It's critical to me to know what I've got on the shelf. A good deal of that comes directly from pantry basics. Some of my basics are freezer quart-sized ziploc bags. Spaghetti sauce (spaghetti too, usually), rice, otter pops, canned tomatoes.

Other staples of life include peanut butter (chunky), wheat bread, and generic crystal light. With these in the house I can survive. The Toddler can be fed. Sure, it seems a bit monotonous on occasion, but I know she'll eat the stuff. I do feel like a bad mama for letting her eat nothing but peanut butter sandwiches for dinner on most nights. On the other hand, it's nutritious and she'll consume it without a fight. I am always looking for good deals on these things. Note: some stuff is a trade off between price and quality. What's your minimum standard on a product? At what price point do you find yourself doubting the quality of the item? I paid 75 cents a can this past week for sauce. That would have been my limit, and to be honest I would not have trusted the sauce had it not been of a known brand. Usually I can get a jar of sauce from walmart for a dollar, and feel good about it. Also, there's so much I can do with the sauce. I can fill calzones, spread pizzas, dip garlic breadsticks, or do spaghetti or a lasagna. So many options. It's definately one of the multitasker foods.