Making dinner from whats in the cupboard

[savingdogs]

My hubby likes to buy a lot of canned goods and food for long storage such as rice, beans, etc.

Problem is, I can't think of enough meals to make from canned items (besides chili or soup of course) and things from the long-storage part of the kitchen.

Anyone have ideas for me beyond tuna helper and macaroni and cheese? We are tired of top ramen!


PS: Certain members of our family are also interested in low sodium meals.

 

[Wannabefree]

Green bean casserole, stir fry(just drain canned goods), refried beans, shephards pie, dirty rice, red beans and rice, burritos filling, rice pudding. Loads of things to make from canned goods and long term storage items. We do entire meals from canned goods sometimes. Low sodium just means more spices Things I use for low sodium meals to add/enhance flavors are lemon juice, onion, garlic, and Mrs. Dash seasoning along with trying new spices ALL the time. Veggies don't have to be bland and boring always in soups or chilli. We also cook a lot of beans and rice around here. Rice is a breakfast food too ya know. Beans can go with about anything just simply as a side dish. Add a bit of tomato sauce and sugar for pork and beans type beans, barbecue sauce and bacon for baked beans, add tomato and garlic to rice for mexican rice dishes. Experiment. Rice and beans virtually take on whatever flavor you want them to. I cook rice in chicken and beef stock and add spices to taste. The kids and DH love it! It's just like the store bought packages of chicken and beef flavored rice...only healthier than that nasty powder I put onions in my green beans, diced tomatoes and chillies in corn, etc. etc. We like spicy around here, but just alter things to your own taste. Don't be afraid to try new things at least once a week. You'd be suprised what actually goes great together, and you'll wind up craving all those things you "didn't know how to cook with" before.

 

[FarmerDenise]

A lot of the cans and packages also have recipes printed on them. I have found that they are usually quite good.

 

[Rebecka]

Top Ramen French Onion Soup ! I never keep the stuff around anymore, but back in the day...

Beef Top Ramen. Chop and caramelize an onion. Put onion, half the beef flavor packet in when cooking the ramen. Cook as usual and put in bowls. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella and salad croutons

Top Ramen also makes a fun pasta salad. Make certain you break up your square in about 4 pieces.

Black Bean Salsa from cans

2 cans tomatoes and chilis or just chopped tomatoes works too
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 can whole kernel corn, drained.
if you have them, half and onion and green pepper are nice too, but by no means required.
cilantro, oregano , garlic some salt and pepper and chill.

 

[i_am2bz]

I don't know if it's still in print, but I have a book called "Apocalypse Chow: How to Eat Well When the Power Goes Out" by Jon Robertson. It was written after a storm knocked this guy's power out for a few weeks & they had to eat whatever was in the pantry. If I recall, most don't have meat because they ate all of what they had the first few days before it went bad. There are entrees, soups, even desserts.

 

[savingdogs]

These are great ideas! I'll have to take them with me to the store for shopping. I bet the Onion ramen soup would be a hit here.

I don't know about you guys, but we are getting a chill in the air and are feeling like stocking up! We can cook on the woodstove if we lose power but we can't get to town if the road gets iced up, so we need to have some recipe ideas like this on hand (and probably not depend on my computer turning on, either!).

We are from southern CA so I should have already mentioned that is why we have the rice and beans......mexican food.
We also make spagetti alot, so it is either Mexico or Italy.....Mexico or Italy.....but we do like spicy because yes, it helps with the low sodium. Spagetti just has to have sodium however so we just reduce serving size instead.

But these are great ideas, thanks!