Pantry master list part 3

.....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.