Meals from the pantry

You can find recipes in books, magazines and on the internet. So I won't go that route with you. I will offer suggestions

Meat patties using canned salmon or mackerel or tuna or mashed beans( toss in a tortilla wrap and you have a burrito)

Corned beef hash (you can put an egg in the middle of it) and serve it with bread ( I prefer toast)I've made hamburger hash and added carrots and celery to the mix.

I also use canned corn beef topped with 1,000 salad dressing, kraut and Swiss cheese in my crock pot for a good casserole (it can be nuked instead) that the left overs is served the next day on sub buns with more Swiss cheese.

Couscous, risotto, paella,pastas,fried rice.

Beans over rice, beans and pasta( pasta e fagioli) or as my Nonna did, beans( a pound of beans for each person) soup on Monday.Add mixed veggies on Tuesday and more water.Add small pasta on Wed and more water. Add stale bread or serve over the stale bread on Thursday and more water. Friday bake bread and have fried bread instead of the soup and be grateful. Saturday was pizza night and Sunday was always pasta and some kind of roast most times it was a chicken.

Dried beef (Or any canned meat) and milk gravy over bread/biscuits( remember that flour and yeast I mentioned...okay go ahead and get the bisquick ALSO)

Cornmeal can make porridge, polenta(when you add cheese) fried mush(which is porridge that has cooled)corn bread and tamales.

Hand me a can of green beans and a can of potatoes and I will toss it together for a one pot meal.Add corn bread or other bread to fill you up and you have a meal.

Cabbage, potatoes and some bacon or ham (or just their grease...sorry but it doesn't raise our cholesterol)

I usually have some squashes and cabbages in my basement during the late fall, winter into early spring. Usually some apples also. Crisps are good keepers if you keep them dry and cool. Cook them together add pasta, rice or bread and you will fill those tummy's up

Toss canned meat with your pasta or rice and make a white sauce with your evaporated milk . Or serve rice with red sauce(commonly called spaghetti sauce)

Casseroles are forgiving and easy. You can even nuke them and make them quickly.
I have tossed stale bread, odds and ends of cheese and diced up veggies together with an egg or even just milk and baked for a casserole.Sometimes I will serve it with gravy I make from the leftover meat grease I keep when cooking meat and freeze it.

Stuffing or dressing combined with meat and or with veggies is easy also.Whether you start with fresh bread or boxed mixes.

Go look in your cabinets and pull out what you could make your next 2 meals from. You might even get carried away and find out you have more meals than you think you do shoved in those cabinets.


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