Make healthy, delicious meals from your pantry! Dietitian tips & easy recipes that save time, money, and trips to the store. No fuss, all flavor.
Looking to save time, money, and cut down on supermarket trips? With just a well-stocked pantry and a few smart strategies, you can whip up healthy, delicious meals in minutes. I talked to top registered dietitians to share their top tips for pantry cooking—helping you stretch your budget without sacrificing nutrition or flavor. From simple ingredient swaps to no-fuss pantry recipes, you’ll discover how to make the most of what you already have. Say goodbye to food waste and hello to fast, satisfying meals the whole family will love.
This recipe for Vegan Bolognese with Lentils and Walnuts comes straight from the pantry!
It’s a good time to learn how to eat out of your pantry! What I mean by that is the practice of just taking a good long look at what you have in your pantry, such as dried or canned goods, taking stock of what you have in your fridge, such as seasonal produce, and putting together a healthy, delicious meal based on your findings, no complicated recipes or shopping trips needed.
The practice of cooking out of your pantry is perfectly showcased in this recipe for Easy Oven Baked Falafel.
This is what home cooks have been doing since the beginning of time. It was always about the concept of “making something of nothing.” If you have a garden filled with green beans, some potatoes in the root cellar, and dried pinto beans in the cupboard, let’s make a really good thick stew for dinner. This is also a concept that professional chefs have perfected. A few quick glances at what is available in the kitchen, and before you know it, a delicious meal is on the table using classic techniques, such as stir-frying, braising, sautéing, stewing, grilling, roasting, or baking.
This recipe for Spicy Pumpkin Black Bean Veggie Burgers features many pantry foods.
To get you inspired to jump on the cooking pantry bandwagon, I asked some of my dietitian friends to weigh in with their top tips to get you started. Carry on with good, healthy eating. You’ve got this!
Download my free plant-based pantry toolkit here.
Eat and Live the Goodness,
Sharon
6 Dietitian Pantry Cooking Tips
This easy recipe for Spicy Lentil Tacos features the combination of pantry items with a few simple produce pics in your fridge.
1. Cook More Plant-Based Meals
It’s all about the plants when it comes to cooking out of your pantry. That’s because many staple plant foods, from beans to grains to nuts to seeds, are shelf stable. “Most plant-based proteins and grains have much longer shelf lives than comparable animal proteins. Throw together taco soup with beans and textured vegetable protein, or create delicious cream sauces using cashews instead of dairy,” says Shena Jaramillo MD, RD of Peace and Nutrition.
Stir fries are perfect for throw-together meals! Use this recipe for Easy Miso Green Bean & Tofu Stir-Fry as a starting point, substituting the fresh veggies you have on hand.
2. Try Throw-Together Meals
To get started with the cooking-out-of-your-pantry concept, think of it like this: you are simply throwing together ingredients that you have on hand into mix-and-match recipes. These are recipes that allow you to swap out ingredients, such as grains, veggies, and beans, that you have on hand. “Throw-together meals are a cinch for using up pantry and freezer staples. Beans, grains, potatoes, canned sauces, and frozen veggies can easily be mixed and matched into countless combinations. My favorite ‘throw together meals’ are skillet hash, soup, stir fry, pantry salads, and pizza,” says Erin Hendrickson, RDN of No Waste Kitchen.
Bowl meals are ideal for pantry cooking! Get inspired with this recipe for Black Beans and Rice Vegan Bowl.
3. Dive into Power Bowls
The bowl formula: whole grain (quinoa, oats, brown rice) + a plant protein (beans, tofu, nuts, seed) + veggies + a flavorful sauce = delicious is the perfect way to “eat of your pantry.” Just cook up those grains, open a can of beans, raid your fridge for fresh or frozen veggies, and go to town. “I like to make a power bowl out of whatever I have on hand. I use quinoa, but you can substitute whatever grain you have on hand, such as brown rice. Same for the beans—just use whatever you have on hand. Don’t have any fresh produce? You can use a combo of steamed frozen veggies like broccoli, as well as rinsed canned veggies such as corn,” says Amy Gorin, MS, RDN.
Got a veggie (like fennel) that needs using up? Just search for a recipe featuring it, such as this simple Pear Fennel Salad with Arugula.
4. Enlist Inspiration
Got a bunch of kohlrabi in your garden and don’t know what to do with it? Looking for a new way to use lima beans? How about all of those oranges falling off your tree? The blogs, social media, and cookbooks are there to inspire a million ways to use up those ingredients. “This really helps use up random ingredients you don’t normally cook with. Start by choosing one ingredient, then find a recipe that incorporates it! For example, say you have a random can of food you don’t even know why you bought. Head to the internet or social media and search to find a recipe that uses it and some other ingredients that you have on hand,” says Bri Bell of Frugal Minimalist Kitchen.
Use leftovers in creative ways, such as mashed potatoes in this recipe for Veggie Shepherd’s Pie.
5. Make Leftovers Your BFF
Don’t throw away precious leftovers—they are the start for your next pantry meal! In fact, make a little bit extra of key ingredients, such as cooked beans, grains, and potatoes, so you can enjoy them in the next meal. “I make super-fast chili with black, pinto or kidney beans, jarred salsa, cumin, and chili powder. Leftovers can be used over brown rice or quinoa or rolled up in a tortilla as a quick burrito,” says Lisa Andrews, MEd, RD, LD of Sound Bites Nutrition.
Use pantry staples in this recipe for Creamy Artichoke White Bean Dip.
6. Make Pantry Cooking a Fun Challenge
Make cooking out of your pantry into a game! What ARE you going to do with that random jar of marinated artichokes, jar of roasted red peppers, and can of white beans? (I see this Artichoke White Bean Dip!) You can even get your whole family in on the game. “Choose any four items from your pantry, fridge, or freezer and go for it! You might find some new and interesting recipes that you’ll use time and time again!” say Niki Morgan RD LD of New Frontier Nutrition.
Top 10 Plant-Based Pantry Recipes
Discover these easy recipes to inspire cooking out of your pantry!
Mississippi Caviar
Mediterranean Potato Bean Olive Salad
Vegan Seafood Salad with Hearts of Palm and Chickpeas
Smoky Chipotle Tomato Rice
Lima Bean Salad with Sumac Spice
Curried Oat White Bean Veggie Burgers
Provencal Bean Salad
Vegan Three Sisters Chili
Greek Black Eyed Peas Vegan Meatballs
Vegan Pot Pie with Sage, Lentils, and Mushrooms
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