Let's Discuss My Pantry

Alright, confession time (and this may be a long confession), I don’t make EVERYTHING from scratch.  But I do make most things from scratch.  The few things I do buy canned and premade, I have very good reasons for.  Let me explain them shall I.

My son eats tomatoes like candy.  No, he really does.  I can go through 10 lbs of tomatoes is under a week (I have seen it happen), and while this is much better for him then candy, it is horrible on my budget (remember no garden).  So, unless tomatoes happen to be on a reduced sell rack or in a bargain bin where I can buy lots of overripe tomatoes for pennies, it is not cost effective for me to make my own tomato sauce completely from scratch (besides the tomatoes would never make it to a sauce anyway unless they were deemed soft or icky by my son).  Unfortunately, I am not always able to find tomatoes in a bargain bin; this is where the canned tomatoes come into play.  I do not use canned tomato sauce, and unless I am making Spanish shrimp or ketchup, I do not use tomato paste, what I use is crushed tomatoes in puree and diced tomatoes in juice (never stewed, my husband does not like them).  Why don’t I use the whole tomatoes?  I am just lazy enough to not want to have to deal with cutting them.   Don’t get me wrong, they are a great product, I just don’t want to spend extra time cutting them when I don’t have to.

I buy all my condiments.  Sure I could make my own mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard and pickle relish, but why would I want to.  (Okay I do make my own ketchup, but for the day to day “gotta have it on my hot dog”, I will go for the bottle every time.  Hey, don’t judge.)  Mayonnaise is fairly easy to make, but because of the raw egg yolks in homemade mayonnaise, I prefer to give my children the stuff in the jar.  I am not going to make mustard from scratch (I have had to make hot Chinese mustard too many times to want to try to make my own mustard.  Nope, just point me to the yellow bottle).  I will make my own relish if I have to as I only like the dill; but once again, I am lazy enough to spend the couple of dollars it takes to buy the jar.  Barbecue sauce is negotiable.  If I have the ingredients at home and I am making ribs or chicken (or I want to make a cranberry barbecue sauce), I will make some fresh.  If it is just for dipping chicken strips into, seriously I will just hand you which ever bottle I just bought on sale.

Other items that I buy already done for me is pickles and olives (because seriously, unless I find cucumbers on a really good sale it is cheaper to just buy pickles and I don’t have an olive tree to make my own olives), canned tuna (for sandwiches), ground coffee (because if I had beans I would never grind them.  I am being completely honest here), evaporated and condensed milk, canned kidney beans and canned pinto beans (I have the dried versions of both but some days I don’t have time to cook them.  I only buy the Sun Vista brand (if I can) and only the whole beans) and jars of salsa (my husband prefers jarred, so, less work for me).  

Oh and potato chips, pork rinds, corn tortillas (because with the amount we eat, it is easier to go to a store that makes them fresh everyday), soda, and frozen fruits and vegetables (for when I run out of my fresh). And I never make my own yogurt (we just don’t eat enough of it to bother) and cottage cheese.  I also keep a backup container of stock in my pantry although I prefer to make it myself. Everything else (soy sauce, Worcestershire, grains, sugar, vinegar, spices…) are all considered regular pantry items that I need to make things (besides I would never try to make some of that stuff anyway).

I may be a nerd, but I am not stupid.  If there is an easier, less expensive yet equally good product, I will buy it.  Let’s face it I am still a busy Mom, who doesn't have all day to cook, no matter how much I want to, so yes there are things that I do purchase premade.  Things that you WONT find in my pantry, however, are hamburger helper, macaroni and cheese (although you will find the ingredients to make it), rice a roni or pasta roni, canned enchilada sauce (why when it is so easy to make and tastes better homemade), frozen pizzas (unless I made them myself), frozen burritos, frozen potpies, TV dinners, frozen casseroles (again, unless I make them myself), or anything else that has as many preservatives in it as ingredients. 

See, I don’t make everything from scratch (I still haven’t figured out how to do bacon) but I do make a lot of what we eat that way.  (And to answer the question I was once asked by my neighbor, yes I own a can opener, 3 to be exact.)

*All of these items came directly out of my cupboard and I am in no way affiliated with any of them (just don't want to get busted by some company).