Learn two TikTok hacks for storing lettuce in clamshells and leafy lettuce heads to keep them fresh for longer and to prevent wilting and browning.
— Read on www.allrecipes.com/article/tiktok-storing-lettuce-hacks/
This is something that I could use!
A pantry is a room or cupboard where beverages, food, (sometimes) dishes, household cleaning products, linens, or provisions are stored within a home or office. Food and beverage pantries serve in an ancillary capacity to the kitchen.
I’ve talked about Meal Prep and Recipe Prep. To my mind, that just leaves Pantry Prep. What is Pantry Prep? Pantry Prep, to me, is going through the items currently found in your pantry and making sure you have what you need to make your family’s favorite meals.
Stop right now and think about your pantry. Do you know what is in your pantry? If you had to, could you grab what you needed from your pantry to make a satisfying meal? If you had unexpected guests drop by close to mealtime, could you extend your planned meal to cover these guests? Maybe it’s time to organize and restock your pantry!
There are dozens of shelf organizers that you can use to make your pantry easier to work with. Start with defining how much space you have to work with. In my cabinets, I discovered that my spices are the hardest to keep organized.
This is the type of organizer for my Spices I currently have. It fits into the small, narrow corner cabinet.
You can find it here: https://tinyurl.com/yf585zxt
I’m starting to consider this one. It seems to be very versatile and easily customizable.
You can find this one here: https://tinyurl.com/5cb9z84h
Bins like these can help you gather all those odd-sized items and store them neatly. They are also useful for the many bottles you have.
They can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/2p9xyaj8
To show you what I mean, recently I put my groceries away only to find that I now had 3 bottles of Ketchup, 2 bottles of Balsamic Vinegar, and 2 bottles of Molasses!
If I’d had any kind of organization, I could have avoided that. Since then, I have tried to rotate things on my pantry shelves, putting the newest items in the back and the older items in the front. If you have the room, try to separate things into zones. Keep your staples like sugar, flour, etc., all together.
Can racks such as this one help enforce the idea of “first in, first out.” This rack can also be stacked if you have the space.
Find it here: https://tinyurl.com/4cc68mzd
See these? They may become your best friend when you start organizing your pantry. There are a number of sizes that work great for storing food items that you can’t store in the original packaging.
Here’s where I found it: https://tinyurl.com/5dnphsju
If you notice in the After Photo, you can see labels on several of the containers. That’s an easy way to keep track of what’s in the container exactly. Bread Flour and All-Purpose Flour look the same but are not interchangeable! Also, on the various containers of pasta, I labeled the container with how much a serving was. Using containers for the pasta, instead of the original box made it much easier to see if I needed more.
Most cookbooks that are for beginners tend to have a section on what the author recommends for the pantry. In searching Pinterest, I found several pantry checklists. I’ve started a board of Pantry ideas where I’m collecting these ideas and others.
The format you use is completely up to you. I can’t tell you what will work best for you. Here are a couple of ideas and where I found them.
This is a simple checklist that you can use. I found it on All Recipes.
Take a moment to follow me on Pinterest. My next post in this series will focus on why we’re doing this. I promise you, there’s definitely a reason!
These pigs in a blanket are made with hot dogs wrapped in cheese and biscuit dough; a deliciously fun savory treat for kids and adults alike!
— Read on www.allrecipes.com/recipe/21780/pigs-in-a-blanket/
Remember These?
Homemade strawberry shortcake is a summer dessert classic, and the best versions are just the right balance of sweet, juicy, and creamy. I tested 5 popular Allrecipes.com strawberry shortcake recipes to see which was the best.
— Read on www.allrecipes.com/best-strawberry-shortcake-review-7565373
A short while ago, I starting reading an article written by a blogger in which she described how she would prepare for RV trips with her husband. The preparations always including securing the meats she would need for their meals, and then packaging them for use in the Instant Pots she took along. Any fresh fruits and veggies would be purchased at a nearby store to wherever they had stopped.
This got me thinking about what she was doing. Now, because of my husband’s health issues, we can’t take the trips we might have once done, but I could still prep things in advance. Only instead of just generally packing the cut veggies in larger containers, I could pack them in smaller ones that would hold just the amount needed for specific recipes. Hmmmmmmmmm!
The first thing you need to consider is which recipes you are prepping for. For most cooks, weekday nights can be a bit on the hectic side to get a good meal on the table. Now, I don’t know about you, but I have a number of “Go To” recipes that I frequently cook. There’s more than just enough to go through a single week, but not enough to go through two weeks. This way, the recipes rotate which day of the week I use them. So, gather your favorite recipes and pick 6 or 7 to prep for.
Be somewhat selective on which ingredients you want to prep and freeze. A good cookbook on Preserving Foods will help you to pick and choose. I would think that you want to prep ingredients that are easy to chop/slice/dice but aren’t hard to preserve. The book I gave you a link to is the one I use. It covers not only canning, but also freezing, pickling, and dehydrating food. Obviously, I don’t prep the seasonings. For one thing, trying to find a bag small enough to hold salt and pepper isn’t happening!
Some foods can simply be sliced or diced, then frozen and things will come out just fine. Think onions, peppers, celery and such. Other veggies need to be blanched before freezing, such as potatoes or carrots. Don’t quote me on this, but I think it would depend on the amount of water in the vegetable. If you’re unsure, check with your local county extension department. Try this link to find your local extension office.
In a previous post, Meal Prep for Country Cooks , I explained how I would prep my food. I also gave a link to a site where you could convert a recipe from individual pieces to cups for many veggies. Let me give you it again. How Much is in Produce Converter . This way you can measure out how much of the produce you need for the recipe and package just that much. Gather all the individual ingredients and package them together. Depending on how many ingredients you have, a large freezer bag might be all you need. Just make sure you LABEL it!
Book Reviews by the Reluctant Retiree 