Even if you are not a minimalist, you might have seen the idea of a capsule wardrobe. The idea is to basically limit yourself to a certain number of pieces that you mix and match and rotate for a season. Courtney Carver over at Be More with Less took this idea and made it famous with her Project 333.
But what if we took this idea and applied it to food?
What if you could use a limited number of ingredients to make more meals?
What if you could save money and eat more nutritiously by limiting your pantry staples?
Enter the capsule pantry.
You may be asking,
What is that?
Good question. A capsule pantry is a purposeful limiting of what ingredients you use for a certain period of time.
Note: I am not a nutritionist. Nothing I write here is to be taken as medical or dietary advice. This is a personal experience. An experiment, if you will.
So what does this experiment entail?
The Ingredients
- Protein: Black beans, eggs, *protein powder
- Starches: Sweet potatoes & rice
- Greens: Spinach & Romaine Lettuce
- Veggies: Red bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, onion
- Liquid: Broth (veggie or chicken), almond milk
- Fruits: Bananas, frozen blueberries
- Fats: Olive oil, peanut butter
* I will only use protein powder I already have on hand, one scoop per day. This could easily be omitted.
With these basic ingredients, I will make all of my main meals for one week. I am not going to limit spices, dried herbs, or water.
Total cost of ingredients (minus protein powder): $28.37
While this could obviously vary according to location, it gives you a starting point. I have several of these ingredients on hand, but I calculated the cost based on an empty pantry.
Pro Tip
One strategy to cut cost and space is to buy dry ingredients over canned or frozen. Blueberries are the only frozen item on the list. I chose them because they are great for smoothies and cheaper than fresh, at least during this time of year. Generally, however, the more processed a food is, the more expensive and less healthy it becomes.
So here’s the deal:
I will conduct this capsule pantry experiment next week. In two weeks, I will write a follow-up post with recipe links, strategies to condense cooking time, and reflections.
How about you? Would you like to have a simplified pantry? Let me know in the comments below!