I have learned to love, and I mean love, having a well-stocked pantry. I keep a dry pantry and a frozen pantry. I belong to a coupon website that helps me keep track of the coupons/weekly & monthly ads and identifies the best deals of the week. I also receive three Sunday papers in order to get multiple coupons. This has helped me stock our pantry for a lot less by buying multiples of things when they are on sale with a coupon.
My dry pantry contains anything that comes in a jar, bottle or box that doesn't need to be refrigerated.
My frozen pantry contains frozen dairy products, meal-portioned raw meats, meal-portioned cooked meats, frozen veggies and (of course) chocolate chips! I also keep all things that could potentially collect bugs like dry pasta, cereal, cake/cookie mixes, grains and pre-ground flour in the freezer to preserve freshness.
I have a stash of recipes that use all pantry items, or pantry items + one or two fresh items that I thought would be fun to share over the coming months.
If you have a Pantry Pleasers recipe that you love, please email it to me and I'll try it out. If it's something we like, I'll post the recipe along with photos-giving you all the credit, of course.
Update 6/4/08: As I was making/photographing the first Pantry Pleasers recipe last night, I realized that a lot of the "one or two fresh ingredients" that I add to Pantry Recipes are ones that I always keep on hand--like a Fresh Pantry. Now, I realize there isn't a terribly long shelf life for these items, but since I always keep them around, I use them just like a regular pantry item. Things like sweet onions, small red and Yukon Gold potatoes, garlic, fresh tomatoes, carrots and apples. Basically, when I run out of one of these items, I know it's time to go to the grocery.
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