Pantry Staples -Living on a Budget Part 2

So as I promised, I am back to share with more money saving tips. As I said before, we have had some really hard times, at more then one occasion we have had to swallow our pride and take food donations from a food pantry. We are very blessed! You don't know what poor is until you have to chose what to spend the 20 dollars you happened upon and don't know when you'll see more money again. That is how bad it was when my husband lost his job a year ago. I was pregnant, had no health care or benefits for me or my two oldest children, the unemployment and government assistance were making us jump through months worth of hoops and in the mean time, we were stuck looking for handouts and trying in anyway to make a buck while my hubs searched desperately for a job in the tri -state area. When he finally did nearly 6 months after unemployment it was not a high paying job. So we are in an incredible amount of debt, and still have to feed five (7 counting our cats) mouths while catching up on all of the bills we were deferring before.
Here is what I prefer to keep in our pantry. When you have a odd assortment of food in your pantry you really get creative in order to make a yummy AND nutritious meal for your family. That is always a fun challenge, and I have created some really good keepers to add to the recipe binder.

So no more yapping , here is the list!

• cream of mushroom soup
• cream of chicken soup
• a variety of pastas
• Panko bread crumbs
• crushed pineapples
• creamed corn
• whole corn
• olives
• jalapenos
• tuna
• yeast
• flour
• pie fillings
• rice
• dry beans
• Lipton onion soup mixes
• taco seasoning packets
• spices of all varieties   salt, pepper, onion powder, savory, basil, parsley, garlic powder, paprika, red pepper flakes, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg,all spice, dill, thyme, rosemary, lemon pepper salt. these are what we keep in our pantry.
• stuffing mix
• evaporated milk
• sweetened condensed milk
• sugar
• brown sugar
• 10x sugar
• pasta sauce

Next post I will give you the list of the items I always keep in my freezer and fridge. The post after that I will give you guys a list of the recipes I use on a weekly basis, and all of the different recipes you can make with the lists. Yesterday I made corn and peas to go with the chicken stroganoff and had leftovers. Today I sauteed up some ground turkey with taco seasoning, mixed in the leftover corn and peas and put them in a taco shell sprinkled with shredded cheese! Two meals out of one side dish. :)

 

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