The Well-Stocked Pantry

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Stocking the Pantry

When we were ready to stock our pantry, we made a list of all the things we thought we should store. Instead of running up a huge grocery bill by buying everything at once, we picked up a few items each time we shopped. It took us about two years to get the pantry fully stocked and another year to fine-tune our inventory. Initially, we had too many of some things and too few of others, and in our zeal we had stocked up on some stuff we really didn't care for. Remember, if you have to weather an emergency, your stress level will be much lower if you at least like what you're eating.

STOCKING UP

Instead of running up a huge grocery bill by buying everything for your pantry at once, pick up a few items each time you shop.

As it turns out, over the years we've adjusted our pantry inventory so it reflects our normal eating patterns. For example, we eat tuna once a week and sardines once a week, so our six-month supply includes 24 cans of tuna and 24 cans of sardines. An important benefit of having your pantry inventory closely reflect your normal eating habits is that everything gets periodically rotated. Using and replacing food on a regular basis ensures that nothing gets so old as to lose its palatability or nutritional value and that cans and jar lids don't sit around long enough to rust through.

The produce that we can and dry ourselves is put up in any quantity we can get our hands on, up to about two year's worth. The first year's supply carries us through to the next harvest season. The second year's supply is our hedge against a bad harvest year. (We seem to have a lot of these lately, thanks to drought and unseasonal frost. Happily, though, the same kind of fruits and vegetables are rarely involved three years in a row).

Things we consider to be pantry staples are: beans (dried and canned), rice, cereal, flour, cornmeal, crackers, sugar (including molasses and honey), jam, pickles, pasta, tomato paste, soups (a big variety), flavorings and spices (to keep things from getting monotonous), canned fruit and vegetables (homegrown and storebought), meats (canned fish, homecanned chicken, etc.), dried vegetables (home-dried or purchased from a camping supply store), nuts and dried fruit, oil, and vinegar. For drinks we have tomato juice, fruit juices, milk (canned and powdered), coffee, tea, and potable water in sealed jerricans (changed frequently to keep it fresh). For our mouser we keep a supply of low-ash cat food. Because we never know what an emergency might bring, one shelf is dedicated to basic medical supplies—bandages, Band-Aids, Neosporin, hydrogen peroxide, and analgesics. To make sure all the bases are covered, we include a variety of vitamins.

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