The $20/$20 Challenge: My Buddy Lola Sends in Her Pantry Photos

So, my buddy Lola {who traipsed across the country with me on the St. Jude or Bust trek} is a nut…well, I mean to say, she’s super into Paleo {which basically means she only eats meat, nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruit}.  Secretly, I’ve always wanted to take a peak into her pantry.  When I started the $20/$20 challenge, I asked her to send in her photos, and since she’s a sucker for a good cause, she agreed.  Meanwhile, I have to say, her pantry isn’t really that shocking.  Minus the flour and sugar, it looks pretty darn normal to me.  But, you can be the judge…

Lola writes,

“Okay, Mavis, I know you think I munch on nuts, seeds and hunks of meat all day, but so not true.  The bulk of our meals are veggies–which this time of year, come mostly from frozen veggies I buy at Costco and then roast.  As you already know, food is SUPER important to me.  I read cookbooks like they are trashy novels {page turners}, and I love to try to “paleo-ize” recipes.  I am a “let food be thy medicine, and medicine be they food” sort of gal through and through.  It makes me a weirdo.  I accept it.  Even with all of that, I don’t think that my pantry, food stocks, etc. look that out of the ordinary.  I know tons of your readers cook from scratch, and while they might add in beans, grains, etc., I think for the most part, people who cook from scratch have a lot of the same things in their pantry.  Maybe I am out of touch with reality, though?

Every fall, we buy half of a cow, to keep beef prices down.  So, most of what you see in the freezer is beef, veggies, and chicken {which I typically buy from Zaycon}.  The gin in the door is for medicinal purposes.  😉

My pantry probably holds more kitchen tools than actual food–I love kitchen gadgets that make food prep faster, otherwise, I think I would spend all day in the kitchen just to get 3 meals out.  I like to keep coconut oil, cocoa powder, gelatin, etc. on lazy susans in the pantry so they don’t make their way to the very back  in an attempt to hide from me.

Behind the pantry door, I hang my aprons and keep all of my extra bulk spices.  We go through spices crazy fast around here, so I usually keep the day to day spices in the cupboard next to the stove, and extras or specialty spices behind the dooron a rack.  I love storing stuff in mason jars–mostly because I have about a bazillion {that is an estimate, not an actual firgure}.  I use dollar store contact paper as labels–it’s cheap and it works.

I keep our canned goods in a cupboard next to the stove.  I don’t know why.  There is absolutely zero logic to not keeping them in the pantry.

Our fridge is pretty basic.  We go through a ton of eggs each week {I had chickens for awhile, but since I live on a lot the size of the postage stamp and they kept pooping all over my patio, I decided that until I move out to the country, they would have to go}.  All four of us rely pretty heavily on leftovers for lunch.  My kids go to a school where there is a microwave available, which makes packing real food for lunch significantly easier.

I think that’s about covers it.  Thanks for your generosity in donating the $20 bucks–especially since I know that if I ever turned my back, you would go through my pantry for free.  Ha!  Power on, philanthropist, power on.

~Lola

Are you getting your pantries camera ready? You can participate in the $20/$20 Challenge by simply sending in pictures of your pantry. Find out more about the $20/$20 Challenge: Show Your Pantry – Fill a Pantry!