Today isn’t going according to plan. You get off of work late, rush off to your kids’ evening activities and return home only to realize you don’t have the ingredients for the meal planned. And you certainly don’t have the time or the energy to go to the store.
Pantry meals to the rescue! If you have a well-stocked pantry with some key items, you’ll have no problem getting a quick meal on the table, even on the busiest of days.
Having a few essential pantry items on hand will save you on those nights you would otherwise order takeout.
The Best Pantry Items for Emergency Meals
If you keep these items on hand (and a few seasonings in your spice cabinet), you’ll be able to create several different meals in no time. (Meal suggestions below.)
Pantry
Pasta
Jarred Pasta Sauce
Black Beans
Chili Beans
Pinto Beans
Rice
Canned tomatoes (diced)
Green Chiles
Canned corn (niblets and creamed)
Enchilada sauce
Tortillas (corn/flour, your choice)
Ramen
Canned tuna
Tomato juice
Onions
Broth (chicken or vegetable)
Garlic (fresh or minced)
Salsa
Pepperoni
Soy Sauce
Sesame oil
Cream of Mushroom Soup
Fridge/freezer
Shredded Cheese
Eggs
Frozen Vegetables
Frozen Burritos
Frozen Pizza
“Emergency Meals” to Make
I think of these meals as my “emergency meals”. They’re my go-tos when I don’t know what’s for dinner and I don’t want to go to the store. They’ve saved the day, and my pocketbook, more times than I can count.
Pasta and Sauce (‘nuff said)
Macaroni and Tomato Juice
Fiesta Black Beans and Rice (from this post on Money Crashers)
Pinto Beans and Rice Soft tacos (also from this post on Money Crashers)
Black Bean and Rice Quesadillas
Black Bean Breakfast Burrito (beans, scrambled eggs, and salsa, wrapped up)
Vegetarian Pantry Chili
Super Fast, Cheap to Make, Crazy Easy Burrito Casserole
Mexican Bean, Rice and Corn Bake
Vegetarian Ramen Midwest Stir Fry
Dump and Bake Pizza Pasta Casserole
Fried Rice Restaurant Style (I use frozen peas/carrots)
Tuna Tomato Pasta
In The Pantry Tuna-Rice Casserole
Crock Pot Vegetable Soup
7 Can Soup Recipe
Tuna Salad
Peanut Noodles
Don’t be afraid to modify the recipes to suit your tastes and to utilize the ingredients you have on hand. If you don’t have garlic, sprinkle in some garlic powder, if you don’t have tortillas, just make a rice bowl. Get creative!
What a useful list! We keep a few of these things in our pantry, but there are many ideas listed here that I hadn’t even thought of. Thanks!
Thanks, Rachel! Happy to see you found it useful!
No lie – I’ve had macaroni and tomato juice 5 times in the past week! LOVE that quick and easy meal – that’s for including it here, Amanda! I’ll check out these others right now!
5 times!!?? You really do LOVE it! I love the simplicity. I’m a huge fan of macaroni and tomatoes, so it’s perfect, in my opinion!
It’s so important to have those emergency items on hand. I know they’ve saved us from ordering pizza dozens of times.
Same for us, Laurie! Pasta and sauce has saved dinner more times than I can count.
Good ones! These are items we try to always have around as well. It’s great to make your own freezer meals, too, but to be realistic I find it’s still necessary to keep stuff like frozen pizza , too! It may not be healthy, but for those weak moments, I’d rather make a $3-5 frozen pizza than spend easily twice that (or more) on delivery!
Thanks Mrs. COD! We always have at least one frozen pizza on hand too. And frozen burritos for the teenagers! You are so right – even though they are “convenience” foods, they still cost so much less than take out or delivery! 🙂
Great list! Curious that you go for “diced” tinned tomatoes, I’m a “crushed” tomato gal myself, haha.
We meal plan every Sunday for the whole week, so it rarely happens that we weasel out of the meal that we’ve committed to. Frozen pizza with salad to the rescue when that happens. I do love putting quick and easy meals on our meal plan though, makes it more likely that we will stick to the planned meal. Our favourite at the moment is crushed tin tomatoes, onion, meatballs cooked in a pan and served with salad – so fresh and tasty! (and I’m cooking it tonight, yay).
Mrs DDU
Hi Mrs. DDU! 🙂 I do both crushed and diced! I have certain recipes where I prefer one or the other.
Yep – meal planning is on Sunday here too. I usually stick to it, but I’ve found recently that we actually can eat leftovers at least 1-2 nights a week (for some reason this is recent!?Maybe because my son doesn’t always eat at home). And I totally agree on the quick and easy – plus I like to plan ahead and chop veggies on Sunday. Your tomato, onion, meatball meal sounds delicious! Last night I made spaghetti for the kids (spaghetti squash for us) with crushed tomatoes, onions, garlic, oregano and pork sausage.