Building up a Real Food Pantry

[ The Granny Plan was originally inspired by a weekly series I wrote back in 2013. I thought I’d share some of the original for new readers … just click thru the links to get a little taste of the book from the linked post excerpts. ]

We’re rounding that last curve around the track to the finish line in “The Granny Plan” this week. Oh, we still have a few more steps to cover but we’re getting so close! Today we’re going to talk about ingredients and the logistics of keeping what you need to make what you want on hand. Most times this is where people start talking about menu planning, but I’m not going to talk about that. While menu planning is a step up from panicked runs to the grocery store on a daily basis it still falls far short of ideal. And pantry cooking is so much easier than menu plan cooking that we’ll just jump right in. You’ll want to be prepared to make most anything you might usually make at all times. A good pantry reduces a lot of the work of scratch cooking.

The Pantry Principle

In my series “The Pantry Principle” I talk about how having a pantry full of ingredients keeps real food costs as low as can be and makes cooking faster and easier by eliminating multiple runs to the grocery store.

But how do we get there? A big backlog of real food sounds great but virtually impossible to achieve! First there’s storage, where would I put it? And next, how do I get the extra money it would take to buy ahead? What about spoilage? What about storing perishables with only a tiny freezer to do it in?

One Step at a Time

As with all things in “The Granny Plan” we handle this one step at a time. If we try to swallow this elephant whole we’re bound to make some costly mistakes. So let’s break it down into simple steps we can start on one at a time and gradually build up to the point we have the pantry we’d like to have.

First, realize that the list of things you’d want to keep on hand in a real food kitchen is pretty finite. Granny didn’t go to huge grocery stores … the variety of things you’ll need for real food scratch cooking is really quite small. I give a sample list of raw ingredients in this post what you’ll need as raw ingredients. Of course you’ll want to adjust this list to match your kitchen eventually, but don’t worry about that right now.

The Granny Plan is unavailable as an eBook at the present time but feel free to read the summarized version on this site.

[ The Granny Plan was originally inspired by a weekly series I wrote back in 2013. I thought I’d share some of the original for new readers … just click thru the links to get a little taste of the book from the linked post excerpts. ]

• Getting Started
• Step 1: It All Starts With Buttered Carrots …
• Step 2: Our First Main Dish
• Step 3: Clean As You Go
• Step 4: Feed Yourself First
• Step 5: Eliminate One Fake Food
• Step 6: What Can I Improve in 15 Minutes?
• Step 7: Begin Work on a Real Food Project
• Step 8: Start Building a Real Food Pantry
• Step 9: Do You Have Kitchen Gaps?
• Step 10: List Your Routines
• Step 11: Expand Your Real Food Knowledge
• Step 12: Find Your Real Food Tribe