What's in your pantry?

You know that credit card commercial that asks, "what's in your wallet?" Well, I want to ask you, "what's in your pantry?"

I love having a pantry.  I mean it's a bi-fold door closet that holds all my kitchen ingredients but that makes it a pantry right?

But I also have something even better than a pantry.  A back-in-the day pantry. A PIE SAFE! Man O and his dad, Papa Jack, built this for me thirty years ago when I was pregnant.  That was before push presents even.

Pie safes were the place you put all your food stuffs, including pies, you wanted to save from the critters that wandered in and out of the log cabin, the farmhouse, the mansion. Most were open in some shape or another, either with screening or tin with holes punched for air circulation. The richer the owner, the fancier the pie safe.

Being as ours was for decoration only, we decided on copper. Yep, Man O punched every single hole in those panels AND the ones you can't see on each side. I slept through all the copper punching. Must have been pregnancy hormones.

These days we keep most of our ingredients in our pantry closet. It has plenty of room to put up a lot of stuff and not worry about going to the grocery story for this and that.  But there are certain things I make sure to have around all the time.

Raw almonds.  My go-to snack, a garnish for meat or salad, and can be ground for a pie crust.

Small serving size spaghetti sauce.   I couldn't believe it when they came out with something smaller than a huge jar. Perfect for us empty-nesters. I use it for spaghetti of course but also chili or a sauce for chicken Parmesan.  No waste.

 

Olive Oil.  I don't use butter much any more. Olive oil is great for my stir-frys, salad dressings, and barbecue sauces. And as Missy pointed out the other week, it makes a great moisturizer.

  

Cinnamon.  We are into fall and I make sure to have plenty of cinnamon around, not only because it tastes great on apples and pears but I put it in recipes to help control my blood sugar. Try marinating pork in cinnamon, apple juice and juice of one lemon. Yum.

Mini Wheats.  Didn't expect this one from a gluten-free gal did you? But this is the only cereal Man O eats. I mean ONLY as in I buy six boxes on sale plus coupons at a time. The clerk always asks if I have a lot of children.

Virginia thought it was so funny she gave his compulsion a nod in one of her stories. I mean we currently have an entire shelf of the stuff because he gets worried if it runs low.  Man O lets the gas tank get as low as it will go but get down to one box of cereal and he panics.

So what about you? Do you have a pantry? Do you have a few items always in stock at your house? Let us know what your go-to ingredients or foods are! Or is there a food your family insists must be present at all times?