Pantry Stocking for Large Families

We finally ended the “what’s for dinner?” saga by stocking a few key ingredients. When pantry stocking for large families, we want to look for ways to save time and money. Having simple, very versatile ingredients allows us to whip up a variety of nutritious and tasty meals without the dreaded “what will I make tonight for dinner?” mental load. I detest the meal planning mental load, so I try to employ strategies to make this easier. Read what we stock in our pantry to make dinner time better, easier, and more fun!

5 Tips For Pantry Stocking For Large Families

Whether you making and eating all three meals a day at home with your family or just focusing on easier dinners, you will want to have a few strategies to save time and money. For our family, these tips include:

1. Having a list of favorite meal ideas
2. Stocking freezer meals for busy nights and seasons of change and challenge. These include things like illness, new babies, business growth, harvest season, etc.
3. Following a rotating meal plan list
4. Teaching our children how to cook family meals (they develop a love for cooking and tend to be less picky when they are involved in the process)
5. Having a well-stocked freezer and pantry with versatile ingredients

Before You Begin Pantry Stocking For Large Families

Like all other habits and changes, making small, consistent changes over time yields the best results. Before going to make a huge grocery store haul after reading this article, I recommend to:

1. Make a list of meals your family eats regularly. Ask yourself: Are these meals healthy? Do we enjoy these meals? Are we eating these out of habit? Convenience? Or because they are delicious and nutritious? If time or money were not an issue, would we still eat these foods? Now is a good time to reflect and ask yourself if any changes should be made to the menu.
2. Consider your family’s favorite meals. Can any ingredients be swapped to make the dish healthier, less expensive, and/or purchased in bulk? Changes we have made over time have been:

• Dried fruits and nuts for granola bars and cereals
• Raw honey and maple syrup for sugar and packaged treats
• Bulk oats and lentils for breads, cereals, cookies
• Popcorn seeds for bagged chips, pretzels, snacks
• Milk + kefir grains for yogurt, kefir, pre-made smoothies (learn how to make here)
• Beef tallow for vegetable oil
• Flour for pre-made breads, cookies, desserts
• Roasts and whole chickens for deli meat
• Cabbage and carrots for out of season salad greens
• Whole herb/bulk seasonings for seasoning packets
• Sour cream or mayo + seasonings for salad dressings
• Frozen or in-season fruits and veggies for out of season fresh
• Potatoes for frozen tater tots and french fries
• Pizza ingredients for frozen pizza
• “shelf stable” root veggies (carrots, onions, potatoes, beets, etc) for quickly spoiling, out of season fresh produce

How to Grocery Shop (Without Overwhelm)

It can feel intimidating to know what to buy. I remember when I transitioned from a single young adult, used to eating carrots and hummus or popcorn for dinner, to being responsible for balanced meals for our family. Everything gets easier with practice. Consider meals your family eats every week. Ask yourself the above question (can I swap any ingredients to make this dish healthier, less expensive, and/or purchased in bulk?)

• Burgers and fries? Can I buy a 10lb bag of potatoes instead of frozen fries?
• Breakfast from a box or wrapper? How about bulk oats, a quart of honey, and cinnamon, instead?
• Salads for lunch? How about adding sour cream or mayo mixed with herbs in lieu of store-bought salad dressing?

List the ingredients you need to make those 2 meals, and plan to buy them (and their ingredient swaps) in larger quantity at your next grocery visit. Each week, or as time and budget allow, choose 2 additional meals in your rotation to stock up on. If you need meal plan/idea inspiration, check out these resources:

• GAPS Diet Breakfast Ideas
• GAPS Diet Meal Plan
• GAPS Diet Freezer Meals

Pantry Stocking For Large Families (How Much Do I Need?)

After planning for your go-to meals, consider how to save time and money on food staples you use every single day and week. For our family, this includes:

Protein-meat, fish, eggs, dairy, nuts.

1. Do you have a local farmer who sells beef or pork by the quarter, half, or whole? Whole chickens? When you purchase this way, you can often save money per pound of meat, use the bones for making nutritious broths, and have a lot of tallow/lard to use for cooking. (Beef tallow french fries are a weekly go-to in our home!) You also have the convenience of meat in the freezer, rather than planning yet another grocery trip. A chest freezer is an upfront cost, but over time we have saved time and money.
2. Do you have a local farmer who sells grass-fed raw milk? If not, use the healthiest store brand you can find. Invest in kefir grains, and you will never need to buy yogurt, kefir, or smoothies for breakfast, snacks, and sides again. Check out this post for how to make kefir and this one for our kids favorite smoothies recipe. Kefir is the easiest fermented food to make and so healthy. We came upon kefir incidentally to cure strep throat and have kept it around ever since.
3. If you do not know local farmers, check your local Weston Price Chapter and ask in your local Facebook groups.

Cooking fats, for baking and frying.

If you can invest in meat from a farmer, the quality of fat increases and the prices decreases. We also try to buy fats in bulk, such as:

• coconut oil
• avocado oil
• palm oil
• grass-fed tallow
• ghee
• duck fat
• grass-fed lard

Dried fruits and sweeteners.

Ask around for your local honey farmer. We buy 5 gallons at a time, and it comes out to about $8/quart for raw honey! Do this with maple syrup as well. If you do not of any farmers, check your local Weston Price Chapter and ask in your area Facebook groups. Almost all recipes can be recreated with natural sweeteners rather than refined sugar (which we have done with every dessert recipe on this blog). The sweeteners we use most often for baking, breakfasts, and snacks include:

• organic raisins
• organic dates
• raw honey
• maple syrup

Nuts, seeds, and beans.

Nuts and seeds are great for snacks and baking. We often add them to homemade granola, and they are great for protein when we travel. Lentils are an extremely inexpensive and versatile staple in our home. I had no idea how many simple and delicious ways we could use lentils, in both sweet and savory dishes. We often eat honey cinnamon lentils or gluten free lentil bread for breakfast. Lentil hummus is a filling and nutritious snack that goes well with veggie sticks. Our staples include:

• lentils
• organic walnuts
• organic pecans
• raw cashews
• organic pumpkin seeds
• dried navy beans

Seasonings and Baking Ingredients

When you want to pull a meal or dessert together quickly, you can create a lot of variety by simply swapping out seasonings or flavorings. Many of our meals are made of meat or eggs with veggies. Changing out the seasonings to have a Mexican or Asian flavor can feel like a big difference, even if the meat and veggies are the same. A few key seasonings we keep stocked are:

• high mineral salt
• ground ginger
• organic cinnamon
• organic cloves
• parsley flakes
• organic garlic granules
• organic onion granules
• organic curry powder
• organic chili powder
• organic cumin powder
• organic dill weed

Paleo and GAPS Baking

For a long time, we were strictly gluten free. We now enjoy sourdough bread, after healing through the gaps protocol. We still do not use refined sugar, and have found we still enjoy using a lot of non-wheat flours for baking. Our common baking ingredients we keep stocked in our pantry are:

• real vanilla extract
• raw honey
• real maple syrup
• coconut flour
• almond flour
• tapioca flour
• coconut flakes
• coconut cream
• cacao powder

I hope you find these pantry stocking for large families resources helpful for your family. Please let me know your feedback and your favorite foods to stock in the comments below.

Resources

Posts

GAPS, Paleo, Whole30, Weston Price Meal Ideas
GAPS Diet Freezer Meals
GAPS Diet Meal Plan
How to Make Milk Kefir
GAPS Diet Breakfast Ideas
Beef Tallow French Fries
3 Ingredient Fermented Milk Kefir & GAPS Yogurt Smoothies
Natural Remedies For Strep Throat
GAPS Diet Desserts
Honey Cinnamon Lentils
Gluten-Free Lentil Bread – No Yeast, GAPS Diet
Lentil Hummus Recipe (GAPS Diet Approved)

Local Farm: Weston Price Chapter

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