Bulk pantry

The Davis co-op underwent a major (and much needed in my humble opinion) revamp this Winter and now that it’s all finished and looking so fabulous, they had a few sales for members! The new store layout was a thank you enough for me, but I’ll take and extra 10% too if it’s being offered! Each Thursday this month there was a different section of the store offering a discount, but all I really cared about was the bulk bins day.

Three full weeks went by without me refilling anything and let me tell you…by late April it was getting tough!! For the most part, I would just use a different nut or seed when one ran out, but towards the end it got challenging. I even had to go two days without olive oil. Do you know how hard that is when you roast things on a daily basis? Or constantly make salad dressings? Man oh man.

I’m happy to say, our pantry is now looking like it’s old self again.

When I posted this on insta I got so many comments and questions, so I figured I should take a photo with my real camera to share here.

This is actually only 1/3 of the pantry, but the rest looks basically the same. I have a snack section with trail mix, banana chips, corn nuts, and dried fruit that is separate because I pull from that when packing lunches. And then I have the chocolate/dessert section which is so insane I’m almost too embarrassed to show it.

Tip. Of. The. Iceberg.

Anyway, by applying the 15% off member coupon I had WITH the 10% off discount of the day, I was able to restock on everything from bulk olive oil, tofu, and quinoa to raisins, cashews, and black beans (and beyond) for way less than it would normally cost. All while eliminating any waste.

I ended up putting the tofu to use that very night for an easy stir fry dinner.

I swear, the Hodo Soy tofu that the co-op sells in bulk is THE BEST. It’s ruined me from buying it anywhere else! The best part about it, is that it’s super firm and dense. So no more pressing tofu! Plus it is inexpensive, so you really are getting a great deal buying it by the weight.

I hadn’t used my non stick pans in ages because I was scared off of the chemicals in them, but I realized I actually prefer cooking tofu on a non stick pan because then I can leave it for a looooong time on one side at high heat so it really gets a nice bronzed char on it. So maybe if I just use the non stick pans for tofu and then use my trusty cast iron and stainless steel for everything else it will be fine.

I had lots of CSA veggie options for the stir fry…and since I was looking for something new to do with the kohlrabi…I decided to shred it!

Why not right??

It fried up beautifully!

I added tamari and sesame oil to the pan and added the various veggies in batches after the tofu was looking brown all over.

Then I served it over white rice with a sesame dressing and roasted nuts.

I used cashews on mine and macadamia nuts on Kyle’s (because I had given him cashews in his lunch already), and the kids got both.

We all loved this and there weren’t any leftovers, so maybe this will be a weekly addition to the menu. It’s not like I’ll be running out of veggies any time soon with the CSA 🙂