Please welcome back to the blog, Mandi from Life Your Way. Mandi just finished writing another fantastic ebook that I’ve read and loved. This one is all about recipes for homemade pantry staples. From sauces and spice mixes to butter and ketchup, this ebook has it all. It just never occurred to me to make many of these staples on my own because I thought it would involve too much work. This recipe book takes the mystery out of it, with simple basic ingredients and easy to follow instructions that take no time at all. I also love that each recipe includes a picture. Thanks Mandi!
This week I’m excited to release my brand new ebook, Easy Homemade: Homemade Pantry Staples for the Busy Modern Family, which is on sale for just $0.99!
There’s no doubt about it – when you start cooking from scratch, your storage needs change dramatically. No longer do you have neat rows of boxes and bags and sealed cans lining your pantry shelves…but that’s not necessarily a bad thing!
Creating my own beautiful storage is perhaps one of my favorite parts of making homemade pantry staples. While rows of boxes can look organized, they’re not exactly pretty, but an eclectic collection of jars filled with various grains and mixes is pretty enough to display on open shelves!
While jars are our storage container of choice – both from our pasta sauce buying days as well as those canning jars we snag whenever they’re on sale – they’re not the only option for storing kitchen staples.
Here are a few others to consider:
Reclaimed Jars: If you don’t want to spend a lot on jars, but you’re no longer buying jarred food, you can also find a wide variety of jars at yard sales, flea markets, thrift shops and estate sales. You may need to purchase new lids, so focus on standard-size canning jars.
Zipper Bags: It’s easy to replace store-bought baking mixes when you take a few minutes to mix up the dry ingredients for several batches at once! To make prep a breeze, use quart or gallon zipper bags to create individual portions. Mark the outside of the bag with the wet ingredients you need as well as directions and then refill the bags once you’ve used them all up.
Freezer Jars: I store a lot of my homemade condiments (pasta sauce, salsa, ketchup and more) in the freezer, and while I’m comfortable with freezing food in glass jars, Ball also makes a line of BPA-free plastic freezer jars that you can use instead.
Tupperware: Recently, while visiting my grandmother in Florida, I realized that she still has the same tupperware containers in her pantry that she’s had since I was a little girl – that’s almost 30 years! That’s a pretty good commercial for investing in a set of Tupperware, don’t you think?
Creating beautiful food storage isn’t the only reason to make kitchen staples from scratch, but it’s definitely a bonus for the organizing junkies among us!
Discover more than 60 recipes for homemade kitchen staples in Easy Homemade, which is available for your Kindle, Nook or a full-color PDF to read on your computer for just $0.99 this week only!
Giveaway:
PLUS, the first 100 readers to use coupon code ORGJUNKIE100 will get a FREE PDF copy of the ebook. Sorry these are now gone. But even if you miss that code, you can pick up your copy – including several great bonuses – for just $0.99 for a limited time only. After that the price will go up to $3.99.
Click here to get your copy today.
You’ll also find me sharing more about the what, why and how of homemade pantry staples at these great blogs:
- Real Food Baby Step: Homemade Pantry Staples | Keeper of the Home
- How Cooking from Scratch Has Changed My Pantry | Kitchen Stewardship
- Popcorn (Ultimate Recipe Swap: Afternoon Snacks) | Life as Mom
- Homemade Does Not Have to Mean Gourmet | Simple Organized Living
- Comparing the Cost of Homemade Pantry Staples | Money Saving Mom
- Strategies for “Easy” Homemade | The Happy Housewife
- Homemade Taco Seasoning | For the Mommas
- Baby Steps to Cooking from Scratch | Simple Mom
- Fresh-Squeezed Lemonade | Deal Seeking Mom {8/16 @ 12pm ET}
Mandi Ehman lives in wild, wonderful West Virginia with her husband of ten years and four beautiful, spunky little girls. As a full-time work-at-home, homeschooling mom, she runs Life Your Way, a site that blends intentional and creative living, and Jungle Deals & Steals, where it’s all Amazon, all the time.
Julieann says
This was a really great “Guest” Post!!! Love pantry oraganization, it is always an ongoing process.
Robin from Frugal Family Times says
Thanks for the free ebook, Mandi and Laura! It looks fabulous.
Rebecca says
Thank you! Can’t wait to check it out. I love repurposing old jars for food storage.
Jodi says
Thank you so much for the free book! I have been trying to find something like this for a long time. I am tired of needing to look at different websites to find what I am looking for! Thanks again!!!
Beth B. says
Thanks for the ideas and the free e-book! We are about to move into a new house and I have already begun to create a plan that will be an attempt at an organized pantry. I’m sure this will help.
hsmominmo says
Looking forward to reading through your new book! I love having my own mixes and staples at-the-ready. I think I’ll be buying a few extra copies for my daughters and daughter-in-law. This deal is too good to pass up. Thank you!
Gina says
Thank you for the free eBook! I have made my own Bisquick-type-mix (because it’s GF) and pancake/waffle mix for years, so I’m eager to see what else I can make from scratch.
Anda says
Nice! I’ ve wanted to make my own ketchup for a while but somehow never did. These simple recipes definitely are encouraging! Thank You! 🙂
Heather says
Thank you, thank you! I was able to snag one of the free ebooks.
Patty says
Thank you for the free eBook! I’ve been drooling over it but was fighting myself to stick to my budget this month….with the free eBook, I was able to stick to my budget and still get all the excellent recipes! Thank you so much! I can’t wait to try MANY of these recipes. The kids go back to school next week and I’m planning to stock up my pantry!
Sarah says
Thanks for the book! It looks excellent. 🙂
Linda Stoll says
oh .yes! I love anything to do with creating, organizing, using, cultivating a hard-working, little pantry nook! and what a money and time saver when all is said and done!
http://creeksideministries.blogspot.com/2008/05/pantry.html
Becky L says
I wish I had a better pantry area but I make do with what I have. I remember one house I lived in, still with my parents, there was a room that was for the pantry and I just loved it! Sigh! This post was great! Thanks!
Tracy Stone says
Very nice! I’ll enjoy trying these recipes out
Vikki says
its now $3.99 not $0.99