Pantry Basics for Quick Meals
Grocery Supplies for Preparing Meals for Family or Guests
Sometimes dinnertime arrives and there are more mouths to feed than expected. Here are some ideas for keeping a pantry stocked to provide for unexpected guests.
No matter how organised the meal plan or how talented the cook, distractions when getting dinner started can make it difficult to provide a meal on time, particularly if unexpected guests need to be included.
Keep some basic grocery supplies in the pantry, fridge and freezer to ensure that a meal can be served no matter what the time restraints or number of guests. Some ingredients are fantastic for stretching meals out to feed extras and an organised cook always has a few recipes tucked away for quick meal preparation emergencies.
Quick Breakfast Ideas
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but it can be difficult to get a family off to a good start on two pieces of stale bread, the crushed remains of a box of cereal and half a cup of milk. By keeping a few basic pantry supplies on hand, it is possible to get everyone out the door well fed and energised for their day.
- Tinned or frozen fruit can be served on cereal, with yoghurt or on its own.
- UHT/long-life milk or powdered milk can replace fresh milk in an emergency, particularly if used in cooking.
- Flour, baking powder, milk, eggs and sugar can produce a reasonable basic pancake batter. Extras such as banana, stewed apple or blueberries can be added if available.
- Scrambled or poached eggs on toast turn breakfast from a snack into a more substantial meal.
Lunch Ideas
If you are feeding more people than anticipated for lunch, it is economical to place food on a platter in the centre of the table instead of making individual sandwiches and so on. A range of options is provided for everyone to sample even when there isn’t enough of each item to serve to guests individually.
- Sandwiches with a variety of fillings
- Crackers and wholegrain or rye biscuits (eg Vita-Weet and Salada) are an excellent alternative to bread and can be kept in the pantry as a back-up.
- A bowl of dried apricots and nuts can help to supplement a sparse lunch, as will fresh fruit if it is available.
- Pikelets (small pancakes) will fill up children and are easy to prepare.
- Popcorn (when only a little salt or melted butter is added) is healthy and filling.
Preparing Dinner at Short Notice
- Chicken filets, thighs or drumsticks can be quickly made into apricot chicken by combining with French onion soup mix, apricot nectar and an onion. Add some tinned apricot halves for the last 10 minutes cooking time.
- Rice and pasta can help to stretch a meal to accommodate additional guests.
- Add cooked sweet potato, potato or pumpkin to increase the size of a casserole.
- Include bread rolls or garlic bread. Leftover rolls can be frozen and made into garlic bread when needed by slicing, spreading with garlic butter, and heating in the oven until warm.
- Soft tortillas are great for serving savoury mince, salad, barbecue chicken and a variety of other fillings.
Shopping List
- Long-life/UHT milk
- Flour
- Baking powder
- Eggs
- Tinned or frozen fruit
- Soft tortillas
- Crackers
- Dried fruit and nuts
- Tin of apricot nectar + tinned apricot halves
- Packets of soup mix – French onion, spring vegetable etc
- Packets of rice or pasta side dishes
- Rice and pasta
- Chicken fillets
- Ground beef/mince
- Cheese
By ensuring that a pantry has at least the basics on hand, it is easy to turn a family meal into a feast. To reduce mealtime stress, gather a range of quick, easy meal ideas (online recipe sites are great for this)and focus on recipes that can be served from communal platters and bowls.
