So this is my first official post about bringing women something they can really do quickly and feel fullfilled about. Surprisingly I have a hard time thinking of a topic to cover first. What do people want to know about first to help make their lives easier? I have settled on cooking since I attended a training on it this morning at work (Ps I love my job!).
Have you ever started a recipe and realized you don't have one of the crucial, basic ingredients? This suggestion should help you know what to stock your pantry with, and how to keep track of if you need to replace an item.
There are always going to be things you need more often than others, like salt, pepper, flour, sugar, and olive oil. If you don't already have them in your pantry, you probably don't cook more than from a box or a delivery man.
Other top used items:
Parsley
Cornstartch
Baking Powder
Cooking Spray
Conola Oil/ Vegetable Oil
Garlic powder/salt
White vinegar (very handy for some many things other than cooking!)
Yeast
Shortening
Apple Cider Vinegar
Balsamicc vinegar
Oregano
Things to keep handy for times it may come up:
Yellow Cornmeal
Honey
Powdered Sugar
Oatmeal
Egg noodles
Minute Rice
Boxed desserts (Beleive me, surprise company comes over, you'll be glad you had something on hand)
Corn syrup
Ground cumin
ground cinnamon
vanilla extract
Peppermint extract/ Almond extract (these add a great surprise flavor to recipes that normally call for vanilla, and make you look like a culinary goddess!)
A Variety of ground and dried herbs
Specialty items:
ANYTHINGS ELSE!
I like Sherry vinegar, seaseme oil, Rice vinegar, baking chocolate, various nuts, molasses, and bread crumbs.
This is not an all inclusive list, and it is only dealing with items that you should stock a pantry with, not refridgerator, but it is a great start. Of course, if you are particularly fond of a particular cuisine, like Asian, your ingredients may be a little different than mine. However, the real important part is next!
How do you keep track of it all? When something runs out, how do you remember to pick it up at the store the nexttime your out? Since these are the basics, you aren't buying them every week, like you would, say, eggs or milk. Here is a list of suggestions on what I have found to work for me and my friends and family.
1. Use your fridge. If you have a magnetic fridge (Damn stainless steel!)- use a magnetic pad of paper meant especially for your shopping list. With a hot glue gun, or other ingenuitive design, attach a pen to a string and the string to the pad. The key to this method- the pen hasto be attached. I have found that if it isn't, it won't be used. This saves time on searching for a pen or any writing utensil when something runs out- and we all know- you are just going to give up before you find it!
2. For you techies- download an App on your phone, use a computer memo pad, or write yourself a reminder in your calendar on your normal shopping day. Use a special coding or color to help distinguish it from other to-do's and it will hekp you remember the day of.
3. If you like the old-school daily planners- Get an extra insert for your book- or do like number two, and write it in on the normal shopping days. I don't have to explain the color-coding, since you have probably been doing this method since you were old enough to organize.
4. In general, organize your stuff. Have a place in your pantry where everything goes. For me, for instance, I have all my baking supplies (I.e. flour, sugar, baking soda, corn startch, honey, etc.) on the top shelf. On the second shelf is pasta and boxed, quickie desserts and meals. On the following shelf is snack food we all inevitably end up with even though we swear we didn't buy the last time we went shopping. On the last and bottom shelf are my zip lock bags, tin foil, and cling wrap. By having everything in spot I know every time, I can easily do a survey when prepping for a menu or recipe to know if I need to get something.
5. Clear, reusable storage containers are your friends, and if they have a place to temporarily write a name and date on them, you might become more than jsut friends. They do need to be CLEAR, however, since this is the key to this trick being successful. Put your flour, sugar, baking powder, and anything else you want in them (It can even work for liquids) and name and date them. This way you can visually see, quickly, what you have and how much of it you are packing. It may be more work on the front end- but beleive me, it beats being 1/2 way into a recipe, getting your groove on in the kitchen, only to press pause so you can run out for more sugar.
6. Keep the items you use most frequently close at hand and in plain site if at all possible. This way you will always be aware when things get low. Don't let things run out if you can help it. Always plan to buy it soon when you notice it getting low. By being proactive you will save a lot of heart ache and ruined pot roasts when you do this.
7. A white board or chalk board hung in your kitchen or prep area works too for keeping a list of things you need to buy, I loved when I had this giant chalk board, complete with a fat little chef on the side, to write down what I needed from the store. It was great for my roomate too, since she would write stuff up there she wanted so I would pick it up for her- great for people living together that have opposite schedules.
Well, I hope these tips help. I know they have helped me and my friends after the years of trial and error we put in. May you never run out of sugar, and may you oil always be full!
Let me know if this helps at all!
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