Pantry pride: It's time to get serious about one of your kitchen's most important spaces - Santa Maria Sun

Pantry pride: It's time to get serious about one of your kitchen's most important spaces - Santa Maria Sun

Pantry pride: It's time to get serious about one of your kitchen's most important spaces

REBECCA ROSE

So January blew past you and you failed at all of your New Year’s resolutions (sure, you’ll get that gym membership next week). But don’t despair just yet because I’ve got some tips for one easy thing that you can do to help improve your life in 2018—organizing your pantry.

STOCKED UP A well stocked and organized pantry is key to preparing home-cooked meals on the fly. Stock up on items such as rice, pastas, broth, canned fruits and vegetables, and more. PHOTO BY REBECCA ROSE

If you’re spending a lot of time bemoaning how “there’s nothing to eat in here” and heading out to a restaurant or ordering another large pepperoni supreme for delivery, your problem isn’t that you’re a bad cook or uncreative in the kitchen. You’re probably just suffering from a poorly stocked or confusing pantry.

For a lot of folks, the pantry has become that sad place where you shove those jumbo packs of D batteries from Costco that seemed like a good idea to buy at the time. But a well stocked, organized pantry can be the key not just to eating healthier, but to saving you money long term.

When you look in your pantry, you shouldn’t see a crowded mess of bags, boxes, cans, and jars stacked on top of each other with no rhyme or reason. There’s no way you can possibly tell what you have or where to look when you’re trying to come up with an idea for a meal.

First of all, go through your pantry and make some serious decisions about what you really need in there and toss what you don’t. (And in case this isn’t obvious, by “toss” I don’t mean you should throw out perfectly good food. You can donate it or pass it along to a relative or friend.) What we tend to do is fill our pantries with weird random food that looks pretty in the packaging but doesn’t do much to help you feed yourself or your family. I know that a $12 can of French liver pate looked good when you bought it at that fancy market in Santa Barbara in 2009, but get real with yourself. If you haven’t eaten it by now, you’re never going to and it’s taking up valuable real estate.

SOMETHING’S FISHY Don’t be afraid of items such as anchovies, sardines, and capers. They can boost flavor in dishes like pasta and provide a source of protein. PHOTO BY REBECCA ROSE

Next, you want to think about the core items you need to build a meal. Pasta, grains, beans, and what I like to call flavor enhancers, are all important must-haves in any pantry. Start with pasta, because it’s easy and fast to cook. If you’re looking to cut calories, think about whole wheat pasta (it’s actually good, I promise). I usually have about four to five packages of different kinds of pasta, so that we don’t get bored with just another plate of spaghetti. Try mixing it up with types like pappardelle, orzo, and black squid ink pasta, which tastes amazing and makes your evening dinner look like an audition for Top Chef. (They also sell it at our local Santa Maria Albertsons.)

Grains are also important. I keep things like farro and wild rice on hand so I can make creative side dishes that don’t take a lot of time. Adding fresh vegetables like diced red peppers and green onions or fresh herbs is a great way to elevate a simple grain dish. But if you’re really pressed for time, boxed rice meals (like the famous San Francisco treat) are an easy solution as well.

Beans are another lifesaver at dinner time. I keep bags of dried beans in different varieties, but beware—you’ll have to invest quite some time in soaking beans before you cook them. That’s why canned beans are a great idea; my cupboard is always filled with cans of garbanzo, navy, cannellini beans, great northern beans, red kidney beans, and others.

Make sure you group your items together by type, making it more efficient when you’re trying to plan a meal. When labels are clearly visible, it’s a lot easier to see what items you have. Also, a clean pantry is a healthy pantry. That weird smell from whatever you spilled in there three months ago is not going away anytime soon, so give it a thorough cleaning before you re-organize.

THE MUSICAL FRUIT Dried beans are an easy and affordable item to stock a pantry with, and they make a filling addition to many different meals. But be aware: Dried beans require hours to soak before cooking. Many home chefs find canned beans a simpler substitution. PHOTO BY REBECCA ROSE

I’ll cover the seasonings, spices, and important products for baking in another column, but for now, try giving your pantry a good once-over. You’ll find that it will be easier to come up with simple meals on the fly, and you’ll be making fewer last-minute trips to the store for items for your favorite recipes.

List of pantry must-haves:

Pastas: rotini, farfalle, spaghetti, penne, fusilli, linguine. 

Rices: brown, rice, jasmine, arborio, black rice.

Grains: pearl, quinoa, farro, couscous, polenta.

Beans: Navy, red kidney, pinto, black, lima, black eye, lentil.

Nuts and dried fruits: almonds, walnuts, peanuts, pecans, cranberries, raisins, figs.

Stocks: chicken, beef, seafood, vegetable.

Oils: Olive, walnut, vegetable, canola.

Vinegars: white, red wine, champagne, rice.

Canned fish and meats: chicken, salmon, tuna.

Flour: white, whole wheat, rice.

Sweeteners: granulated sugar, brown sugar, honey, agave syrup, maple syrup.

Flavor enhancers: capers, anchovies (fillets or paste), sardines, olives, chiles, roasted red peppers. 

Seeds: sesame, sunflower, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds.

Nut butter: peanut, almond, or cashew.

Bread crumbs: panko, plain, Italian.

Canned tomato products: tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, whole peeled tomatoes, tomato paste.

Canned vegetables and fruits: carrots, beans, peas, corn, mixed vegetables, mixed fruits, pears, nectarines, applesauce.

Arts and Lifestyle Writer Rebecca Rose is a pasta fiend. Contact her at rrose@santamariasun.com. 

Homemade sausages from Floriano’s in Lompoc. PHOTO COURTESY OF FLORIANO’S

• Niya Restaurant in Orcutt is featuring big bowls of warm ramen during these cold winter nights. Follow them on Instagram at @niyarestaurant for announcements about their next ramen night or visit them at 205 E. Clark Ave.

• Just in time for the Super Bowl, Floriano’s is selling homemade sausages (pictured) for $7.99 a pack. My team isn’t in the big game this year, but chowing down on some jalapeño cheddar sausage while rooting for Tom Brady to lose sounds like a fun day regardless. Pick up a pack at 1129 N. H St., Lompoc.