>That’s what Working Mother Magazine called it in their short feature on saving time. The writer suggested skipping the grocery stop and making do with the existing contents of the pantry.
It’s October. We do that all the time; I didn’t know it had a name.
Parent-teacher conferences for me, High School Homecoming for Amigo, NFL football games to work and Packer follow-up shows to produce for Husband, and this year, medical testing for Amigo, too. We don’t get to make our weekly grocery stops every weekend, so when we do, we make it count. And the afore-mentioned Pantry Raid? That happens more often than you’d think.
Leftover sloppy joe meat? Add red beans and tomatoes and make chili.
Got the grill fired up? Cook a little extra for the freezer.
One potato, a carrot, and some celery leftover? Feed the rabbit. Or maybe….skillet stew!! The results of my latest Pantry Raid:
Skillet Stew
Please note: in the spirit of a true Pantry Raid, this could include just about anything. The “recipe” is really just a guideline.
Ingredients (this time):
3 potatoes
1 stalk celery
1/4 small onion
a little garden spinach
1/4 cup frozen corn
1 can cream of mushroom soup
4 cups of water, as needed, with chicken bouillion added proportionally (Chicken stock would have been better, but it was a raid. No time to thaw.)
4-5 chicken thighs
lemon pepper and cumin to taste
Slice potatoes thin. Dice celery, onion, and spinach. Add to 2 cups water & chix flavoring in electric skillet on medium heat. Simmer until soft (about 20 minutes on low). Add cream of mushroom soup and refresh water/chix as the first evaporates. Place chicken thighs on top. turn heat to med-high. Cook covered for another 20 minutes. Add water/chix again, stir, and add corn and seasoning.
Optional: take chicken thighs out and brown them in a separate pan. Check with meat thermometer.
And if that’s not vague enough, turn the main skillet to low and keep stirring the mixture until it’s time to serve. Serve with a green salad (with garden tomatoes, of course) and zucchini bread.
After supper: make chicken stock for a delicious soup or stew later.
That’s one heck of an efficient Pantry Raid! Not only did it produce a decent supper, it yielded the starter for a future meal!
>Okay, I needed to slow down and read the title more carefully.
That cleared up, I have done “raid the icebox stew.” Chop up leftover veggies, cooked meat, add a can of tomatoes (thicken if needed) and serve with hot biscuits and a salad or Jello.
>As tempting as plentiful leftovers are, I’m the only one in my house that eats them and I have my work cut out for me in the form of leftovers for lunch for the next two weeks already. Any ideas on how to speed the consumption of leftovers?
>I have to do this about once a week. I always put off going to the grocery store!
>@sornie – as an experienced mom of four now grown adults and a former farm girl; don’t feed them for a week and see how grateful they become for anything hot and filling. I’m completely serious, I did not allow picky eaters among my kids. I had six of us to feed with six different favorites; sometimes someone else got to enjoy their favorite other times they got to enjoy someone else’s.
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