Pantry Meal Plan

Two Weeks of Pantry and Freezer Meals

Now that you have a list of everything for a well-stocked freezer and pantry, you need some ideas for pantry meals! Work to start with fresh ingredients and produce stocked in your refrigerator. Make a big batch of vegetable soup and freeze it in serving sizes that work for you. Have basil or greens on the verge of going bad? Make a batch of pesto and freeze it for later. Look at what you have and use up the things that will go bad first. In my family, that means a monster batch of guacamole is coming our way very soon.

As always, let me know if you have cooking or substitution questions. If you have an ingredient to use up and don’t know how to use it, email me! I’m here to help! Pantry meals can save you on busy nights when you haven’t had time to stock up for the week. Please leave a comment below with your own pantry favorites, or feel free to DM me on Instagram (where I spend way too much time). Don’t forget to check out my article on what to stock in your pantry, fridge and freezer with a full shopping list. I hope it will give you ideas and inspiration for what to make at home.

Kale and White Bean Minestrone

Use up any past-their-prime vegetables you might have in the fridge. If you don’t have chicken or vegetable stock, water will work just fine. This is absolutely versatile: Use frozen broccoli. Leave out the cabbage. Use any type of leafy greens or canned beans. Basically, this recipe is a template for a really rich and flavorful vegetable soup.

Versatile Vegetable Soup

This is another great template for using up leftover vegetables in your crisper. Use fresh or frozen vegetables, and thicken the soup with orzo or small macaroni noodles.

Instant Pot Black Beans (or Pinto)

Dried black or pinto beans are perfectly suited for your Instant Pot. Make a batch of these delicious black beans — extras freeze perfectly!

Black Bean Soup

Have leftover Instant Pot Black Beans? Make this spicy and delicious black bean soup. Canned and dried black beans are always in my pantry!

Beans in General

I don’t think I could ever tire of wholesome and flavorful bowls of beans, and good thing there are 86 recipes linked above. I’m starting with the white bean and chorizo chili or mixed bean salad with tomato vinaigrette. Pinto beans warmed up on the stove with some salsa make a great taco night side dish. Or white beans sauteed with some onion, garlic and canned chopped tomatoes are a great vegetarian main dish or side.

Mexican Rice Casserole

Sounds like something you could make on a Sunday and eat all week long. If you don’t have the zucchini or red pepper, feel free to leave them out! You might sub in some canned green chilies, which I happen to have in spades in my pantry. Add a cup or two of shredded chicken to this and you have a one-pot dinner!

Rice in General

I love this Bon Appetit recipe (linked above), which has 71 ways to use rice. From chicken and rice soup to risi e bisi, there’s lots to explore here!

Enchilada Casserole

You can make this easy enchilada casserole with shredded chicken, ground turkey or beef––or leave out the meat and use pinto or black beans!

Tomato Soup

You could make this in 1,000 variations from pantry ingredients. Serve with quesadillas or grilled cheese on the side, naturally. Add a jar of roasted red peppers to the recipe above, or make roasted red pepper-tomato soup.

Homemade Tomato Sauce

Speaking of tomatoes, you can make a basic homemade tomato sauce for pasta. This freezes well if you want to batch cook a double recipe. Or make Marcella Hazan’s famous 4-ingredient tomato sauce recipe.

Bolognese

Use that ground beef stashed in your freezer for weeknight bolognese or Marcella Hazan’s bolognese recipe.

Canned Tomatoes in General

I love anything with tomatoes. As I kid, I’d pick fresh tomatoes out of salads and eat them before the salad bowl hit the table. I loveeeee all the ideas in here, but start with the pasta e fagioli.

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

I keep my pantry stocked with all shapes and sizes of dried pasta, and tube pasta is delicious with this sauce. But you could also use this sauce with cheese or spinach tortellini, penne or spaghetti. Or as a topper for roasted or grilled chicken.

Tortellini Casserole

If you don’t have Italian sausage on hand (or if you want to make this vegetarian), leave it out! If you don’t have the mozzarella, just top with some grated Parmesan or skip the cheese entirely. Frozen spinach can be used instead of fresh; just decrease frozen spinach by half because it’s more tightly packed.

Polenta

Delicious with roast chicken, steaks, or just simple tomato sauce, quick polenta can be made from almost any type of coarse ground cornmeal (just not finely ground corn flour). Sub chicken stock for the water for extra flavor.

Salsa Verde Chicken

I always have jars of salsa verde in my pantry. It’s such a great flavor boost to tortilla soup, canned beans, or meal-prepped batched of shredded salsa verde chicken.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Speaking of chicken, make a batch of homemade chicken noodle soup sooner than later. Stash leftovers in your freezer. I love this version made with a whole chicken and this quick version and this one that uses chicken thighs. If you don’t have egg noodles, substitute orzo or any tube or fusilli pasta.

Chickpea Tuna Salad

This will definitely be happening for lunch or a light dinner this week. I add any fresh herbs I have on hand. Or make salmon croquettes or salmon salad. Generally, if you’re missing a couple of the herbs or veggie ingredients, it’s fine to leave them out. I sometimes add chopped giardiniera for a boost of flavor (another item that’s always in my pantry).

Frozen Veggie Recipes

Make an easy veggie stir fry, roasted frozen broccoli or creamed spinach with parmesan cheese.

Tofu Stir Fry

Ok, I know tofu is a fridge item and not a pantry item, but here are some ideas for how to use it! This tofu and bok choy recipe looks delicious (I might make it as soon as I finish this post). Feel free to sub another green for the bok choy. Or if you don’t have udon, use spaghetti. Or sub chicken breast for the tofu.

Energy Bites

Sometimes, we need a treat that packs a healthy punch. You can substitute almost any dried fruit (dried cherries, diced dried apricots, or dried raisins).

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you don’t have molasses for these, simply leave it out. I prefer raisins in my oatmeal cookies, which you could definitely sub here. Or follow this recipe.