What's in our cupboards

I love seeing what other people have in their carts at the grocery store (and then silently judge their choices) (haha, kidding, not kidding).  So if you're like me, then you will enjoy this post as I open up our cupboards.  In the spirit of full disclosure, I did move some things around so I could get better photos, but this is basically what we have. 

 

We always have a lot of fruit on the counter.  When asked what E's favourite fruit is, he answers "all of them!".  Fruit is such an easy thing to stick in a lunch box.  I like to get kiwis and pears too.  I am not a fan of grapes because they seem to go bad quickly, but E loves them so we get them occasionally.

 

We always have whole wheat pasta, quinoa, couscous and rice.  I like to buy brown rice but often go with jasmine or basmati because it cooks faster.  

 

 

Because we like to walk to get our groceries, I try to stock up on canned good when I am at the grocery store so we don't have to carry heavy bags home.  We always have canned tomatoes and beans since they show up in lots of different recipes. 



Our spice drawer is not the prettiest, but it's a bit more easy to use now that I've written on the tops of the containers.  The little beef and chicken stock containers in the bottom left are amazing.  I was forever throwing away the ends of cartons of stock and I like these much better.

This is part of our snack drawer - popcorn, nuts, and dried fruit.  I like to toast the macadamia nuts and coconut for my oatmeal.  Our Clif bars are staples for our ski days.  I didn't take a picture of the whole drawer since it is a little messy with some leftover chocolate and candy from Christmas.  Our baking drawer was also boring to take a picture of, but it has the usual: flour (white and whole wheat), sugar (white, brown and icing), oatmeal, chocolate chips, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

 

These things are in constant use for our meals - vinegars (regular, balsamic, white wine, red wine, rice wine, apple cider), oils (olive, vegetable, peanut, sesame), and sauces (soy, fish, Worcestershire), and then of course sea salt and garlic. 

And then our fridge staples - maple syrup for pancakes and cooking, peanut butter and jam for breakfast, plain yoghurt for shakes and recipes, bag milk, eggs, curry pastes (this is just one of several), mayo and mustards for sandwiches, and tubes of garlic, basil, cilantro, parsley and chili pepper pastes.  I didn't take a photo of the whole fridge because who wants to see leftovers and thawing meat, but you get the idea.  Our freezer has some frozen corn, peas, and berries.  I also like to set aside some containers of leftover soup or casseroles in the freezer that I can easily grab for my lunch.  We also have  leftover box of the M and M Meats sausage rolls that I'm trying to incorporate into a healthy meal somehow.  We may just end up snacking on them some weekend. 

Every few months I go through our condiments and cupboards and unapologetically toss the things that are past their due date.  Since we started planning our meals and only buying what we need, we have done a lot better at keeping our fridge and cupboards full of things we use on a regular basis.