("Dio e Zingaro" by La Municipale Balcanica)
- Hi, I'm Jerry James Stone, and in today's video,
I'm gonna talk to you about how to stock your pantry
with pasta, grains, and beans.
So these are the essential items you would need
to keep your pantry stocked up
for all the things you want to make
and their food storage times.
Let's get to it.
("Dio e Zingaro" by La Municipale Balcanica)
Okay, so today I'm gonna talk to you about
how to stock up your pantry with pasta and grains and beans.
I'm talking about all dry goods.
So this isn't canned.
This is not cooked.
This is all dried ingredients.
Just a little bit of common sense though:
if you ever have something that you think smells off
or looks off or tastes off, get rid of that.
I'm just giving you general storage times
for when these items are stored properly.
So let's get to it.
Okay, so we're gonna start off with the rices.
Basically, white rice, wild rice, Arborio rice,
jasmine rice, basmati rice,
all of those rices pretty much can be stored indefinitely,
indefinitely in the pantry, indefinitely in the fridge,
and indefinitely in the freezer.
They keep forever, for the most part.
They are processed to a degree, and for that reason,
they're pretty much shelf-stable.
Next up, we have brown rice.
This is the tricky one in the rice category.
So brown rice,
because it actually has not been as processed,
it has more of the natural oils from the grain,
and those oils cause it to go rancid quicker.
So you can't keep it in the pantry as long,
you can't keep it in the fridge as long,
and you can't keep it in the freezer as long.
So when it comes to brown rice in the pantry,
you can store it for about six months in a dark, cool place.
If you put it in the fridge,
you can actually keep it for about up to a year,
and if you put it in the freezer,
you can keep it up to two years.
But once again, it's different than those other rices
because it has those oils.
It's more of the whole natural grain,
and those oils go rancid when they're just left out.
So next up, we have our oats.
I'm talking about steel-cut oats, rolled oats, instant oats.
Those will last two years in the pantry uncooked.
Once cooked, it's about seven days in the fridge
or up to six months in the freezer.
And our last one in the grain department is quinoa.
So quinoa will last up to two years, dry, in the pantry.
Once it's cooked, we're talking about five to seven days
in the refrigerator or up to two months in the freezer.
Okay, so we're moving on to pastas now.
So with pasta, and I'm talking spaghetti, linguini, bow tie,
macaroni, shells, lasagna noodles,
this is really any kind of pasta,
it'll last up to three years, dry and uncooked,
in the pantry, about five days once you cook it,
and two months if you freeze it after cooking it.
Okay, so now on to beans.
I'm talking dry beans, not canned.
Just regular old dry beans.
This is black beans, kidney beans, white beans,
garbanzo beans, all of the beans.
It'll last three years dry in the pantry,
stored in a cool, dry place.
Once cooked, five days in the refrigerator,
but if you put it in the freezer, for six months.
Kind of similar, in the bean department,
we have split peas, we have black-eyed peas,
and we have lentils.
Those will also last three years, dry, in the pantry.
Once cooked, five days in the refrigerator,
but if you freeze them, they'll last up to six months.
So just as a bonus, let's go over some of those dry goods
like all-purpose flour or baking soda, that sort of thing.
So all-purpose flour will last
one year past the best-by date on the packaging,
or you can put it in the freezer or the fridge,
and it'll last up to two more years.
Now on to whole wheat flour.
Whole wheat flour kinda has the same sort of thing
as brown rice.
Because it's more of the whole grain, you get those oils.
So whole wheat flour only lasts three months in the pantry.
If you store it in the fridge,
it'll actually last up to six months,
but if you put it in the freezer,
it'll actually keep for about a year.
And we have cornmeal, which, you know,
gotta love that cornbread, right?
So cornmeal will last one year,
stored properly, in the pantry,
about a year and a half if you put it in the fridge,
and then up to two years if you put it in the freezer.
Then there is the staple of granulated sugar,
and that will actually last indefinitely
no matter where you store it.
It lasts forever.
Then there's brown sugar,
a lot like granulated sugar,
will actually last indefinitely.
The only thing it will do
is it will kinda change consistency over time.
It tends to harden.
So you can put it in the microwave with a damp towel
and just microwave it for about 20 seconds to soften it up.
Another trick is to put a slice of bread in there
with the brown sugar.
That'll also provide moisture and loosen it up.
But it will last indefinitely.
It just does kinda change consistency,
but it is still safe to eat.
Next up is baking soda.
So baking soda, stored properly, unopened,
will last for about three years.
Once it's opened, it'll last about six months.
Now, that said, it doesn't spoil.
It doesn't go bad.
It just loses its power.
So you can always test your baking soda
and see if it's still good, which I highly recommend,
especially if you have something
that's kind of on the old side
and you're about to make one of your favorite recipes.
So just add a little bit of baking soda
to a little bit of vinegar, and if it bubbles,
that means it's still active and good to use.
So once again, unopened, three years;
once you open it, six months, but just give it a test.
And just like baking soda, we now have baking powder.
So baking powder will last six months, unopened,
past the best-by date.
Now once you open it, it will last about six months,
but just like baking soda, you can test it.
It doesn't spoil.
It doesn't go bad, per se.
It just loses that punch that you need for baking, right?
So in order to test baking powder,
just take a little bit of baking powder, like a teaspoon,
and add it to some very warm water.
Baking powder has a dual reaction,
so the warm water will cause it to respond,
and if it still has potency, it will actually bubble,
and you know you can still use it.
And then lastly, we have cornstarch.
And cornstarch will actually last indefinitely.
So basically, that's what you need to stock up your pantry
when it comes to pastas, grains, or beans, or dry goods.
These things stored properly,
and by that, I mean cool, dark place,
not near the stove or over the stove or near a heat source,
stored in a cool, dark place,
they'll last quite a long time.
But as always, use common sense
when it comes to consuming these goods.
If you open something up and it smells weird,
it tastes weird, or it looks weird, get rid of it.
When in doubt, just toss that stuff out.
Don't risk it.
Hey, if you liked this video, give me a thumbs up.
If there's something that you want to see,
drop a comment below.
And I release new recipes every week,
so if you like to cook like me, subscribe.
I'll see you guys next time.
("Dio e Zingaro" by La Municipale Balcanica)