The pantry - storm and otherwise

After our trip, I went to Whole Foods, The Boys and Publix to restock the food supplies. I am not a tidy housekeeper, but I have decided to show you the food I have in the kitchen when the cabinets and refrigerator are full. People often say to me that our diet must be so limiting. You can see from the overflow of food products that is not the case at all. In fact, we eat a wide variety of foods, probably more than most people on a Standard American Diet.

In the refrigerator, I keep mainly fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as several kinds of flour, soy milk and the usual door full of mustard, ketchup, etc. The freezer contains more flour, breads, bagels, and a few frozen vegetables and fruits, in addition to Boca soy products. This time of the year I try to empty the freezer as much as possible because it is hurricane season. Last year we were fortunate and had no hurricanes, but in previous years, I was really sorry to have a freezer full of food thawing and spoiling in the drawn-out electricity free aftermath of the storms.

The pantry is stocked with canned beans, broths, cereals and vinegars. This is also where Jerry keeps his salsa and home-baked tortilla chips, his main snack foods. Although he cooks almost nothing, he does make the tortilla chips on his own from corn tortillas we buy at Publix.

The pantry also contains the hurricane supplies that can feed us without electricity for storage or cooking. I buy small cans of vegetables and fruits so we will empty them at one meal since there is no keeping leftovers in Florida after a big storm. There are some wonderful recipes for that kind of meal preparation in The Storm Gourmet: A Guide to Creating Extraordinary Meals Without Electricity by Daphne Nikolopoulos. My favorite recipe from that book is the one for Salad Nicoise with canned cannelini beans replacing the tuna. I never use canned potatoes or green beans, preferring to use fresh vegetables. However, after a hurricane, this has tasted fabulous.

Salad Nicoise Hurricane Style

1 8-ounce can sliced white potatoes
1 15-ounce can cannelini beans, drained (not rinsed if water supply has been interrupted)
1 8-ounce can green beans
1 small jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained (or used as dressing)
1 2.75-ounce can sliced black olives

Toss together with a simple dressing of red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard and salt and pepper. Serves 4.