{"id":124,"date":"2009-01-10T18:52:43","date_gmt":"2009-01-10T18:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/textmessages\/2009\/01\/how-well-stocked-is-your-pantr.html"},"modified":"2009-01-10T18:52:43","modified_gmt":"2009-01-10T18:52:43","slug":"how-well-stocked-is-your-pantr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/textmessages\/2009\/01\/how-well-stocked-is-your-pantr.html","title":{"rendered":"How well stocked is your pantry?"},"content":{"rendered":"

More from the NY Times Most Emailed List: This week, foodie extraordinaire Mark Bittman (author of my most-used cookbook, How to Cook Everything<\/a>) has been at the top of the list for several days with his post about how to stock your pantry<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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I mentioned<\/a> earlier this week that my love for and understanding of cooking are increasing with each year, but reading this article made me realize just how far I have to go, how many basics I have to learn. And how common-sensical lots of the best advice can be! Bittman tells you what to toss out of your pantry, and what to put in:<\/div>\n
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OUT<\/span>\u00a0Bouillon cubes or powder, or canned stock.<\/span>
IN<\/span>\u00a0Simmer a carrot, a celery stalk and half an onion in a couple of cups of water for 10 minutes and you’re better off; if you have any chicken scraps, even a half-hour of cooking with those same vegetables will give you something 10 times better than any canned stock.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Duh! We ran out of homemade chicken stock for our soup this week, and I ran to the store for a couple cans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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OUT<\/span>\u00a0Spices older than a year: smell before using; if you get a whiff of dust or must before you smell the spice, toss it. I find it easier to clean house once a year and buy new ones.<\/span>
IN<\/span>\u00a0Fresh spices. Almost all spices are worth having.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Um, we just celebrated our 10-year anniversary. We still have a spice rack with several of the spices someone gave us at our wedding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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OUT<\/span>\u00a0Grated imitation “Parmesan” (beware the green cylinder, or any other pre-grated cheese for that matter).<\/span>
IN<\/span>\u00a0Real Parmigiano-Reggiano. Wrapped well, it keeps for a year (scrape mold off if necessary). Grated over anything, there is no more magical ingredient.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Super grateful for this advice. I grew up with the green cylinder, and we still have been using a bit pricier pre-grated Parm for years. My wife recently discovered a cheap but tasty block of Parm-Regg, and we have a couple blocks in our fridge. I’m glad to know I can keep them for a year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
There is more where that comes from in Bittman’s article. Great stuff.\u00a0<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More from the NY Times Most Emailed List: This week, foodie extraordinaire Mark Bittman (author of my most-used cookbook, How to Cook Everything) has been at the top of the list for several days with his post about how to stock your pantry.\u00a0 I mentioned earlier this week that my love for and understanding of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cooking","category-food"],"yoast_head":"\nHow well stocked is your pantry? - Text Messages<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/textmessages\/2009\/01\/how-well-stocked-is-your-pantr.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How well stocked is your pantry? 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