Pantry Staples for Easy Weeknight Meals

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Using pantry staples allows you to pull together dinners quickly and skip last-minute takeout. Today we are going to talk about some pantry staples to keep on hand for easy dinners!

Pantry ingredients like canned beans, tomatoes, rice, and dried pasta are convenient, affordable, and often can be things you make or can yourself. Having a well-stocked pantry keeps you prepared for many different seasons in life!

Our grandparents knew to keep their pantries stocked with basics: beans, potatoes, flour, oats, sugar, and rice, so that a frugal and filling meal was never far away.

When many people think of stocking their pantry with things for easy meals, ultra-processed foods come to mind. Boxed mac and cheese, canned soups from the store, and anything similar. I do not want you to feel like there is anything wrong with having those things in your pantry. Sometimes they can be extremely helpful; in fact, I have some boxed Mac and Cheese in mine right now! But they aren’t necessarily the healthiest or the most frugal things to stock, which is what we are going to focus on in this article.

1. Homemade Meal Mixes

These are DIY versions of boxed dinner kits that combine pasta or rice with seasoning. You mix the dry ingredients ahead of time, store them in jars and add fresh meat or vegetables when cooking.

• Why they’re great: Having pre‑measured mixes on your shelf means you can brown some ground meat, pour in a jar of mix, add water or milk and have dinner ready in about 20 minutes.
• Frugal and customizable: Homemade mixes cost far less than store‑bought kits, and you get to decide how much salt, seasoning and cheese to use.
• Meal Ideas:
  • Hamburger Helper Mix: This is my homemade version of the popular boxed meal that uses pasta, spices and powdered milk. This mix stores well in a jar and cooks quickly with ground beef. If you happen to have my book, Little House Living, I also have many variations of this recipe in there!
  • Rice‑a‑Roni‑style mix or Herbed Rice: These are a jarred mix of rice, pasta and seasonings for a quick side dish. They are usually made as a side but all you need to do to make it a meal is add some meat! I also have more variations of this in my book, Little House Living.
  • Macaroni & Cheese Mix: Use a shelf‑stable powdered cheese to pair with elbow macaroni. Then you just need to add milk and butter like the store mixes, and you’ve got your own!

2. Dry Soup Mixes & Soup Bases

Dry soup mixes are layered jars of beans, pasta, and spices that cook into hearty soups. Soup bases, such as “cream‑of” mixes, replace canned condensed soups in casseroles to make quick dishes.

• Why they’re great: Dry soup mixes use basic pantry staples to make and are ready whenever you need a warm meal. These are especially good for winter meals!
• Cost‑effective & healthier: Dry mixes cost pennies compared to store‑bought packets and allow you to control sodium and additives which are often high in store-bought soups.
• Meal Ideas:
  • DIY Dry Soup Mixes: Here are some mixes in a jar recipes, such as Pasta Fagioli, Chicken Barley Soup, and Chicken Noodle Soup that layer dried beans, pasta, and vegetables for quick soups.
  • Cream of Soup Mix: This is a powdered base for cream of chicken/mushroom soup that can be stirred into casseroles instead of canned soup.
  • Onion Soup Mix: This isn’t a meal in itself but a very regularly used seasoning that adds quick flavor in roasts, dips or soups.

3. Beans, Rice & Pasta

These basic grains and legumes form the backbone of many weeknight meals. They’re inexpensive, versatile and have long shelf lives.

• Why they’re great: Canned beans, rice, and dried pasta are all convenient and affordable, and they can make some super-fast meals.
• Stretch your budget: A little uncooked rice becomes a lot when cooked, and beans (canned or dried) provide inexpensive protein. Keeping pasta on hand allows you to create quick, filling dinners like spaghetti in minutes.
• Meal Ideas:
  • Frugal Dried Bean Soup Mix: This soup mix is a mix of beans and spices for a hearty soup.
  • Canned Bean Recipes: Here are a bunch of recipes we make with canned beans. I use home-canned beans, but you can use store-bought if that’s what you have.
  • Old Fashioned Goulash: This recipe uses all pantry staples with a base of pasta. It can be made in just minutes!

4. Canned Tomatoes, Vegetables & Proteins

Stocking canned vegetables and proteins adds nutrition and variety to pantry meals. These items brighten up quick dinners and reduce prep time.

• Why they’re great: A can of tomatoes is the key to many pantry soups. Canned proteins can make fast lunches.
• Budget-friendly: Canned tomatoes cost much less than fresh tomatoes when they are out of season and can still make something delicious. The same with other canned vegetables.
• Meal Ideas:
  • Tomato Soup: This recipe is a yummy and quick tomato soup using canned tomatoes. You can use store-bought or home-canned tomatoes.
  • Tomato Gravy: This is one of my frugal and fast go-to recipes! You use canned tomatoes or tomato sauce and pasta for a super fast pantry meal.
  • Chicken Salad: We make this all the time with canned chicken plus dill, onion, celery, grapes, salt, and mayo. Serve with crackers.

5. Seasonings, Sauces & Baking Staples

A variety of dried herbs, spices, bouillon and baking staples allows you to turn simple pantry ingredients into delicious meals.

• Why they’re great: Oils, vinegars, flour, sugar, spices, and herbs are among the essential shelf‑stable ingredients to make fast meals. Having these basics means you can thicken sauces, bake bread, and season dishes without extra shopping trips. These items might not make a meal on their own but they can make them taste better!
• Control your flavors: By having homemade pantry stable sauces and seasonings on hand, you can control what goes into your food and how it tastes.
• Meal Ideas:
  • Seasoning mixes: Taco Seasoning, Ranch Dressing Mix, Italian Dressing Mix, and Sloppy Joe Seasoning are all examples of blends you can make and keep on hand for quickly adding to meat and making a fast meal.
  • Broth powders and bouillon substitutes: Homemade chicken broth powder or vegetable bouillon (dried instead of frozen) make meal bases.
  • Baking staples: DIY Bisquick mix, homemade brownie or cookie mixes and breakfast mixes like pancake mix can make fast meals or sides.
  • Homemade sauces: If you can, you can have so many homemade sauces on your shelf and ready to go, like Taco Sauce, Spaghetti Sauce, Steak Sauce, Pizza Sauce, etc.

Fast Weeknight Supper Meal Plan Example

How can you put this all together? Let me show you!

• Monday: Spaghetti with home-canned spaghetti sauce and a side of canned pears and green beans.
• Tuesday: Canned chicken cooked with fajita seasoning and whatever veggies you have for homemade fajita night.
• Wednesday: Pasta E Fagioli (from the dried mix) in the slow cooker.
• Thursday: Loaded baked potatoes (put in the slow cooker in the morning) topped with canned beans and other toppings.
• Friday: Pizza made with dough from the freezer and home-canned pizza sauce with your favorite toppings.

Now is the perfect time to reset your family’s routine with quick, comforting dinners. A well‑stocked pantry filled with homemade mixes, dried beans and grains, canned vegetables and proteins, and basic seasonings means you can cook nourishing and fast meals without resorting to expensive convenience foods.

Focusing on building these pantry staples will help you create a frugal, from‑scratch, working pantry and give you the freedom to control the ingredients, seasonings, and allergens to make perfect meals for your family.

What are your favorite pantry staples that make quick meals?

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