Hubby's Turn to Cook From Your Pantry

Cooking with non-perishable foods doesn’t have to mean living off tins of baked beans and spaghetti.  There’s lots of delicious and healthy meals you can make for the whole family. Here’s four of our favourite food staple recipes to get you through home isolation.

CHICKPEA & VEGETABLE CURRY | Serves 4

Who doesn’t love a good curry? This one is so easy, and it makes enough to feed the family for the next day too!

Ingredients
Korma curry simmer sauce
Tin of coconut milk
Two tins of chickpeas
Tin of diced tomatoes
Your favourite frozen vegetables – cauliflower, carrot, peas, beans, potato and broccoli work well.
Rice, cashews or other nuts to serve

Cooking instructions
Sautee your vegetables in a pan
Rinse your chickpeas and pat dry
Add the chickpeas to the pan
Add the tin of tomatoes and the korma sauce
Mix in the coconut milk and simmer for 20 minutes
It’s ready to serve with rice

PESTO PASTA | Serves 4

Pasta is the king of staple foods so how could we not include a pasta dish? In Italy, less is more when it comes to pasta dishes so if you’re getting sick of Spaghetti Bolognese, give this one a try. Option: Try Zucchini Noodles or “Zoodles” for a gluten free alternative. It’s also a great source of protein, vitamin A, thiamin, niacin, phosphorus and copper, dietary fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, riboflavin, vitamin B6, folic acid, magnesium, potassium and manganese.

Ingredients
Spiral pasta
Pesto sauce
Frozen peas
Frozen spinach 
Pine nuts 
Sundried tomatoes 
Diced onion 
Parmesan cheese to serve

Cooking instructions:
Bring your pasta to the boil
Sautee the onion in a pan
Add peas, sundried tomatoes, spinach and pine nuts 
Throw in the pasta 
Mix in the pesto sauce
Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top to serve
Bellissima! 

CHILLI CON CARNE | Serves 4

Chilli is a powerful immune-boosting food so there’s no better time to whip up a chilli con carne. You can make this dish as hot or as mild as you like. 

Ingredients:
Two tins of crushed tomatoes
Defrosted beef mince
Taco seasoning (and/or chilli powder)
Tin of red kidney beans
Diced onion
Rice to serve

Cooking instructions:
Sautee onion in a pan
Add the mince and cook until brown
Throw in the tinned tomatoes and kidney beans
Mix in the taco seasoning or chilli powder (to your liking)
Let it simmer for 20 minutes.
Serve with rice

TUNA SALAD | Serves 4

For those who want to be even more healthy, tuna is a great source of omega 3 fatty acids and essential nutrients like potassium.  Here’s a great recipe for tuna salad.

Ingredients
Four tins of tuna 
Two tins of four bean mix
Tin of corn 
Tin of diced tomatoes 
Diced onion 
Optional: four boiled eggs

Cooking instructions
Mix the four bean mix, corn, diced onion and diced tomatoes together
Add the tuna
Optional: bring eggs to the boil
Cut boiled eggs into quarters and add them to the salad
It’s ready to serve!