Pantry List

A question was just posted to one of my yahoo groups asking what all was kept in your pantry to help stretch your budget. So, I typed mine up and thought I'd post it here for you all... Feel free to ask questions or suggestions :)

Here's my basic pantry list (as I can think of it from my head), all dry ingredients... there's more that's frozen.

*Flour
*Sugar
*Cornstarch
*Cornmeal
*Brown Sugar
*Powdered Sugar
*Cereal (whatever I've gotten free after coupons)
*French fried onions
*Dried Fruit for snacking (I buy fruit when it's under $.99 a lb and dehydrate it myself to save money)
*A few Hamburger Helpers
*Ramen
*Cooking Soups (Tomato, Cream of Mushroom, Cream of Chicken, Cream of Celery, Cheddar Cheese)
*Rice
*Ketchup
*Mayonnaise
*Tea Bags
*A few Kool-Aids
*Crystal Light (when I get it close to free after coupons)
*Crackers (usually bought only with coupons)
*Popcorn (kernels, and we either airpop or stovepop)
*Tomato Sauce
*Tomato Juice
*Tomato Paste
*Mushrooms
*Pasta (many different kinds, usually whatever I can get cheapest with coupons)
*Dried Beans & Peas
*Spices & Herbs (I usually grow my own herbs and dehydrate them)
*Dehydrated Veggies (I buy carrots, celery, etc. when I can get it really cheap, or grow my own, then dehydrate them myself)
*Other Various Soups (Chicken Noodle mostly, and whatever I can get really cheap with coupons)
*Canned Veggies (Green Beans, Corn, Peas, Mixed Veggies, whatever I can get cheapest with coupons)
*Bread Crumbs (Most of the time make my own and freeze)
*Canned Fruit (whatever I can get cheap with coupons)
*Pudding/Jello (only when I can get it free/close to free with coupons)
*Cake Mix/Icing (only when I can get it free/close to free with coupons)
*Molasses
*Honey
*Jam/Jelly/Preserves (usually can my own, or buy it when it's free after coupons)
*Peanut Butter (Buy only with coupons when close to free)
*Gravy Mixes/Jars (Only when very cheap with sales/coupons)
*Bouillon
*Sure-Jell
*Cooking Oils

Pictures to follow... Weather permitting

Well, we've been gone on vacation for a week, and got back on Monday to find our garden growing by leaps and bounds! The potato plants (nearly all of them) are about 6-7 inches tall, some of them flowering already! The tomatoes have finally seemed to get over transplant shock and are growing (and some of them flowering!!!). The cucumbers have started growing and vining up the support. We have corn and beans finally popping up. Everything is growing so well! Every time some one comes over to the house we have to take them over and give them a tour of the garden lol. Well, the camera is still MIA, so weather permitting I'll get hubby to help me take the webcam out and take pictures this afternoon.

My herbs & flowers are doing very well too. When we got home my sage was flowering (the one I thought wasn't going to come back from last year!!!) so I pinched off the flowers. My spearmint that I just planted last week, has already begun to try to fill out the pot we put it in. Most of the other herbs are just trying to get used to their new pots, and all the rain we've had.

My begonias are starting to fill out in the pot I put them in with some other plants, as well as the hypoestes that are all 3 in one pot together.

The irises & daffodils have finally all died off for this year (except for 1 iris bloom that waited until we got back to wither). Hopefully by next year I will have a flower press so I can keep some of these beautiful blooms!