What to Do with Food Pantry Items You Don't Recognize
If you don't know what it is, you're not alone. Here's how to figure it out.
Food pantries distribute whatever they receive, which means sometimes you come home with items you've never seen before. A can with a label in another language. A grain you can't identify. A vegetable you've never cooked. A sauce you don't know what to do with.
This happens to everyone. Here's how to handle it.
Step 1: Read the label
Even unfamiliar items usually have useful information on the label. Look for:
Ingredients list. This tells you what's actually in it. If the first ingredient is "chickpeas," you know it's a chickpea product regardless of the brand name.
Cooking instructions. Many items have preparation directions on the back or side. Follow them as a starting point.
Serving suggestions. "Serve over rice" or "heat and serve" gives you a direction even if you've never used the product before.
Allergen warnings. Important if anyone in your household has food allergies.
Step 2: If the label doesn't help
If the label is in another language, damaged, or just confusing:
Take a photo and search. Open your phone camera, take a picture, and use Google Lens or Google Image Search. This works surprisingly well at identifying unfamiliar products, even canned goods with foreign labels.
Look up the brand name. Type the brand name into a search engine. Most brands have websites that describe their products.
Ask at the pantry. Next time you visit, ask a volunteer what the item is. They often know because they sorted the donations.
Common unfamiliar items and what to do with them
Lentils (dried)
Small, flat, disc-shaped legumes. Usually brown, green, or red. They cook faster than beans (no soaking needed, about 20-25 minutes) and work in soups, stews, and rice dishes. Our Lentil Soup and Lentil and Rice Bowl are both simple starting points.
Chickpeas / Garbanzo beans
Same thing, two names. Tan, round, firm beans. Use them anywhere you'd use any other bean. They're great in Chickpea Salad (no cooking needed) or Chickpea and Rice Stew.
Cream of mushroom / cream of chicken soup
These aren't just for eating as soup. Mixed with a little water, they become a creamy sauce for rice, chicken, pasta, or pork chops. Think of them as instant gravy. See our Chicken and Rice with Mushroom Gravy.
Canned diced tomatoes vs tomato sauce vs tomato paste
Diced tomatoes are chunky tomato pieces in juice. Use in soups, chili, rice dishes.
Tomato sauce is smooth, pourable, and ready to use as a base for pasta sauce, Spanish rice, or chili.
Tomato paste is thick and concentrated. A tablespoon adds deep tomato flavor to anything. Don't use a whole can at once unless a recipe calls for it.
Dried beans
If you get a bag of dried beans, they need to soak overnight in water before cooking. After soaking, drain the water, add fresh water, and simmer for 45-60 minutes. One cup of dried beans makes about 3 cups cooked, which is roughly two cans worth. Our dried beans guide walks through the whole process.
Instant mashed potatoes
Flakes or powder that turn into mashed potatoes when you add hot water or milk. Follow the package directions. They're also the base for our Instant Mashed Shepherd's Pie.
Pancake mix
Usually just needs water or milk added. Beyond pancakes, you can also drop spoonfuls into simmering soup or stew to make dumplings.
Evaporated milk
Canned milk with some water removed. It's not sweetened condensed milk (that's different and very sweet). Use evaporated milk anywhere you'd use regular milk. It's slightly richer and creamier. Mix it 50/50 with water to approximate regular milk.
When in doubt, keep it simple
Most unfamiliar pantry items fall into a few categories: a protein (canned meat, beans), a starch (grain, pasta, potatoes), a sauce (tomato, cream-based), or a vegetable. Once you know which category it is, you can slot it into a basic meal pattern:
Protein + starch + sauce = a meal. Beans on rice with tomato sauce. Canned chicken over pasta with cream of mushroom. It doesn't have to be a recipe. It just has to be food on a plate.
And if you really can't figure out what something is or how to use it, bring it back to the pantry next time. They can redistribute it to someone who knows what to do with it. There's no shame in that.