Well I started writing this in the middle of all of this because we have been eating down our pantry and freezer. Maybe the Mormons have it all right with a year of canned goods or maybe there is a happy medium.
A well stocked pantry gives you options. It allows you some meal planning flexibility. If I learned anything my family moves on it's stomach. A well stocked pantry means you aren't hoarding but are stocked with the essentials.
I found during this crisis I was basically crisis shopping. I wasn't deeply restocking in part because certain items weren't available and I was just trying to make it through. You know the whole stick and move principle.
I am going to list what I am going to do to have a better equipped pantry but this a deeply unique thing to every family. My pantry isn't going to have many convenience items because I have someone who is allergic to garlic and onion and that is in 99% of convenience items and in a lot of canned goods as well. I am basically feeding 4 adults. My youngest is 17. That is a lot of food.
Things to to answer for yourself?
Do I have enough food to last 2 weeks? Good time to brain storm what you can make from your pantry. Can you come up with 14 main meals?
Where can I store more food or how am I going to store my food? What does my food storage look like?
How will I use budget friendly ways to keep stocked up? ** My rebuilding of my pantry isn't going to happen overnight. I will look for deals and stock up when the price is right. It seems like grocery prices are overall higher so this could be a slower process.
Things I wanting to keep a better stock of.
(In general, I thought I was fairly equipped.)
Baking Supplies
Flour - keep more on hand in greater quantity - I bake a lot so I had this on hand but there were several weeks where this product was not available at the grocery store. I also started out the crisis without much snack food so I was baking a lot. I enjoy baking.
Spices/Condiments
- I actually nearly ran out of cumin and ground pepper.
Vinegar - I ran out of apple cider vinegar and balsamic vinegar
Mayo/Ketchup/Mustard - these were actually in short supply.
Proteins
I usually keep a big protein in my garage fridge . An example is a ham or turkey. I usually buy after a holiday. I started the pandemic with a spiral ham in the freezer.
Last Word
It doesn't have to be a pandemic to make you use up your pantry. There are other life situations that throw you a curve ball. There have been many times in the last couple of years I have depended on my pantry to carry me through to the next paycheck.
Thrifty Housewife 30 Cheap Pantry Staples
Good Cheap Eats has a good pantry list inventory/staples list
How I stock the Smitten Kitchen
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