Pantry meals

[GypsyJan]

It is cold and dreary today (50's in Florida is cold for a native!). So I made Chili Can Carne: browned some hamburger, added dried minced onions, then added 1 can each: chili without beans, dark red kidney beans, diced tomatoes, and kernal (not creamed) corn. Let it heat for at least twenty minutes...gets better with each warm up. 

I am stll a vandweller wannabe in a S&B but am trying to test drive recipes that don't need a lot of fresh foods for times I want to boondock.

 

[WanderingRose]

My late husband and I ate a lot of “bowl food” like this when we were traveling.

Anything that combines canned foods and something not. Good, nourishing, easy.

A favorite was Bush’s Baked Beans, sliced beef hot dogs or smoked sausage, season to taste, heat and eat.

 

[GypsyJan]

You are right...always have a can of baked beans aboard. I like it with sliced kielbasa.

I use rice, can of tuna, some cream of mushroom soup, can of mushrooms, and peas for a comfort food bowl. Also, rice, can of chicken, some cream of chicken soup, and mixed veggies...rather like chicken ala king.

 

[WanderingRose]

Tortilla soup was a favorite in cold weather...cooked chicken, broth, a can or two of RoTel tomatoes with green chiles, a can of black beans and one of corn.

Heat together, season to taste, add more or less broth depending on how liquid you like it.

Eat with tortilla chips or Fritos.

 

[ckelly78z]

This sounds like my chili recipe, although we go with black beans, and canneloni beans instead of the kidney beans. We usually let it bubble for few hours over the fire in a cast iron pot....serve with cornbread !

 

[Dingfelder]

Get some -- and really get into! -- some spices. They are your huge force-multiplier when it comes to flavoring meals, especially on the cheap. Even if they cost $3 or $7 a pound, a small amount will last you so long and make such a huge difference that you won't notice the cost.

For your recipe, simply adding some chili powder would have added a load of flavor. You can get huge plastic jars of things like onion and garlic powder too at so many cheap supermarkets and food outlets for 3 or $5 a pound that you might as well indulge. It will take you months to get through them, and they will completely change your food experience. It's pretty fun to mix and match them, too, to see what you can come up with.

You can be more of a cook than you ever thought possible simply by fooling around with some cheap spices. If you want to take it to the next level, try caramelizing what you cook, too -- onions, veggies, meat ... instead of tossing it all in a stew pot or whatever, unbrowned. A little soy, worcestershire, even salt and pepper work truly massive wonders.

So what I'm saying is good for you if you find what you like, but ... if you want to experiment and take a shot at having much more fun with your meals and flavor in them, play around with spices. I grew up knowing nothing about spices outside salt and pepper. Once I learned how huge a difference a spice or too could make, I felt like I had been robbed of flavor all my life! And joy!

Don't think that even with just a little money you have to "make do" with whatever flavors you have. You don't have to keep to what you've got, or settle for less, when even a teaspoon of herbs or spices can turn your whole eating experience around and make you a better cook and happier eater than you've ever been before.

I'd just recommend ... have courage! Be positive! And go spend just a little bit to have some fun with your food and your creativity and increase the WOW! factor of your life a bit.

I swear you'll love the results -- and probably yourself a little more -- if you experiment around a little and just try. If you're worried, don't be. It's almost never as expensive to try everyday common spices as you think ... and even some weird ones you've never heard of.

Be brave! Be happy! Smile! And go drop a dollar for some herb or spice you've never heard of.

 

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Get some -- and really get into! -- some spices. They are your huge force-multiplier when it comes to flavoring meals, especially on the cheap. Even if they cost $3 or $7 a pound, a small amount will last you so long and make such a huge difference that you won't notice the cost.

Ditto, and I might add that whole spices stay fresh longer than ground. Also, get a coffee grinder and toast then freshly grind them. Makes a huge difference in flavor. I toast and grind whole chili pods for my chili. I use Guerrero and cascabel pods. So much better than store bought.

 

[AMGS3]

Count mine as the third vote for spices. My family knows I'm into "weirdstuff" and so I was gifted a jar of dukkah over Christmas. It's a north African spice and nut blend.

Last night I fried onions, garlic and cubed kielbasa in my rice cooker. When the meat had some color I threw in 2 shredded carrots and 1.5 cups of rice and 3 cups of water and stuck the lid back on. When it was done I drizzled olive oil on it and liberally sprinkled the dukkah all over the bowl. It was fantastic and there's enough for a couple meals of leftovers. I'm pretty sure that this is not the traditional way to eat it, but it was good.

I like making cheater spicy peanut sauce. I sometimes just dump it in a bowl and nuke it or stir it up and then pour it cold over hot rice and veggies and leftover meat and let the heat of the food warm it and melt it together. I've even just mixed it in to a can of whole corn and some chicken.

Basically it's soysauce, honey, sriracha, chopped garlic, chopped ginger, oil of choice, peanut butter, and either lime juice or rice vinegar. There's no measuring, I just kind of eyeball it. The cheater part comes in cuz I use bottled lime juice and those squeeze bottles of garlic and ginger. It's a lot easier on my hands and wrists than chopping and squeezing, though the purists out there would likely agree that the flavor would be better with fresh.

~angie

Sent from my VS501 using Tapatalk

 

[GypsyJan]

Y'all are right about the spices. I add curry powder to the leftovers and that way I don't get tired of 'em as it makes a whole different meal. I need to experiment with different spices....but I don't like the hotter peppers/chilis. I like my tongue not to be numb after I eat, LOL.

 

[Dingfelder]

When the meat had some color I threw in 2 shredded carrots ...

Well, cool, thanks for the new idea!  I use shredded carrots in salads and coleslaw, but I never thought of shredding them to add into a bowl of rice before cooking.  Sounds like a great way to add some texture, some flavor, some vitamins and color, and do it on the cheap too.  I'll definitely be trying that out soon.

Funny how often really good ideas are incredibly simple.

 

[Dingfelder]

Y'all are right about the spices. I add curry powder to the leftovers and that way I don't get tired of 'em as it makes a whole different meal. I need to experiment with different spices....but I don't like the hotter peppers/chilis. I like my tongue not to be numb after I eat, LOL.

Curry powder is great because you can both add it to almost anything, and add almost anything into a curry dish, and it will still come out great.

Plenty of people just don't like it.  Oh well.  But for those of us who do, it sure is a great shortcut to add a huge amount of flavor.

 

[WanderingRose]

I was just reading on another thread about Hungry Jack dehydrated hash browns, that come in a carton you re-hydrate before cooking.

Shelf stable, a great alternative to shredding fresh potato or storing a frozen bag of hash browns.

I’m going to have to look for those, love hash browns with ham and a couple of eggs cooked into them.