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Redefining Pantry Staples
The Benefits of a Well-stocked Kitchen Part One
By Donna Smith
(Wiley, 2002), says is key for busy families: convenience. "When you have a variety of nourishing foods on hand, it's easier to provide healthful meals and snacks with little effort," Duyff says. "If nourishing foods are within easy reach, it's easier for you and your family to make nutritious food choices from a variety of foods, including vegetables, fruits and whole-grain foods. Especially for adults, the many canned ingredients flavored with herbs and spices makes food preparation even more convenient."
"I like to keep a lot of extra canned foods, [for example] olives, carrots, green peas, string beans, applesauce, things like that, because that way if you have nothing more to serve with meat or something, you can broil a steak and serve olives and string beans with it," says Bethany Ritchey from Newport, Ore., who has an 18-month-old and 2 1/2-year-old. "My kids for one go crazy over olives and applesauce with steak."
Shopping and Stocking Snafus
Duyff feels the biggest mistake parents make when shopping is poor planning, and not taking the time to have a variety of nourishing foods in the pantry in the first place. Her solution is to keep track of ingredients as they're used so you can easily restock. "Another mistake is simply not knowing what you do have, perhaps hiding in the corners of your pantry," she says. Her solution to that is to rotate your pantry every few months and bring the foods you've had for a while to the front. "Use a marker to write in the date on the label if you need a reminder," she says, adding that canned ingredients retain their quality for up to two years. After that, she says, they're still safe to eat if the seal is intact and if the can isn't leaking. Nava Atlas, author of The Vegetarian Fmily Cookbook (Broadway, 2004) and The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet
