The Pantry Project
Inspired by Crystal of poco-cocoa, I’ve decided to attempt the Pantry Project. I’ve taken a written inventory of my pantry and freezer with the aim of using up the countless cans and bags and boxes and packages that take up space in its dark recesses. As Crystal points out, this may mean more (perhaps even daily) trips to the grocery store, so as not to replace the non-perishable goods you are using up. Pantry Project participants will need to make more frequent and more targeted trips to the store for fresh produce that is specifically intended for a particular pantry ingredient. Cystal offers a much more succinct and poetic explanation of the whole concept on her site.
Here’s a peek into my pantry:
The key question arises: How do you keep enough ingredients on-hand so that you can throw together a decent meal on a moment’s notice without stockpiling a dozen cans of black beans and diced tomatoes? I certainly don’t have the answer to this question, but maybe I’ll find out through this experiment.
So here’s the basic run-down of the ingredients I will be trying to use up a little bit at a time:
From the Pantry:
- Assorted rice, pasta, oatmeal, flour, grains, polenta, and dried lentils in three different colors
- Canned beans and veggies
- Half a dozen Instant Cup-O-Soups (the healthy, organic kind, mind you!)
- At least ten different flavors of tea
And in the freezer:
- Organic Brown Rice from Trader Joe’s - microwaves to perfection in 3 minutes!
- Corn & Spelt Pizza Crusts
- French-Style Green Beans
- Enough frozen fruit to supply a Jamba Juice for 3 weeks
- Miscellaneous forgotten stuff, such as turkey burgers and sweet potato fries
So, for the last two days, I’ve resisted the temptation to go to the grocery store even though the fridge is bare and the pantry/freezer choices are less than tantalizing. On Sunday night I made the strangest concoction of brown rice and canned green beans with soy sauce and nuts that somehow got a thumbs-up from my husband. All I can say is that he must have been really hungry!
But yesterday, I pulled together a rather acceptable meal that served double duty by filling our tummies and emptying our pantry at the same time. While we watched the poor Chargers lose on Monday Night Football 
I cooked up some Trader Joe’s Whole Wheat Penne Pasta with Classico brand Tomato & Basil Sauce and French-Style Green Beans with Meyer Lemon Olive Oil. I topped the pasta with a few pine nuts and freshly grated Parmiggiano Reggiano and it wasn’t half bad. The worst part of the night was watching the Chargers blow the game. Poor guys.
Anyway, hopefully you’ll feel inspired to use up the goods in your pantry a bit more frequently. The key is to resist immediate replenishment. Wouldn’t it feel good to store less food and have on hand only what you’ll need for the next week or so? Is this even possible? I don’t know. But thank you, Crystal, for inspiring me to try!
Hi Beth - Great post. Once a year I have pantry cleaning week, and create somereally strange stuff. Though I’m never able to use up all my sauces and stuff……there’s just so much fermented shrimp paste a person can take!
Comment by Kirk — October 11, 2005 @ 9:48 am
Great inspiration, thank you. My pantry weakness seems to be dried beans/grains and fruit jam. There must be a dozen of each in the pantry right this very moment. Too bad tonight’s supper’s already in the works! I’ll try not to forget, for tomorrow’s. Alanna
Comment by Alanna — October 11, 2005 @ 10:27 am
Publishing a picture of your pantry– that’s brave! My pantry is so full, I don’t think I would have the wherewithall to do that. I’m not sure I even know how many cans of black beans, bags of rice, etc. I even have.
Comment by Adrienne — October 11, 2005 @ 11:05 am
I’m so glad I’m not alone in this little project! Your pantry looks much larger than mine, so I think your challenge is a bit bigger! So far I’ve done fairly well at using up beans and pasta and cans of broth or tomatoes. There are some ingredients that seem to just sit proudly on the shelf with the knowledge that I will have a hard time getting rid of them. Watch out, you can of chipotle chiles! You half-a-bag of frozen peas!
Comment by crystal — October 11, 2005 @ 11:20 am
That is a good idea. My deep freeze is so full, you can’t get anything else in. But it seems like we never take anything out, either.
Comment by Sara — October 11, 2005 @ 11:42 am
Yo….your pantry always amazes me (Beth is my sister)…there is more food in there than my house sees in a year! Anyways this sounds like a cool project. If I tried this with my pantry I would end up with cashew nuts and Kashi topped with honey….wait….that sounds kinda good.
Comment by Amy — October 11, 2005 @ 7:40 pm
This is a great idea. Like Alanna, I seem to have a penchant for collecting beans & jam. Try making a dinner with that combo! I’ve gotten to the point where I try to put a date on things when I buy them. I write the month and year in Sharpie marker. It doesn’t mean I use them up any faster, but at least when I pull that canned coconut milk off the uppermost shelf I can think, wow, has it really been 6 years since I bought that?
Comment by Angie — October 11, 2005 @ 8:37 pm
So okay, it’s official. I hate you. You should see my paltry pantry — it’s microscopically small compared to yours. I’ve gotten really good at fitting “just one more thing “in the freezer every week…grrr.
Comment by Catherine — October 11, 2005 @ 10:25 pm
My life is so totally opposite this. I wish I had a grocery store that was worth visitng every other day, and specialty food stores are unheard of here. I specifically work at keeping my pantry and freezer stocked with homemade goodies and basic foodstuffs to make up for the lack of immediately available groceries. I’ll be interested to watch though.
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