Living the Pantry Lifestyle - Some favorite pantry recipes

I don't think I will ever take for granted those quick trips to the grocery store again.  Not only to purchase fresh ingredients but just to get out of the house for awhile.  Once it warms up, we can sit on the front porch or the deck.  The wind chill is 23 at the moment.

I do feel for people who have to get out to work, knowing they are putting themselves in possible danger of getting the virus.  Also, for those who live paycheck to paycheck and suddenly find their income cut off.  Our income may be low on Social Security but so far that hasn't stopped.

A long time blog friend posted a photo on Instagram showing her husband putting rolls of TP in one of those Post Office boxes that you can fill for a base price to send to a loved one.  Mr. Rogers used to sing "There are many ways to say I love you", did you ever think sharing rolls of TP would be one of them?

I decided a couple days ago to use this time to work on a few much needed projects.  The most important was to take everything out of the deep freeze to take inventory.  When I came back in the house, I was sneezing.  My husband asked if I was getting a cold and I told him that I had been almost upside down in the deep freeze and very cold temperatures always makes me sneeze.  Yes, you can imagine the look of confusion... unless you have a chest style deep freeze.

I reorganized everything and while I did not find the extra butter I thought I had frozen, I did find a half gallon of vanilla ice cream that had slipped into the bottom of the freezer.  Hallelujah!  My husband sometimes purchases ice cream when it goes on sale and tucks it in the deep freeze.  Apparently, that is how it could go missing without my knowledge.

I now know exactly what meat and frozen veggies are available there, as well as in the refrigerator freezer.  I don't have a lot of meat but enough to hopefully last through this emergency.  I admit that this is when I wish I had my super deep pantry I did twenty years ago!

I was asked what to eat first from the pantry.  We concentrated first on the fresh vegetables and refrigerated items with a short shelf life.  If this crisis situation was a storm where we could have an extended power outage, I would always use up frozen items next but I haven't heard of any power outages.

I thought I would share some favorite pantry recipes.  Most can be made with what is available in many pantries and a couple can be made with a deeper pantry.  The links are to my recipe "blog", which is really not a blog but where I posted recipes I would talk about here.

Good Pantry Recipes
Homemade Chocolate Syrup
This is very good and easy to make.  Cocoa is one of those perfect pantry items because it has an extremely long shelf life.  It can be used on ice cream or to flavor milk.  Info... here.

My Favorite Bread Machine Recipe
This recipe came with my original bread machine from the 1990s.  It is great with all white flour but I have used half white flour and half whole wheat flour with good success.  I have used three parts whole wheat and one part white flour, which my husband liked but was a little too solid for my taste.  I also use this recipe to make cinnamon rolls.  Info... here.

Indian Fry Bread
I used to make this all the time.  It is the recipe from the historical reenactment feast we loved going to before both kids left home. The fried bread can be left as is or shaken in a bag of confectioners sugar or a cinnamon-sugar mix for more of a doughnut flavor.  It does call for at least a few inches of hot oil so keep out of the reach of kids while frying, otherwise there are lots of ways for them to get involved making this.  Info... here.

Amish Pumpkin Bread and Cranberry Orange Bread
I usually have the ingredients on hand for either of these quick breads.  This is one of the recipes that I freeze cranberries when they are available to make at other times of the year.

I keep at least one 11.5 oz. bottle of orange juice in the freezer to make the cranberry bread, defrosting it when needed. The plastic bottles freeze well.  Don't worry if you don't have an orange for zesting, I keep orange "extract" on hand and it works great.  Info... here.

Muffins My Way
This recipe was in the cookbook from the hospital where my daughter was born, purchased at that time.  It only makes eight muffins but you can easily double it.  Info... here.

Easy Fruit Cocktail Cake
This was one of my mother-in-law's favorite cakes to make.  I'm thinking other canned fruit will work just as good as the fruit cocktail as long as they are diced.  Info... here.

Jean's Peach Pie (Cobbler)
My sister, Jean, sent this recipe to me.  It is a perfect pantry recipe, especially if you find vanilla ice cream in the deep freeze.  Info... here.

Salmon Patties
Here is a savory addition to the list.  My husband hated salmon patties until I discovered this recipe.  I now make them small all of the time (as talked about in NOTE) but without dipping them in flour first.  We like the texture better than it is in the big patties.  Info... here.

Happy cooking/baking!