Pantry Essentials Part 1: Cans, Boxes and Bags

Learn which canned goods are pantry staples and which should, well, be canned. Source: Wikimedia Commons

The key to pantry essentials is purchasing items that are multi-use, that is, buying one item that you can use to make lots of different things. Essential doesn’t have to mean boring, “fundamentals are the building blocks of fun!”

Although it’s really important to get lots of fresh, unprocessed food in our diets, when it comes to pantry essentials, canned goods are a great start. Here are some ideas for some canned foods that provide a solid foundation for any pantry, with some suggestions for quick and easy meals you can make with them:

DIY Popcorn

Photo source, Wikimedia Commons

Home made popcorn can be a cheap, delicious and nutritious snack. It all comes down to how it's prepared.

A Crash Course in Home Made Yogurt

Good and good for you! Now you can learn how to make your own yogurt at home. Photo source Wikipedia, used under creative commons.

The key to making good yogurt is remembering at all times that you’re dealing with a living food. If you remember this at every step, you’ll avoid most of the pitfalls associated with yogurt making.

In its simplest terms, yogurt is the result of milk being fermented by a bacterial culture. The bacteria eats the naturally occurring sugars, lactose, in the milk. In turn, they give off lactic acid as their waste product. Lactic acid gives us yogurt’s distinctive tangy taste. Secondly, lactic acid changes the structure of the protein molecules in the milk, thickening the previously liquid milk into a semi-solid with the creamy texture that we so enjoy.