Living the Pantry Lifestyle - The importance of knowing how to cook

You know I believe in stocking a pantry as much as you 1) can afford, and 2) are led to do.  In my case I have a much smaller pantry than I did at one time but I make certain there are basic foods I can use in a pinch.

Which is what happened at our Fourth of July party when two of the attendees had to work at the job of moving so I said I'd make two extra side dishes so they could concentrate on packing before our get together... just two hours before everyone was expected.

It took a very short time to "throw together" a couple more dishes from the pantry and frig. They were baked beans made from a couple large cans of Bush's Baked Beans with added chopped onion to bake until nice and bubbly and my new favorite cole slaw recipe.  Yes, that recipe is... here.  (You can shred your own cabbage and carrots for the recipe but I find cole slaw mix packages are very inexpensive in my area and when one deals with fatigue, one loves inexpensive but healthy shortcuts.)

Later I was thinking how one can have a very deep pantry and not use much of it if they do not know how to cook from scratch.  Not to mention the more you know how to cook, the easier it is to be creative in the kitchen.  For instance, I found the vinaigrette for the cole slaw recipe in a cookbook but the other ingredients were what I had on hand in the frig and pantry the first time I made it.

Now, part of that comes from being a Pantry Person and trying to think ahead of various possibilities.  In this case, I had purchased an extra bag of cole slaw mix (shredded carrots and cabbage) just in case I decided to add slaw to the menu and I always try to have a few cans of baked beans on the pantry shelves.

On a more overall plan, I like to think ahead of what we need seasonally and adjust the pantry list as needed.  For instance, during the summer months I purchase a bag of small red potatoes and a bag of small Yukon gold potatoes as they are more functional for my summer menus.  Come autumn, I begin to use more root veggies overall and tend to use Idaho potatoes to quarter, larger carrots to slice into chunks, etc. for roasting.

In hotter weather, I make certain there are at least a couple boxes of good quality chicken stock in the pantry.  Why the summer?  Because in the winter I make soup from whole chickens at least once a week so I often have homemade broth during those months. I use the boxed chicken stock as a flavor base for cooking grains, veggies, etc.

At one time, a young woman went into marriage knowing the basics of cooking from scratch.  Most would have grown up helping prepare food and most likely knew the secret ingredients in the pasta sauce or what made the cookies so chewy and soft.   She probably had at least one or two classes in Home Economics in school; taking with her the teacher's favorite recipes, tips, and techniques.

One cannot be creative in the kitchen without basic skills and they certainly have a more difficult time cooking frugally without them.  There is nothing like having to stretch that dollar until it squeaks to make a creative cook!

I was reading an interesting article* recently by an organic farmer called Joel Salatin.  He was asked a question about how low income urban people could eat like those on a farm and I thought his answer interesting:

"Get in your kitchen. We eat almost no processed food. Preparation, processing, packaging and preserving of whole foods occurs in the home. The junkiest potato chips are still twice as expensive per pound as the most expensive organic whole potatoes.  Abdicating our visceral participation with food is both expensive and risky."

How can those of us in urban areas, and especially those who are low-income, eat as close as possible to how you would on your farm?
1.  Get in your kitchen. We eat almost no processed food. Preparation, processing, packaging and preserving of whole foods occurs in the home. The junkiest potato chips are still twice as expensive per pound as the most expensive organic whole potatoes.  Abdicating our visceral participation with food is both expensive and risky. Use modern culinary techno-gadgetry to re-acquaint yourself with food.
2.  Grow something yourself. Whether it’s a rooftop, lawn, or patio container garden, you can re-connect with your ecological umbilical. Each household should have two chickens to eat kitchen scraps and lay eggs; these are far more valuable than a cat or dog.
3.  Purchase directly from farmers. View the supermarket as a bad addiction. You simply cannot abdicate an understanding about food as profoundly as our culture has and expect to maintain food integrity. Complete ignorance on the consumers’ part creates vulnerabilities to shyster marketing, corner cutting, and dishonorable business practices.
- See more at: http://www.redletterchristians.org/following-christ-lunatic-grass-farmer-interview-joel-salatin/#sthash.Q7oi7abM.dpuf

I would agree entirely... get back in the kitchen!  As a society, many have lost the connection with food by having someone else process it between growing and eating.  Basic cooking is very easy and even more complicated dishes are usually not that hard when a recipe is followed step by step.

My granddaughter, Elisabeth, is twelve and already a superb baker.  Her mom just told me she has now made "Grammie's famous chocolate chip cookies" all by herself.  But she has learned from helping her mom the past few years.  I buy her recipe books for her birthdays including all three of The Pioneer Woman's cookbooks, which are good for new cooks since there are step by step photos.

I have found I never stop learning good cooking techniques as well as great recipes.  Good cooks realize there is always something they don't know that can make their cooking even better.  Good cooks also know experience is a great teacher so if they fail, they try again.  My first loaf of bread left much to be desired!

Also, being a Pantry Person... I look for recipes using items I like to keep in the pantry.   Especially if they can save me money.  My husband now likes my basic vinaigrette for his salads better than Newman's Own Original and all I did was add a pinch of kosher salt and pepper to the vinegar and oil he used.  I mentioned recently learning to add just a teaspoon of Italian spice blend to vinegar and oil to make a great vinaigrette (much cheaper than buying one of those little packages!).

A good cook knows adding a pinch of salt may be all that is needed to enhance flavor and that some items (potatoes and pasta) absolutely require extra salt.  Watch what the professional cooks use on TV.  They use kosher salt or sea salt (I use both) and never table salt (the kind in the deep blue box we grew up with).  They grind their pepper with a pepper grinder and never shake it from a can.  Little things make a cook great.

The area we lived in Detroit was a suburb that had a lot of Greek restaurants.  I learned there that adding the juice of half a lemon to chicken soup just before serving takes it over the top (and my lemon orzo soup gets an entire squeezed lemon).  This Midwestern cook had never heard of such a thing!

All this to say... store in your pantry what you eat... learn to be a good cook... if you are already a good cook, try something new once in awhile, especially good pantry items.  Currently I'm working with dried garbanzo beans (chickpeas) since I was given a box of them. 

Of course, this is also the time of year here in the USA to do some canning!  The original pantry item.  :)

*Article:  Following Christ as a Lunatic Grass Farmer.

Joel Salatin