs and saved for casseroles, or for frying chicken. Don't throw out stale bread again. Just use it. You can even throw pieces into stew to help thicken it a bit.
• Beans are another cheap way to add some bulk to a meal. Add them to casseroles, stews and soups. There are always beans hidden in our pantry somewhere.
• Flour Tortillas can be filled with lots of different fillings to be made into either a meal or a dessert. Pita pockets are the same.

Looking for great recipes on using up some of the items you found while cleaning the pantry? Check out the food blog! For more money saving articles check out the Frugal blog.

Learn more about Nicole Humphrey

Nicole Humphrey is a freelance writer, consultant for CTMH and a Sr. Blogger for families.com. She resides in St. Charles, Missouri with Mike and their five children and two furbabies.

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