My Basic Gluten Free Whole Foods Pantry List

Pantry stocking and cooking from it is a real skill to learn. We have had weeks with a $20.00 food budget in this past year, more often than I want to remember. If we were a typical American couple, that wouldn't even buy our lattes. Thanks to goodness, we are NOT a typical American couple, and I can feed us 2-3x a day for $20.00 a week, IF I have a stocked pantry. I know visions of canned goods and boxes are dancing in your head when I say, stocked pantry, but my pantry only holds at the most...cans of curry paste and coconut milk. Everything else is real foods, stored in jars or buckets, or my fridge and freezer. A visitor said it best. "I know there is allot of food here, but is there anything that doesn't require 2 days planning and soaking? I just don't know who to cook this stuff and I need food now." After I walked him through a 3 minute rice noodle dish, I went through the whole pantry with him.


I buy pantry items whenever they are on sale or I have an extra few dollars. I know what we have and I carry my shopping list everywhere, because you never know when a conventional grocery store is going to screw up the pricing and quinoa will be a dollar, or I will be able to buy a case of coconut milk for $10.00. I buy as much as I can in bulk, and I buy my spices in whole form when possible, and by the ounce. There may be a few missing items from week to week, but I stay flexible and plan a back up to every menu planned. If I am unwell, the Guy has my back up menu using the pantry. It took 5 months to grow this pantry, and I have maintained it for a year. I will never, ever go back to shopping week to week for basics. With this, a $20.00 week is a tight- needs to be very planned-wild salmon-less breakfast week, not the end of the world. So, just looking at my basic list, I see dozens of meals at the ready with minimal planning or purchasing needed to round it out or fluff it up, depending on our needs or those of our guests. (You'll notice tomatoes, yeast, and cheese are missing now)


If I was more computer inclined there would lines drawn to ingredients and a color coded recipe for each line...sorry, just barely can turn this thing on, soooo. Off the top of my brain, there are vegan onion soup, Tom Yum, carrot ginger, Pho, and Asian noodle soups, right there in the pantry. I can make a nut sauce in 2 minutes to compliment any combination of vegetables, noodles or whole grains. Nut and rice milk. There are pot pies, sweet pie crust, cookies and crackers. There are veggie nori and spring rolls. Lentil soup or dal. Breads, rotti, tortillas, pizza, pancakes, and waffles. Chai. Smoothies. Green drinks. Pilaf to pastas. Slaws and salads and sprouts... and their dressings. There are many tasty, nutritious options.... and I haven't bought anything else yet. When it begins to flow like this, eating seasonally and eating whole foods becomes simple. All it really took was some planning and thoughtful bulk purchases...and away we went. If you are not gluten free, the same principles apply here, just stock according your needs.

This is it. Year round, it doesn't change...just the seasonal produce, and the level of meat supply. 


THE FRESH PANTRY
Onions
Garlic and shallots
Ginger
Carrots
Celery
Yams and a few potatoes

Broccoli and or cauliflower

Bok choy or napa cabbage

Green cabbage

Greens: chard, kale, collards, etc.

Lettuces

Fresh herbs: I grow cilantro, dill, parsley, and oregano all year long.
Fresh lemons and limes
Apples
Fresh seasonal vegetables and fruit


THE STORED PANTRY
Whole grains (a variety of brown rice, quinoa, wild rice, and buckwheat, or other special guest, and all of their lovely gluten free flours)
Masa
Corn meal
Dry legumes (black beans, kidney beans, adzuki beans, mung beans, red lentils, French green lentils)
Rice noodles: both Italian pastas and Asian style
Rice paper rolls
Rice flour tortillas
Frozen fruit: berries and tasty bits.
Frozen vegetables for quick soups and other dishes.
Frozen basil cubes
Apple cider vinegar
Ume plum vinegar
Whole grainy mustard
Sea salt
Black peppercorns
Spices (cumin seeds, oregano, coriander seeds, star anise, cinnamon sticks and powder, thyme, dried turmeric, dried ginger, bay, zattar, cardamom, paprika, dried mustard, black mustard seeds, crushed red pepper, graram masala, herbes de provence)
Dried chilies
Coconut, olive, grapeseed, and sesame oil
Earth Balance for baking and table use
Baking powder and soda
Xanthan gum for baking
Bragg's Liquid Aminos
Coconut milk
Red curry paste
Green curry paste
Pure vanilla extract
Nuts and seeds: walnuts, cashews, almonds, popcorn kernels, sunflower and hemp seeds
Nut and seed butters and flours
Dried fruit
Dairy free chocolate chips or chunks
Kombu and other sea foods: dulse, agar agar, kelp.
Sweeteners - Raw agave nectar, local honey, grade B maple syrup, blackstrap molasses, and organic cane sugar
Cultured vegetables, kimchi and sauerkraut
Homemade vegetable and chicken stock
Herbs for tea
Black tea
Organic Sumatran coffee beans; naturally low acid, yum.


THE MEATY PANTRY
Ground bison and turkey
Bison, beef, or pork for stews
Chicken parts and pieces
Wild salmon, as the budget allows.
Tofu
Tempeh

1 pound of a sausage or bacon type treat

Beyond The Brown Bag: Starting a lunchtime revolution

Just because school is out, doesn't mean that millions of adults aren't getting up 15 minutes earlier to pack a lunch these days. An average of $75-150.00, per person, is spent on weekly lunches, if you eat out every day during a 5 day work week. $300-600, a month. Imagine what you could do with $300.00 extra in your budget each month? That's $3600.00 a year, on the $75.00 a week plan. There, is your Summer Vacation. There, is your Holiday gift money. There, is the down payment for that car. There's the breathing room to shop and eat better. Here are some ideas to get you going!

1. Figure out honestly what you have been spending a week. Now take that number, and cut it in half. If you were spending $80.00 a week, your new goal is now $40.00 a week on lunch supplies. After you see how simple it is with planning, in 3 months, take another percentage of of what you can spend a week.


2. Buy a reusable lunch bag that helps keeps your food cold or hot. Have fun with it. Buy the the one that shouts, "I belong to this person, and he/she will never forget me on the kitchen table." Attach your keys/subway/bus pass or employee badge/parking card to it at night.

3. Invest in a new storage container set or those little nesting covered steel bowls. Be sure it includes small rounds for dressings and dips. Mark the box for lunches only, so leftover rice doesn't take over your 'fridge. Invest in a thermos. They keep soup hot, juice cold, and they are reusable.

4. Set a goal for reward. 'If I pack my lunch every day for a month, I can buy that hand-blown glass humming bird feeder (yoga mat, ITunes spree, savings deposit, credit card bill money, concert tickets, shoes, surf board, saute pan, lip gloss, pottery class, etc.). We are human. Humans are into the carrot and the stick method...whether we admit it or not.

5. Think outside the sandwich. For those of us with gluten issues, this becomes second nature. For many, it just doesn't mean lunch unless it comes between 2 slices of bread. Play with your idea of what normal is. My idea of an absolutely perfect lunch is a Japanese Bento box, in which you get a serving of 5-6 different tastes. Get out of the box, or bread box, in this case.

6. Always, always remember to pack a protein filled snack. If you eat lunch at 12-noon, you will be ravenous between 3-4. You will be apt to hit the vending machines, espresso cart, or blindly munch a burger on the way home at 5. Food from home, is STILL FOOD. You don't need to buy a $1.00 Snickers at 3:30 if you have one in your lunch bag, or, a healthier option like a handful of nuts or a Lara or Kind Bar.


7. Not gluten free? Lucky duck, you have even MORE choices, but feel free to use these too!

GREAT LUNCH IDEAS

Leftovers

When I think of lunch the first thing that comes to mind is leftovers. Here's a few of what flies out of our kitchen for leftover lunches.

Cold sliced meats

Cold meat-loaf

Leftover veggies

Leftover pasta and sauce

Thai noodle salad

Leftover green salad w/any of the above, or as a new Chef's salad or Greek salad

Potato and pasta salads

Soups and stews

Diving further into leftover land, we see a square sandwich box with 2 slices of leftover meatloaf, a pile of green beans, and some red bliss mashed potatoes. 1 1/2 micro minutes later, we have a hot lunch, while your coworkers haven't even left the parking lot yet.

Salad Creations

As I've shared,  I love salads. I don't think I've made a lettuce, tomato, cuke salad in years, though. Here are some of my favorites.

Mixed greens, pecans, raspberries, red onion w/ raspberry vinaigrette

Mixed greens, shredded carrot, scallions, corn, and black beans

Romaine lettuce, Italian meats and cheese

Steamed broccoli, shredded carrot, cashews, raisins in cole slaw dressing

Beet greens, orange sections, red onion, and sliced almonds

Roasted beets, onion, and spiced chicken

Here in salad land, we are done with lunch in 10 minutes, and now have 50 minutes to take that walk, run an errand, meditate in the car, or to write out those party invitations.

Wrap and Roll

Bread makes a sandwich. A brown rice tortilla, makes a wrap. Nori sheets, make a roll. LTO=let., tom., onion.

Refried beans, avocado, LTO burrito

Chicken, salsa, rice burrito
Falafel LTO, tahini sauce, wrapped in a brt
Turkey Club wrap

Sliced roast beast, swiss, dijon, mixed greens, wrapped in a brt

Tuna as you like, wrapped in a brt

Chicken salad as you like, wrapped in a brt

Dulse, LT, mayo, wrapped in a brt

Almond butter and strawberry jam, wrapped in a brt

Sliced veggies w/ chevre, wrapped in a brt

Sliced cucumber, shredded carrot wrapped in nori

Sunflower seed pate, wrapped in nori

GF Crab, avocado, carrot, and spicy mayo, wrapped in nori
Rice and any combination veg, wrapped in nori
Your co-workers have now started hanging around the office kitchen, looking at your lunch, salivating over fresh nori rolls and commenting over your creativity. You still have time to do your nails in the bathroom, when they leave to get a sub.

Some odd ideas you may have not have yet equated with lunch.
I eat weird things throughout the day. One or two of them together, make a really nice lunch.
Protein smoothies

Greek Style yogurt
Coconut milk yogurt
Almond milk
Dates
Figs, dried and fresh
Nuts
Nut Butters
Cheese...all of it; cream, sticks, feta, cheddar, cottage, brie, Gouda...and on and on.
Pepperoni
Jerky
Sausages
Eggs
Olives...yum.
Smoked, pickled, canned, frozen and fresh fish
Tamales
You are now the official foodie of the office. A few of your co-workers have started bringing their lunches, too. You start an office co-op and buy healthy foods in bulk to stock the now busy office kitchen. 

The sections above and below...are my favorite Gluten Free snacks
Kind Bars
Lara Bars
Glutino Bagels
Mary's Gone Crackers Sea Salt Sticks and Twigs
Mary's Gone Crackers; all
Cherrybrook Kitchen's Vanilla Graham Cookies
Trader Joe's Baked Cheese Crunchies
Sea Salt and Black Pepper Kettle Chips
Lundberg Farms Rice Cakes; honey-no nut
Lundberg Farms Rice Chips; seaweed sesame
At 3:30, no one runs out of steam anymore. There is a line at the bulk almond bag, so you take a Kind bar out of your desk...and smile.