Simple Pantry Staple Meals for When You’re Stuck at Home

My prepper brain has been activated with this social distancing situation! What I know is that we will all be at home for a few weeks (?!) and we’ll have to make sure we stay healthy while doing so. This also means not wasting food and rationing what we have just in case we can’t get more things for a bit.   I went through my website to create a game plan and figure out some Simple Pantry Staple Meals for When You’re Stuck at Home for us to refer to in the next few weeks. All my years of meal prepping has PREPARED ME FOR THIS. 

Let’s get started. 

First of all, 

THIS IS MY CURRENT MANTRA:

Something productive to do is to STAY HEALTHY. My Mom would always tell me to drink fluids whenever I wasn’t feeling well. If you notice your lips are chapped, it’s a good indication that you are dehydrated. DRINK LIQUIDS.

Lemon Ginger Elixir

I’m stocked up on ginger. I bought a bunch from costco and juiced it/made ice cubes with my Ice Cube Tray and stashed them in the freezer.  I also juiced a bunch of lemons that were going bad and froze that too! 

During this extended stay at home I’ll probably be making a batch or two of kombucha. I have a container of mango puree that I think will come in handy.

How to Make Kombucha at Home:

This is the reason why I always have tea, sugar and some sort of juice in my pantry.

Homemade Vanilla Almond Milk:

If you run out of milk and need to make more AND you have a bunch of nuts, make a nut milk!  I might try to make oat milk this week because we are rolling in oats right now!

I also have a bunch of frozen fruits in the freezer so I see a few smoothies in our future!

Bright Green Smoothie

Drinking this until I don’t have any more spinach! 

Let’s talk about breakfast options! Since I have Cooper home with me for the next few weeks, we will have more time to make breakfast instead of rushing out of the house after eating a bowl of cereal. Here are some ideas!

A

Simple French Toast

We’ll probably have some french toast next week. The best part is that Cooper helps me now!

French Toast Muffins

French toast with a twist! Cinnamon sugar topped too!

Everyday Pancakes are simple enough to make EVERYDAY. Find the recipe on Shutterbean.com!

Everyday Pancakes

The reason why these are everyday pancakes is that they use everyday ingredients!

Chilaquiles

Give your eggs and tortillas a home!

Broccoli Pesto Polenta

We’ve got some polenta in the pantry. This might be a good excuse to use it.

Polenta Cornbread

And since I have polenta in my cupboard, I can totally make this for Casey (it’s his favorite).

Let’s move onto meals. These things can be lunch/dinner. 

Mushroom Ramen 

I almost always have ramen in our pantry because it’s a simple dinner for Cooper. He loves it! It’s also a good excuse to use up any vegetables in the fridge. I add an egg in mine and sometimes I play around with the broth. During this time, it’s important to keep upping your fluid levels!  See also: Smoked Salmon Ramen

Cold Sesame Noodles

Another great way to use ramen! 

Stracciatella Soup

My grandma would make this for me A LOT because I loved it. You mix the egg in chicken broth with spinach and top with Parmesan. It’s very comforting and totally easy to whip up.

Need a quick/simple dinner? Make Roasted Broccoli with White Bean with Lemon. Put an egg on it! Recipe on Shutterbean.com!

Roasted Broccoli with White Beans

Best way to use a can of white beans, if you ask me!

French Onion Soup made with Chicken Stock! Find the recipe on Shutterbean.com

French Onion Soup

Are you stocked up on onions? GOOD. How about chicken broth? Fantastic! Got leftover bread to use? You are on your way to making this french onion soup. It’s great because it uses chicken broth, not beef and that’s what I almost always have!

Sidekick Tomato Soup

Got canned tomatoes? GREAT LET’S MAKE SOUP! If you don’t have the cream, I bet you could use coconut milk!

Carrot Coconut Soup:

I’ve got some of this stocked up in the freezer right now! It’s a great way to use coconut milk and a surplus of carrots.

Spicy Coconut Noodles:

When I run low on our pasta noodles, I’m going to start making things with the rice noodles in our pantry. This dish is like a creamy Thai alfredo! It uses coconut milk!

Spicy Chicken with Chickpeas is an easy dinner to pull together on a weeknight. Find this healthy recipe on Shutterbean.com

Spicy Chicken with Chickpeas

Makes great leftovers and another good thing to make with canned beans.

Lemon Artichoke Spaghetti

I bet this could be good with some white beans in it!

Mediterranean Pasta Salad is a weekly staple. Perfect for work lunches paired with extra greens. Find the recipe on Shutterbean.com

Mediterranean Pasta Salad

All things come from my pantry & some of my favorite must-haves : arugula & feta!

Sausage & Kale Stuffed Shells

Want a project? Make stuffed shells! 

Tomato & Artichoke Penne

I used to make this A LOT when I was in college. Canned tomatoes & jarred artichokes is a winning combo.

Sausage & Kale French Bread Pizza

My mom used to make us french bread pizzas. I totally forget about them! If you have some bread, don’t underestimate its power! It can turn into croutons and PIZZA!!!!!!!

And speaking of pizza…if you have pizza dough you can make the following:

Sausage Bread

This is comfort food for meeeeee. I could eat it for breakfast, lunch & dinner!

Garlic Bread Twists

Dip them in marinara you pulled from the pantry.

Pizza Rolls

Another fun way to use pizza dough…

Broccoli Cheddar Rolls

And pizza dough can basically turn into stuffed rolls! These broccoli cheddar ones are bonkers.

I also enjoy….

Brown Sugar Pecan Sticky Buns

I know we were talking about MEALS but look at these things. Pizza dough can work wonders and you can freeze it!

Have a stockpile of boxed mac & cheese?? Check this out.

10 Ways to Enhance a box of Annie’s Mac & Cheese 

I went through and made a whole bunch of variations of mac & cheese if you want to fancy it up!

Baked Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

A weeknight staple around here!

Lemon Chicken

Leftovers are great. Perfect thing to spoon over rice.

Lemon Garlic Roasted Shrimp makes weeknight dinner making EASY. Find the recipe on Shutterbean.com!

Lemon Garlic Shrimp

This will probably be on the agenda this week because I have a bag of frozen shrimp in my freezer right now.

The most delicious & simple Apricot Glazed Chicken Thigh recipe can be found at Shutterbean.com!

Apricot Glazed Chicken

Did you get rice? Awesome. Have a jar of apricot jam in the pantry? GREAT!!

Thinking of doing some stress baking? (I’ve already made biscuits!). Let’s fill you with some more ideas.

Chocolate Banana Bread

This is a good way to use up old bananas AND make a child happy. Cooper gets excited when he thinks I’ve made chocolate bread. It’s practically cake. 

Hippy Banana Bread Shutterbean

Hippy Banana Bread

LOADED up banana bread!  This is one of my favorites. Cooper loves my Maple Olive Oil Banana Bread (great if you are out of butter!). 

Killer Granola

Make your house smell great. Put those oats and nuts to good use!

Gluten-Free Fudgy Brownies

When I’m all out of flour, I’m going to dip into my cornstarch supply and make us these brownies.

I LOVE LISTS // a collection of links from the 'net on Shutterbean.com

Stay healthy. Stay safe. TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOURSELF.

Do something productive with your feelings during this time. Heck, make a gratitude journal!

 

  • Cheryl Smith

    You’re awesome! Thank you so much for sharing.

  • Kristen Solecki

    Thank you so much for this, really needed it:)

  • Kay

    This is one of the most useful posts I have seen all week on the internet, thank you. x

  • Priya

    Great post, thanks, great ideas. (Also FYI the chocolate banana bread links to a different banana bread recipe!) X

  • Lori McEvoy

    Thank you Tracy!!! Always awesome info!!!!!

  • Mommarama

    This is fantastic!! Common sense, not wasting or panic stockpiling, and a positive attitude=awesomeness! Thank you so much for this!

  • Sina

    Thanks Tracy, for putting this list together! It will come in handy the next weeks.

    All the best for you and your loved ones during this challenging time!

  • Maria

    Thank you! I pinned a bunch of these recipes! Appreciate your efforts ❤️

  • Lindsey

    Hi Tracy! Words cannot express how grateful I am that you put this together. I manage the social media for my local food bank and just today we promoted this link. Our low income families are the ones most affected by the circumstances going on right now and I am so thankful for people like you that use their voice to help others in times of need! Thank you!

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  • Lauren Jaffe

    I love the lemon ginger elixir idea! Do you grate the ginger and then freeze it in ice cube trays? Or did you make the elixir on the stovetop and then freeze that?

  • Ruby

    Thank you for amazing recipes & ideas
    Your blog gives me much needed information for cooking healthy meals & there prep time. I’m lot more organized now
    Thank you

  • De Reiger

    Thank you for posting,every one really need this kind of recipe.

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