Plan Your Pantry Series #2- Fruits and Vegetables

Sometimes when I mention my method of cooking from my pantry, people’s eyes glaze over. They imagine bland casseroles filled with processed ingredients and potted meats and picture themselves buying antacids and clothing with elastic waistbands. The word “green” fades into shades of chartreuse and life seems bleak. Gentle reader, don’t be fooled. Cooking from your pantry is actually a great way to ensure your family eats whole, real foods that meet your budgetary needs. The truth is that my family and I only eat processed foods on purposeful occasions, such as when I buy frozen pizzas. And we definitely do not lack for “green”! Today I want to talk about fruits and vegetables, and ways to incorporate a variety of both into your pantry.

Here are some key ideas:

1. Buy fresh, clearly seasonal produce items in season, and as locally as possible. You have heard this before. Food that is fresher just tastes better, and it has more nutrients. Some items in this category include berries, tomatoes, squash, and melons. It isn’t always obvious what to skip and what to substitute, since you can buy these items in grocery stores nearly year-round. And what about your promise to bring salad to a Sunday afternoon potluck in January? (My suggestion in that case is to avoid mealy pink tomatoes and tasteless cucumbers and instead buy winter greens such as baby kale and serve it with citrus, nuts, jarred artichokes, or cheeses.) Consider your fresh produce purchases and whether or not they can be substituted for a better seasonal choice.

2. Preserve in-season items for out-of-season consumption. This is actually a lot easier than it sounds, since you can outsource the preservation methods. For example, I serve blueberries several days per week, year round, but they are stored in my freezer after having been bought frozen. The berries were grown on an organic blueberry farm and flash frozen on site immediately after picking. Because I buy 10-20 pounds at a time, my price is quite low- nearly as low as if it were actually blueberry season, and every bit as flavorful and nutritious. We rarely eat blueberries out of hand except from our own bushes, so the texture difference after thawing is not an issue. They still taste great in my homemade whole-milk yogurt, on oatmeal, with flaked coconut and granola, baked in a cobbler or muffins, in a smoothie, or in Saturday morning pancakes. I have even made blueberry marmalade from frozen blueberries, with excellent results. The same concept works for frozen peas, corn, or green beans, my favorite choices for frozen vegetables.

Another example combines the best of in-season preservation and meal pre-preparation: Fresh greens, grated hard cheese, nuts, garlic, salt and pepper combine to make a healthful, sublime pesto. Last summer, I grew two basil plants and supplemented my crop with basil from my local farmer’s market. I currently have about 30 one-cup containers of either basil or collard green pesto in my freezer. I have also made and froze a dairy-free cilantro pesto with excellent results. Watch for a future blog post on ways to turn this inexpensive but high-value freezer item into side dishes, quick family meals, or company fare.

3. When you buy fresh produce, buy multi-purpose and long lasting items whenever possible. Here are a few examples.

– Apples cold store for a long time, are inexpensive, and available in several varieties. You can serve them all day long, raw or cooked. For a pantry breakfast, serve oatmeal with chopped apples and raisins. Apples are great snacks anyway but take on special status served sliced with regular or chocolate nut butters. I add apples to both tuna and egg salad, which make excellent lunches and dinners. Once your apples start going soft, you can bake them into apple crisp or apple pie, or puree them into applesauce. Tying into Point #2 above, fresh apples are easily preserved- a few years ago we were blessed with a quantity of wild apples, which we canned into applesauce and ready-made apple pie filling. I had enough left over to make an amazing cranberry applesauce. You can also inexpensively buy pre-made applesauce, made with or without sugar.

– Bananas are another wonderful, inexpensive pantry staple that can be served all day long. Bananas are a great take-along breakfast, snack, or side at lunch. When they start to turn brown, you may peel them and store in a resealable freezer bag or container. My favorite banana bread recipe calls for three bananas, and because I always have several in the freezer waiting for use, we frequently serve my signature homemade banana/chocolate chip/walnut bread at breakfast, snack, or dessert. In fact, I recently bought a huge bag of brown bananas at my local grocery for less than a dollar. Now I have enough bananas to make multiple loaves of banana bread. Before you think “Bread = calories… I don’t eat banana bread anyway”, consider whether you have ever wanted to bring something to your Bible study, or to a friend in need, or to thank someone for their help, but didn’t have a disposable container, ingredients, or mental capacity to plan ahead. Most likely you handled this situation with a trip to the grocery store wine or bakery section, which involved time, gasoline, extra money, and even more brain capacity. Of course there are situations of nut or grain allergies, but many times a handwritten note and a loaf of fresh, homemade banana bread will suffice exceptionally well.

– Spinach and “cookable” greens are a better choice for salads then many lettuces, if only because they can be added to soups, omelets, or other cooked foods as the greens eventually start to wilt and fade. Of course there are plenty of health benefits to these dark leafy greens as well.

– Onions, carrots, potatoes and celery all keep well in cold storage, and are the basis for many dishes. I cold store all of these items, generally buying more every time I am at the grocery store. These items are not well substituted so if you don’t want to keep buying them without having a “specific” meal to cook, consider storing chopped onions, carrots and celery in your freezer.

– I also buy mushrooms nearly every time I am at the grocery store. They keep fairly well, and sauteed mushrooms (with spinach and onions!) are a wonderful, easy to make side dish or, in addition to scrambled eggs, a quick family dinner. I also store dehydrated mushrooms for occasional use.

4. Don’t ignore canned, jarred, dried, foraged and fermented fruits and vegetable preparations!  My girls LOVE canned green beans, so we have canned beans several days a week. I also store canned corn, since it makes an excellent addition to my favorite bean chili recipe. I can Bing cherries every summer when the price drops, and I serve them on yogurt at breakfast or for dessert. Our pesticide-free yard is covered with spring onions, which the girls love to pluck and eat, and I like to chop and include as a topping to eggs, chili, and soup. I store jarred sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, hearts of palm and olives as winter salad toppings, recipe additions, or options on “tapas night”. My husband makes this incredible 6-week fennel seed and apple sauerkraut, which we all eat ravenously. Dried fruits make great snacks, can be added to baked goods, granola, or cereals, or salads (Our favorite curry tuna salad recipe calls for dried currants).

I hope that these ideas will encourage you to try new ways to add vegetables and fruits to your pantry. Please tell me what your family does! I love new ideas and hearing from readers!