Pantry Meal Ideas

I've been trying to work through all the food I stocked up on amidst the COVID-19 pandemic panic and its  forced me to get real creative with what I have. Here's some meal ideas that hopefully you too can make with your pantry staples. 

1. Bean , Cheese, and Rice Burritos: My kids love these! I char the tortillas a bit on my gas burner and then I put a layer of refried beans, some Mexican style Rice-A-Roni, and a little cheddar cheese. Roll 'em up, grab some sour cream and or salsa for dipping and it's a quick, cheap, yummy meal.

2. Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Peppers: Okay, this may just be me... but I bought way too many veggies and now I am finding I have to eat them before they spoil. I made stir-fry last night, but I have all these bell peppers I need to get rid of. I thought this Italian take on stuffed peppers looked really good on thatlowcarblife.com looked good. It's basically chicken, cheese, marinara, and bell peppers.

3. Baked  Potato Bar: Do you have a bunch of potatoes? I know I do. They are cheap and fill you up if you get in a bad spot. My kids love when we do potato bar. My favorite toppings are chili, cheese, sour cream, and broccoli. Put you can get creative with what is in your pantry. Try Salsa, BBQ Sauce, or instead cut those potatoes up and make fries.

4. Homemade Pizza. I made sure to have lots of flour and yeast in my pantry, so we've been making pizza more often than normal. Here's my favorite pizza dough recipe from Williams Sonoma and you can use marinara, simple tomato sauce with a little Italian seasoning and salt and pepper or pesto. Use anything you need to get rid of from the fridge. We like to get creative with cheeses. You can throw chicken, hamburger, or sausage on and it's a great way to use up veggies that are about to spoil.

5. Pasta Salad: I love having a pasta salad in the fridge. Noodles, Italian dressing and whatever you need to get rid of in the pantry and fridge. Olives, mushrooms, baby corn, artichoke hearts, deli meat, chopped up cheese sticks. It's hard to go too wrong here.

Other quick, cheap, pantry friendly meals I turn to are grilled cheese and tomato soup, quesadillas, breakfast for dinner.