.....or.......what I generally keep in my pantry.
It took me quite a long time to come up with a plan for what food items I wanted to keep in my pantry. Every family and every situation is different. My master list has changed over the years to reflect changes in our diet and the likes of just the two of us now that we are alone.
Remember: these items are for emergency situations and for when our situation dictates the need to be flexible in our shopping. The majority of items are the parts and pieces to make a complete meal.
Beans--I keep canned beans. I found that I didn't like to cook with the dry beans. Dry beans are a good option if your family eats a lot of bean based meals, we don't. So canned it is!
I keep pinto, black, kidney, white, refried, porknbeans, and chick peas.
Vegetables--creamed corn, corn, peas, green beans. On a daily basis we eat fresh, raw veggies, but the canned ones are a secondary option.
Soups--stocks & broths for soup making, cream soups such as mushroom, celery, chicken & cheese are used in casseroles and skillet meals.
chicken noodle, tomato, and a few other condensed soups are kept on hand also.
Sweet potatoes
pumpkin
Pasta sauce
diced tomatoes, whole tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce
canned pasta meals
Pasta--spaghetti, rotini, elbows, egg noodles
mac & cheese
stuffing mix
rice-long grain white, brown (small amount), yellow, prepared rice sides
instant mash potato
corn muffin mix
cornmeal (small amount)
coffee
tea
powder creamer, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, powdered milk
canned fruit
applesauce
tuna
chicken
chili
hash
spam
sugar, white, brown, powdered
flour, yeast
oats, barley, popcorn, dry peas
condiments: mayo, ketchup, mustard, bbq sauce, relish, salad dressing
oils
peanut butter
jelly
puddings
cake mixes and frostings
Remember: these are not the things we eat on a regular basis. These are the parts and pieces for emergency/flexible eating.
We incorporate these items into our eating plan so that we may replenish and nothing goes to waste.
Food storage odds and ends
I collect those big plastic containers that chips, pretzels, animal cookies come in and that is what I keep my sugar, flour, oats, elbows, noodles in. I am not hung up on glass containers so I am reusing what I can get my hands on.
I have a chest freezer. I keep water jugs in the bottom to take up space and in case of a power outage to provide solid chunks of ice in there.
I also use reusable shopping bags to organize all of the food.
I grow my own herbs and dry them. I store them in zip lock bags in a closed closet. They are supposed to be kept in the dark.
When I was planning my pantry years ago it seemed that all the information I found was either for doomsday preppers or tree hugging granolas. I am neither. It was frustrating. I fall somewhere in the middle. I just want to feel a certain level of food security. I don't want to feel like we are one disaster away from the cupboard being bare.
Showing posts with label food storage pantry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food storage pantry. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Saturday, January 21, 2017
locating my pantry part 2
I have had a few different pantry locations over the years.
We lived in a house with a teeny, tiny kitchen, but the house had a basement (in new england its called a cellar) which was dry. bonus!
It was a perfect place to create my pantry. I purchased metal shelving at the home improvement store and installed it along about twenty feet of the cellar wall. The metal shelving was the cheapest option at the time, however we had to be careful about weight distribution. All of our dry storage, canned goods, and paper products were stored here.
At that time I estimated that we had about 4-6 months food stored for our family of five. It was a very good feeling. Our stores were always being used and replenished, especially when the grocery ran sales on items we used.
Then we moved into a house with no cellar! Our kitchen has a lot of cabinet (in new england they are called cupboards) space and a closet. I decided to add shelves to the closet and hung a wire shelf unit on the inside of the door. This closet can hold a lot of stuff, but it was still too small for serious food storage.
I purchased a large plastic shelf unit from the home improvement store. I think it was 4 feet wide, 2 feet deep, and had 5 shelves. I located it in a corner of the family room and bought fabric to make a cover for it so that it would blend into the room. That pantry could hold a surprisingly large amount of stuff! Not nearly as much as in the cellar pantry, but enough so I had some security in the event of an ice storm or other disruption.
When we became empty nesters, the pantry moved into a closet in a spare bedroom. This about doubled the size of our pantry. We are able to keep our food stored in there, paper products, and emergency water jugs. It is not as convenient as it could be, but what's a few extra steps each day?
Since it's just the two of us we still do try to keep the pantry well stocked. I would estimate that we could store a few months worth of food in that pantry.
Next up: what is in my pantry?
We lived in a house with a teeny, tiny kitchen, but the house had a basement (in new england its called a cellar) which was dry. bonus!
It was a perfect place to create my pantry. I purchased metal shelving at the home improvement store and installed it along about twenty feet of the cellar wall. The metal shelving was the cheapest option at the time, however we had to be careful about weight distribution. All of our dry storage, canned goods, and paper products were stored here.
At that time I estimated that we had about 4-6 months food stored for our family of five. It was a very good feeling. Our stores were always being used and replenished, especially when the grocery ran sales on items we used.
Then we moved into a house with no cellar! Our kitchen has a lot of cabinet (in new england they are called cupboards) space and a closet. I decided to add shelves to the closet and hung a wire shelf unit on the inside of the door. This closet can hold a lot of stuff, but it was still too small for serious food storage.
I purchased a large plastic shelf unit from the home improvement store. I think it was 4 feet wide, 2 feet deep, and had 5 shelves. I located it in a corner of the family room and bought fabric to make a cover for it so that it would blend into the room. That pantry could hold a surprisingly large amount of stuff! Not nearly as much as in the cellar pantry, but enough so I had some security in the event of an ice storm or other disruption.
When we became empty nesters, the pantry moved into a closet in a spare bedroom. This about doubled the size of our pantry. We are able to keep our food stored in there, paper products, and emergency water jugs. It is not as convenient as it could be, but what's a few extra steps each day?
Since it's just the two of us we still do try to keep the pantry well stocked. I would estimate that we could store a few months worth of food in that pantry.
Next up: what is in my pantry?
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Keeping a food storage pantry part 1
My food storage pantry would fall into the category of a Working Pantry.
The primary functions of my pantry are:
*To give me a level of comfort in my ability to provide meals going forward for a period of time.
In the event of a natural or national emergency we will have enough food on hand. We will not need to panic!
When that winter rain turns into days of freezing rain, when an early or late snowstorm dumps heavy, wet snow on the trees and power lines, I don't have to run to the store for "bread and milk"
While I pray that we never have a national emergency, it is still a real possibility.
Sickness or job loss/change in finances are a few other life episodes that could have you relying on your pantry for a while.
*To give me flexibility and convenience in our meals.
By having dry goods and canned goods on hand I can create a meal quickly or just open a can and eat. A lot of these foods are prepared convenience foods. They have been chosen because they can be opened and prepped with little effort. Remember: these are MY choices.
Think: a winter power outage, open a can of chili, vegetable, and mix up some corn muffin mix--pop them onto the wood stove and you EAT!
Think: unexpected company and you don't have anything planned for a meal. Cook up some rice, beans, tomatoes, veggie, or a pasta salad, or spaghetti!
Think: You've had an exhaustively long day or you just aren't feeling well. Husband is hungry. He knows how to operate a can opener! Dinner is served!
*To give me a place to stock up on sale items/special deals.
If the grocery store has pasta on sale for 50 cents a lb, buy lots!!!
The same goes for toilet paper, veggies, coffee.........if you have a designated spot to store dry goods then you can more easily spend less money on food every year.
Next up.......where to locate a food storage pantry
The primary functions of my pantry are:
*To give me a level of comfort in my ability to provide meals going forward for a period of time.
In the event of a natural or national emergency we will have enough food on hand. We will not need to panic!
When that winter rain turns into days of freezing rain, when an early or late snowstorm dumps heavy, wet snow on the trees and power lines, I don't have to run to the store for "bread and milk"
While I pray that we never have a national emergency, it is still a real possibility.
Sickness or job loss/change in finances are a few other life episodes that could have you relying on your pantry for a while.
*To give me flexibility and convenience in our meals.
By having dry goods and canned goods on hand I can create a meal quickly or just open a can and eat. A lot of these foods are prepared convenience foods. They have been chosen because they can be opened and prepped with little effort. Remember: these are MY choices.
Think: a winter power outage, open a can of chili, vegetable, and mix up some corn muffin mix--pop them onto the wood stove and you EAT!
Think: unexpected company and you don't have anything planned for a meal. Cook up some rice, beans, tomatoes, veggie, or a pasta salad, or spaghetti!
Think: You've had an exhaustively long day or you just aren't feeling well. Husband is hungry. He knows how to operate a can opener! Dinner is served!
*To give me a place to stock up on sale items/special deals.
If the grocery store has pasta on sale for 50 cents a lb, buy lots!!!
The same goes for toilet paper, veggies, coffee.........if you have a designated spot to store dry goods then you can more easily spend less money on food every year.
Next up.......where to locate a food storage pantry
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