What's in my pantry?

As I visited with a friend the other day she asked me if I would do a posting of what kinds of food I always keep in the house - what's here to eat on a regular basis :)

Like any household we have diverse tastes and wants for food!  I try to do what I can to accomodate everyone - my kids, my husband, myself and of course friends and family that stop by.  Like I've posted before, one of the things I love to do is provide a great tasting meal.  I want you to walk away thinking 'wow, that was tasty!'

What's in my fridge?

• Dye free condiments.  I get ketchup at Trader Joe's along with pickles, mustard, and organic reduced sugar jellies.  My salad dressings usually come from Whole Foods - I have two brands I love and trust.
• Organic whole milk for cooking with.
• Organic eggs...these are a main source of breakfast protein for us!
• Almond milk - since removing milk from my husbands diet he snores only on a rare occassion now.  We buy the vanilla flavored and it is YUMMY!  Not a big fan of soy and for years thought I was lactose intolerant due to the gluten!
• TONS of organic veggies and fruit - I like to keep peppers, onions and mushrooms for a quick stir fry.  I also generally have celery, zuchinni and carrots too.  Lots of lettuce!  I have found this yummy organic herb/salad mix that is so tasty!  We love it!
• Greek yogurt - lots of it!  I really like the Zoi brand.  I buy it in a big carton.  We use it in smoothies, on top of oatmeal or plain with frozen fruit/nuts/cinnamon on top.
• Cheese - we love cheese!  I keep Tilamook cheddar on hand all the time.  I've looked into their practices and like that they are local too.  I also keep gorgonzola for salads, Babybel single cheeses and cheesesticks for the kids.  I also have some Beechers cheese in there - this adds great flavor to anything!
• Meat - I buy Columbus style lunch meat...you can find it at Costco.  It's free from many things and the kids love it.  I cut it up and they eat it with rice crackers for lunch.
• Leftovers!  I plan for leftovers...today I had leftover chicken grilled with a brown rice tortilla and cheese.  Topped it with leftover salad from last night!

What's in my freezer:

• Lots of meat...I buy when it's on sale.  I try to keep to grass fed beef when possible.  I also always have a bag of shrimp from Costco and some sort of fish.  We love fish/shrimp tacos and love both grilled too!  We also have the benefit of being able to crab in the summer - I shell it and freeze it!  Yummy treat any time of the year!  I fugure with meat it is a cost up front to buy a better quality steak - but it would cost us easily 5 times that amount to take our family of four out to dinner! 
• Homemade beans - my kids love bean and cheese quesadillas....so I make my own beans!  Have a crockpot and good food processor/blender and voila!  The thaw easily and are a yummy snack!
• Frozen GF treats - I make cookies, scones, waffles, pancakes and freeze them...quick and easy!
• Lots of frozen organic/chemical free fruit.  We eat a TON of smoothies (love the VitaMix), just pull out what we want and throw it in!
• Mini tacos - Trader Joe's sells these yummy  mini tacos...the kids love them for a quick snack!
• Trader Joe's trays of herbs...garlic, basil and cilantro.  They are little frozen cubes - pop them out and into anything I am making.
• GF pizza crusts and bread from Udi's...I stock up on these at Whole Foods.
• Frozen organic veggies...I get them at Costco - corn, peas and green beans.  I love to stir fry the green beans in a bit of olive oil with garlic and pine nuts!  Yummy!

What's in my pantry:

• Good quality spices.  Spices can make or break ANYTHING!  I personally love Penzey's spices and love that have opened one here in Seattle!  We haven't tried anything we've been disappointed in.
• GF soups from Pacific Foods - they come in a carton and are all GF!  I have tomato, butternut squash and they now sell cream of mushroom and cream of chicken!
• Trader Joe's organic marinara...easy dinner :)
• Trader Joe's brown rice pasta - corkscrews and penne
• GF staples like my flour mix, organic sugar, quinoa, oats, brown rice etc...
• Snacks - From Trader Joe's - organic lollipops, small individual chocolate bars, dried cherries, rice crackers, chips and 'pirate booty'.  I also have GF pretzels, homemade chex mix with all 'safe foods', homemade granola (great with yogurt), a nut mix, popcorn (order it from Nebraska...the best stuff), tortilla chips, fresh corn tortillas, multi grain GF crackers and GF cereal - although we really don't each much cereal any longer.
• Good dark chocolate!
• Drinks include - tea...I love tea!  I have a new found addiction with Teavana...their stuff is so yummy!  I drink the rooibos with a little local honey every day!  The kids drink juice boxes in their lunches, I tend to buy Hansen's, Trader Joe's brand and sometimes the 100% juice Capri Suns.  We also always keep a pitcher of fresh made black iced tea on hand and of course hot cocoa mix...I really like the Penzey's hot cocoa and/or Whole Foods brand.  For the soda treat, I like Whole Foods 365 brand of soda...
• Misc - chocolate chips (that sometimes I just eat :)...I like the Ghirardelli brand or Trader Joe's brand, Spectrum organic vegetable shorting (not BHT preservative in this), boxed GF muffin mixes for a pinch and numerous other little things.

I hope this gives you some ideas!  I am a planner so tend to have things planned in advance.  I like to look through my cookbooks/freezer and plan 10-14 days worth of meals.  I make sure to have all the things necessary on hand to make all those meals.  Then I post the list and let the kids and my husband take turns picking dinners.  It works great, because I have preselected the meals, but they love having a buy in with getting to pick what we'll eat that night!

By all means we eat our share of treats...I eat dark chocolate on a daily basis!  My kids get some sort of treat daily - a homemade GF cookie, a small chocolate from TJ's etc...but I feel good about the quality of food I have on hand!