Cleansing/Purifying the Pantry

[Guest guest]

So, I have finally taken the first step into cleansing our food

pantry and rearranging to put healthy snacks in reach for the

children and also put labels within our children's sight.

 

I threw out anything with gelatin, with white refined sugars, and

with artificial sweeteners and colors. Many of these things have

been in our pantry for who knows how long. I have not baked with

white sugar since... a long time. Anyway, it is out and the

boxes/packaging recycled.

 

I am feeling good about sending a positive message to my children

that when they open the pantry, they will see the grain shelf -

millet, quinoa, whole wheat, buckwheat, rye, brown rice, bulgar,

etc. They will see the legume shelf and the children can choose

their beans/lentils for the meal as all is within their reach.

 

With this comes the lessons I can share with my children regarding

the importance of whole grains, the variety of grains, the

differences between refined and natural sugars, and the presence/use

of animal products in/in making foods.

 

I know this is a supportive group so I know many of you would be

proud of me!

 

On to the refrigerator...

 

Any suggestions on some good pantry and fridge essentials?

 

Thanks,

Danielle

[Guest guest]

Congratulations to you Danielle!

 

One very important tip.  Whole grains tend to get rancid much quicker than the

" whites " .  I put my bags of brown rice, quinoa, whole wheat pastry flour, etc.

in big zipper bags in the freezer. 

 

For snacks, I try to have fresh fruits for sweet treats (I also keep balls of

chocolate chip cookie dough in the freezer, because we all need a hot cookie

once in a while), but I don't always have time to shop.  I always have frozen

blueberries, and in the summer I freeze grapes.  Also whole grain crackers and

low fat cheeses.

 

Robin

 

--- On Fri, 10/10/08, Danielle & Joe <jdbdmob wrote:

 

Danielle & Joe <jdbdmob

Cleansing/Purifying the Pantry

 

Friday, October 10, 2008, 10:10 AM

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, I have finally taken the first step into cleansing our food

pantry and rearranging to put healthy snacks in reach for the

children and also put labels within our children's sight.

 

I threw out anything with gelatin, with white refined sugars, and

with artificial sweeteners and colors. Many of these things have

been in our pantry for who knows how long. I have not baked with

white sugar since... a long time. Anyway, it is out and the

boxes/packaging recycled.

 

I am feeling good about sending a positive message to my children

that when they open the pantry, they will see the grain shelf -

millet, quinoa, whole wheat, buckwheat, rye, brown rice, bulgar,

etc. They will see the legume shelf and the children can choose

their beans/lentils for the meal as all is within their reach.

 

With this comes the lessons I can share with my children regarding

the importance of whole grains, the variety of grains, the

differences between refined and natural sugars, and the presence/use

of animal products in/in making foods.

 

I know this is a supportive group so I know many of you would be

proud of me!

 

On to the refrigerator. ..

 

Any suggestions on some good pantry and fridge essentials?

 

Thanks,

Danielle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hi Danielle,

Oh, isn't that pantry cleansing like the one we all did when we became

vegetarians? Give away or throw away the stuff you have " left " in

there, to make the clean mark between " when we ate meat " and " when we

became vegetarians. " :-) Congrats! I recently cleaned out our walk-in

pantry but for different reasons - we got a summer infestation of ants

and moth larvae. It's an understatement to say it was yucky. :-)

Anyway, it made me really clean out and take inventory - and get all

organized. I got some Keep Boxes from the Container Store and it's all

neat and organized, and hopefully bug-proof now. :-) My pantry staples

are the usuals (baking, grains, legumes, canned stuff, etc.) - but I

also keep a few unusual things in there to be able to oomph an otherwise

boring meal: roasted peppers, sundried tomato paste, falafel mix,

polenta, vegetarian bullion cubes, vegetarian gravy mix, ethnic sauces

(I think we have a cuban one and a carribean one right now), wild rice,

olives, dried fruit (good mixed into rice), nuts and seeds (good

sprinkled on anything), etc.

Congrats and have fun stocking up!

Lorraine

 

 

On

Behalf Of Danielle & Joe

Friday, October 10, 2008 8:10 AM

 

Cleansing/Purifying the Pantry

 

So, I have finally taken the first step into cleansing our food

pantry and rearranging to put healthy snacks in reach for the

children and also put labels within our children's sight.

 

I threw out anything with gelatin, with white refined sugars, and

with artificial sweeteners and colors. Many of these things have

been in our pantry for who knows how long. I have not baked with

white sugar since... a long time. Anyway, it is out and the

boxes/packaging recycled.

 

I am feeling good about sending a positive message to my children

that when they open the pantry, they will see the grain shelf -

millet, quinoa, whole wheat, buckwheat, rye, brown rice, bulgar,

etc. They will see the legume shelf and the children can choose

their beans/lentils for the meal as all is within their reach.

 

With this comes the lessons I can share with my children regarding

the importance of whole grains, the variety of grains, the

differences between refined and natural sugars, and the presence/use

of animal products in/in making foods.

 

I know this is a supportive group so I know many of you would be

proud of me!

 

On to the refrigerator...

 

Any suggestions on some good pantry and fridge essentials?

 

Thanks,

Danielle

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Great Job!

 

We always have beans, lentils (both canned) and rice (doesn't take

much longer than putting together a mess-a beans or lentils with

veggies/tomatoes and spices) and pasta/jarred sauce on hand - always

makes for a quick easy meal for those days when you don't have time to

make stuff, or didn't pull something out ahead of time, or whatever.

 

We have a snack shelf for our son with a variety of nuts/seeds and

dried fruits, canned fruit in it's own juice (never in icky syrup). We

have a fruit bowl that has fresh fruit always available for a quick

snack. We keep bread on a shelf he can reach - and he's able to use

the toaster and knows not to put anything into it other than bread (it

toasts cute pandas on it, so maybe that helps with this rule but we've

never had an issue of hands/other stuff other than breads going into

it) - and he has plastic tongs so he can take out the slices (it's

usually his job to make toast when we have it). We also sometimes

have soft pretzles in the freezer that he can toast in the toaster for

a snack.

We otherwise have ours like yours - but I don't have shelves labeled,

but that's a great idea!

 

We have (we got them for school outings when they need 'disposable'

lunches - usually field trips so they don't have to keep track of

everyone's containers ) wateroos (water in a drink box container, some

also have flavors but they're natural flavors and no sugars or any

kind of sweetener at all - just natural fruit flavor added, but they

also have plain - has a penguin on the box, and is my son's favorite

LOL). We do have them in his reach, but

 

My fridge essentials...um, a gallon of water, veggies (like carrots or

turnips) and when in season other fruits that shouldn't be out anymore

in the fruit bowl- cut up and w/in easy reach for our son to get on

his own). Lemon Juice, so we can make our own lemon-aid sometimes. I

also like to cut and freeze banana slices then keep in a zip top bag.

Easy for a nice cold treat, and in a pinch you can add other frozen

fruits to a blender or magic bullet and make sorbet/ice cream. We

make extra pancakes or waffles and freeze them. We also keep raw nuts

and seeds in there, it's a bottom freezer, so he can get to it easily.

 

I can't think anything else.

Sounds like you have a great start already! Keep up the good work.

 

Missie

 

 

On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 10:10 AM, Danielle & Joe <jdbdmob wrote:

> So, I have finally taken the first step into cleansing our food

> pantry and rearranging to put healthy snacks in reach for the

> children and also put labels within our children's sight.

>

> I threw out anything with gelatin, with white refined sugars, and

> with artificial sweeteners and colors. Many of these things have

> been in our pantry for who knows how long. I have not baked with

> white sugar since... a long time. Anyway, it is out and the

> boxes/packaging recycled.

>

> I am feeling good about sending a positive message to my children

> that when they open the pantry, they will see the grain shelf -

> millet, quinoa, whole wheat, buckwheat, rye, brown rice, bulgar,

> etc. They will see the legume shelf and the children can choose

> their beans/lentils for the meal as all is within their reach.

>

> With this comes the lessons I can share with my children regarding

> the importance of whole grains, the variety of grains, the

> differences between refined and natural sugars, and the presence/use

> of animal products in/in making foods.

>

> I know this is a supportive group so I know many of you would be

> proud of me!

>

> On to the refrigerator...

>

> Any suggestions on some good pantry and fridge essentials?

>

> Thanks,

> Danielle

>

>

 

 

 

--

 

http://mszzzi.zoomshare.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mszzzi/

 

~~~~~(m-.-)m

[Guest guest]

, " Danielle & Joe " <jdbdmob wrote:

>

>

>

>

> Any suggestions on some good pantry and fridge essentials?

>

> Thanks,

> Danielle

>

In the pantry, I always have TVP and nutritional yeast. In the fridge, I always

have tofu,

tempeh, and vegan cheeze (mozz and cheddar). My daughter loves to make toast,

put the

toast on a baking sheet, sprinkle shredded cheddar on top, add a couple slices

of tomato,

and heat under the broiler.

She so missed grilled cheese sandwiches and now she has them. Add some homemade

vegan

tomato soup and she has a great Fall lunch.

[Guest guest]

We replaced sugar with agave and stevia! My children also like for a

" treat " seltzer water with stevia and lemon or lime or both juice.

Also to plain water, they add those to give a different " twist " . We

use agave instead of maple syrup even. Our favorite " staples/snacks "

are dried mangoes (no sulfur) and teriyaki tofu strips (homemade is

cheaper than the store bought and simple to make, just time

consuming). I always try to make extra " goodies " ...carob cake (made

with stevia), but they seem to disappear quickly, so we don't make

them often, but they are quick and simple to make...just quicker to

eat! I always get vegetarian cookbooks from the library and pick new

recipes out...i love others ideas!!

Congratulations on the clean-out...

Colleen

 

 

, " Danielle & Joe " <jdbdmob wrote:

>

> So, I have finally taken the first step into cleansing our food

> pantry and rearranging to put healthy snacks in reach for the

> children and also put labels within our children's sight.

>

> I threw out anything with gelatin, with white refined sugars, and

> with artificial sweeteners and colors. Many of these things have

> been in our pantry for who knows how long. I have not baked with

> white sugar since... a long time. Anyway, it is out and the

> boxes/packaging recycled.

>

> I am feeling good about sending a positive message to my children

> that when they open the pantry, they will see the grain shelf -

> millet, quinoa, whole wheat, buckwheat, rye, brown rice, bulgar,

> etc. They will see the legume shelf and the children can choose

> their beans/lentils for the meal as all is within their reach.

>

> With this comes the lessons I can share with my children regarding

> the importance of whole grains, the variety of grains, the

> differences between refined and natural sugars, and the presence/use

> of animal products in/in making foods.

>

> I know this is a supportive group so I know many of you would be

> proud of me!

>

> On to the refrigerator...

>

> Any suggestions on some good pantry and fridge essentials?

>

> Thanks,

> Danielle

>