Making the Most of Pantry Items: Ideas & Tips

[rennea]

So I thought that I would start a thread on our pantry items. Who makes an effort to sell these items?? I do, I try to use the items at my shows and always have them displayed.

I know that they are not "big money makers" but they do keep the customers coming back and I think that is what is most important. When customers run low it's a good op to give them your monthly newsletter, host specials, new catty's etc.
So here are some of my ideas:

Make sugar cookies with our bourbon vanilla and lay them out on SA. When somebody has had our vanilla they will never buy another

Present our dips in SA and caddy their yummy and it shows off our SA/Caddy and bamboo spoons.

Oils: LOVE THESE SO MUCH always have some out with parm or some of our seasonings w/ bread for dippin' shows off our SA, oil dipping set, bamboo boards, knives. Also putting the bread in woven selections with a napkin in the bottom looks great(for those of you who don't like/sell those evil paper napkins this is how I do sell them display display display) Oils are great over pasta as well.

I always display our seasonings and talk about how wonderful they are and always have recipes on hand.

Can't beleive they got rid of coffee/tea
I have regular customers who always need a refill. Once a month I will do up an order for their "refills" I'll add them to a show that way they all can save on that "dreaded" shipping.

Does anybody else have any great idea's??

 

[speedychef]

I do talk about that vanilla. I'm cheap cheap cheap and I love that I get a discount on it, but I'd pay full price for that...

I talk about our pantry items, and I try to position them as money savers because then you don't have to buy all the different spices (who has ever bought a $6 spice to use 1/8th tsp!). I sell a few here and there, I try to pass them around so people can smell the wonderful aroma.

When it comes to beer bread and pizza crust, I make my own, so I don't know about that so much. My beer bread recipe costs me probably $2.50 for 6 loaves, so I'm not interested in buying that! I do mention it, though, and a lot of people do claim to love the beer bread!

 

[rennea]

They stopped selling the bread mixes here in Canada

This weekend I'm having a show at my friends house and I will take photos of my pantry set up. I'll figure out how to post them.

 

[jenniferknapp]

Make sugar cookies with our bourbon vanilla and lay them out on SA. When somebody has had our vanilla they will never buy another

I have a lot of people that gripe about the price of our Vanilla, and ask what the point of double strength is, if you just put 1/2 of the required amount in a recipe... and I don't bake from scratch enough to notice a difference really...

 

[chefann]

I have a lot of people that gripe about the price of our Vanilla, and ask what the point of double strength is, if you just put 1/2 of the required amount in a recipe... and I don't bake from scratch enough to notice a difference really...

The other thing to remember about our vanilla is that it is extract, not imitation. The cheapo stuff is imitation, basically chemicals that sort of taste like vanilla. Ours is real vanilla. And it's made from the good vanilla beans, with a good extraction process (I remember reading something somewhere about Mexican extracts not being good because of the solvents they use to make it being, shall we say, less than good for one's health).

I like the double strength because I have the equivalent of a much larger bottle in a little space in my pantry.

 

[jenniferknapp]

The other thing to remember about our vanilla is that it is extract, not imitation. The cheapo stuff is imitation, basically chemicals that sort of taste like vanilla. Ours is real vanilla. And it's made from the good vanilla beans, with a good extraction process (I remember reading something somewhere about Mexican extracts not being good because of the solvents they use to make it being, shall we say, less than good for one's health).

I like the double strength because I have the equivalent of a much larger bottle in a little space in my pantry.

Thanks for giving me the info on the positives ....now I feel like I can try to sell it!

 

[sillylittlechef]

Kim, what is your beer bread recipe? I always make it for my family Thanksgiving dinner, but we always run out and it's too expensive to make more than two loaves....(we have about 30 people over for dinner and two 18-20lb turkeys, two of everything,and it gets way too expensive, so anyway, I can do something cheaper is great!)
TIA

 

[smarteez2]

I really love our PC Pantry items and try to talk about them at each so. I am really excited as well because I just purchased some paper punches and stuff to make spice sample packests!! I have a party on the 10th and I can't wait to see how effective they are!! Thanks to Grandmarritas examples I am so siked!!

Our beer bread rocks the house and I try to make some for every show to give my guest a yummy taste of it!!

 

[speedychef]

Don't tell anyone I told you so, but I found this recipe in an old Southern Living mag:

3 cups self-rising flour (look at WalMart, it's cheaper than the grocery stores)
1/2 cup sugar
12 oz can of beer (or bottle if you're feeling fancy!)

Mix it all, put it into a (preferably Stoneware) loaf pan, bake at 350 for 45 minutes, then pour 1/2 stick of melted butter over the top and return to oven for another 10 minutes.

REALLY tough...I make mixes in quart size baggies. When I get a bag of self-rising flour, I make about 6 mixes with it and stick it in my cabinet!

 

[dannyzmom]

Great thread - especially with March being spices for $60 order month!!
Here's a GREAT email I got from one of my consultants - she gave me permission to share it so here it is:

I would encourage everyone to prepare at least a dip to take to the shows. Ask the Host to buy the chips. It only takes 1 cup mayo and 1 cup sour cream to make the Southwest Dip or the Dill Dip. And the recipe is on the bottle so when they buy it - it is right there. THE DILL DIP IS PERFECT FOR a Veggie Tray. (better than the old Ranch Dressing out of the bottle)
Oh, and everyone should try this one. I bought the NEW Sweet & Smoky Barbecue Rub. Last Saturday I used it on our Steaks we cooked on the grill and my husband Loved it SO MUCH ! To make a juicy steak on the grill - I usually marinate them in Good Season's Italian dressing I make from the packet. I make it with Basalmic vinegar and Olive oil. So this time I used the NEW Pampered Chef Sweet & Smoky Barbecue Rub and then just a little Italian dressing to give it that glaze. Get the fire really hot and sear in the juices. Let the steak rest before cutting so the juices stay in.
I also tried the NEW Asian Seasoning Mix when I made the Glazed Sesame Chicken Stir-Fry that I brought for the Feb. meeting. And you know how I sell those spices. Makes a good add on to the order when I do my Famous Stir Fry demo.

I am excited about the new products!!!

 

[dannyzmom]

Hey - lookit the pretty colors I made up above!!

 

[lisacb77]

Ann, thanks for the tip on vanilla. I've had a bottle of Mexican vanilla in the pantry for years (gift a friend brought back). But if ours has less additives or whatnot I probably need to get a bottle! We are trying to eat less processed chemicals in our family.

I love the spices (cinnamon in my coffee is the best!) and beer bread mix. If anyone has Saltgrass steakhouse in their area, if you make the bread with Shiner Bock it tastes just like theirs. The pizza crust/dinner roll mix tasted too much like dinner rolls to me and DH so we'll prolly just use it for that application.

Just ordered the basil canola oil on the OH order I sent in so looking forward to trying that. Wasn't real impressed with the tea but I did like the coffee so a little sad to see that go. My neighbor was a regular buyer of that!

 

[jenniferknapp]

I love the garlic infused oil - I sauted some asparagus in it with a little salt and pepper and the flavor was GREAT! (I am not a huge fan of basil, so I haven't tried that)

 

[gilliandanielle]

I had my kick off show last Sunday and people loved the seasonings. I put them all in the small round dots bowl and people were passing them around smelling. I sold a lot of spices in general and people spent $60 to get one free. I don't know why I don't bring them because they add up and are light and compact to carry!!

 

[Shawnna]

I wish we had more seasonings. I love the way they are in the catalog now. You can see the spices are bigger chunks than what you sometimes get at the grocery store. And, if you splurge at the grocery store and buy the good spices, you pay just as much as ours.

I love the tea. I used 2 tea bags and 3 family size reg. tea bags to make a gallon of lightly flavored tea. It had just enough flavoring and wasn't overpowering. I also loved it as hot tea.