Absolute Essentials in my Pantry

Some items I simply cannot live without in my pantry. Many are canned or dried and therefore keep long, some are fresh and must be used accodingly. Always having these things on hand allows me those lazy times when I simply neglect to plan, or get off my organized trolley. No matter how busy things get, we can still have a delicious frugal meal because my pantry allows me to skip grocery shopping for a week.

Soon I plan to start a weekly series of recipes that are straight from my pantry. You'd be surprised the myriad ways to recombine these pantry staples into absolutely fabulous meals on the fly and without planning. I keep a  list of quick easy meals taped to the insde of my pantry door in case I'm also short on creativity and ideas.

• Dried beans (various kinds)
• Dried lentils (a bean I suppose)
• Canned beans
• Marinated artichokes
• Crushed tomato canned
• Anchovies packed in oil
• Italian tuna packed in olive oil
• Canned wild salmon
• Whole wheat capellini
• Sobe noodles
• Olives
• Pickled onions
• Dried musrooms
• Flaked coconut
• Coconut milk
• Olive oil
• Vinegar
• Sea salt
• Spices
• Garlic
• Onions
• Soy sauce

Freezer

• Shrimp
• Spinach
• Peas
• Limes
• Whole wheat nan
• Ginger root
• Canned Italian tuna packed in olive oil
• chopped cilantro
• chopped parsley

Stay tuned for my pantry recipes series.

De-cluttering - my pantry

Frugality means being able to cook from my pantry should I need or want to. My pantry is to me one of the keys to frugality when it comes to feeding my family delicously and nutritiously.

My path to frugality starts with my food budget,  I  am so lucky to have a lovely walk-in pantry. This being the case, I do wonder how I let it get out of hand, but out of hand it got.
Here's the shameful state:

 Well today I gave it a quick once over. This is not my final pantry cleaning, but it definitely has it back to usable, and useful. I can now find what I need when I need it. Finding what I need when I need it in my pantry is a sure money saver, and therefore very frugal. Plus, this pantry now makes me happy, I like to just open the door and stand there gazing into it's shelves.
Here is my pantry now - - ahhhh...