By Adrian Kohrt
You know those days when you come home from work, and all you want to do is order dinner from DoorDash?
Ordering in isn’t necessary if you have a well-stocked pantry. A pantry stocked with essential nonperishable food items can save time and money. It makes dinner easy because you have most of the ingredients you need. This helps cut back trips to the store.
When you do go to the grocery store, you can save money by shopping the sales, especially for commonly used nonperishable foods. That’s a great time to stock up.
When creating a pantry, you need a cool, dry place to store the food. A cupboard is fine. The second step is to think about the recipes that you commonly make. Make a list of the nonperishable ingredients you use in your recipes. Note items you already have in your cupboard so you don’t duplicate them.
When shopping, make sure you only buy things your family will eat. Even if the deals are great, if everyone hates it, you will throw away the food and waste money.
Also, buy in bulk those items that your family utilizes a lot. Again, look for the sales! As you stock your pantry, do it a little at a time.
For example, my family eats a lot of beans, so when beans go on sale, I buy a lot of them and then wait for other items I need to go on sale later. Look for generic or off-label items when possible. These are just as good as name-brand, and they are much cheaper.
One tip is to check clearance shelves regularly. Stores put out items that they have overstocked all the time.
Here is a sample list of things you might start with in your pantry:
• Dried beans
• Dried pasta
• Rice or quinoa (or other grains)
• Broth/bouillon
• Canned meat
• Peanut butter
• Oats
• Canned fruit
• Canned vegetables
• Sugar
• Cornmeal
• Baking soda
• Baking powder
• Flour
• Pasta sauce
• Cooking oil
Use the above list as a starting point, but make it your own. The pantry supplies you purchase may look different than this suggested list based on your food likes and dislikes and your dietary needs. You will want to think about those things when shopping. You will build your list weekly or monthly by adding more items each time you go to the grocery store.
There are a lot of pantry lists online that you can download and use as a model to get you started. Remember to stock up your pantry over time and buy food your family will eat. This will save you time and money.
Adrian Kohrt is a family nutrition coordinator for Cooperative Extension Service, a part of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, working in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Contact her at amkohrt@alaska.edu or 907-474-7930.
