A well stocked pantry is valuable for many reasons, right?
Trouble is, lots of people don’t know where to start when they decide to build their own pantry stockpile. It can be expensive and confusing. But, it doesn’t have to be.
Let me show youhow to build your pantry stockpile. Plus, why you needto have a pantry that’s full of everything you need to survive any emergency.
As insurance against roller-coaster prices, financial trouble and external adversity like extreme weather events, just to name a few.
When your pantry is full, you’re prepared for any kind of modern day siege; cut off from civilisation by flood waters, snowed in or the financial wolf is howling at yourdoor.
Food security was paramount in the thoughts of most communities until relatively recent history.
‘Just in time’ logistics systems apply not just to the movement of stock to stores but also of produce to plate. How many times have you gone to the supermarket to buy food for just one meal?
Dropping into the shops on the way home from work to pick up what you need for dinner is ‘just in time’ logistics.
Note: This post, How to Build a Well Stocked Pantry contains affiliate links.
Table of Contents
The Benefits of a Well Stocked Pantry
A well stocked pantry or stockpile is central to a smart money, simple life philosophy.
It enables you to shop less frequently, buy in bulk and take advantage of specials at the supermarket.
You’ve probably heard this before, but to put its value in context, you just need to have read, watched or listened to the reports of panic buying during any emergency, whether caused by an act of nature or the result of industrial action, to see the value of a well stocked pantry or stockpile.
Supermarket shelves emptied in hours, price gouging, violence… In most cases these localities would have been without fresh supplies for only afew days, a week at most.
You can avoid scenes like this if your pantry or garage or spare room contains the basic supplies for at least a month, but preferably three.
Further reading:
- 7 Cute and Clever Ways to Organise Your Pantry
- 9 Frugal Living Skills that will Save You Money
- Your DIY Food Bank – Insurance you can eat!
- When Money Is Tight – Tips for Living on Next to Nothing
Building your supply pantry
Building your well stocked pantry doesn’t mean three dozen tins of baked beans stacked up in neat rows, unless of course, you lovebaked beans. It means building a back up supply of the ingredients you use every day.
If you cook from scratch, you understand intimately which ingredients you need a decent supply of.
If you rely on pre-packaged foods it might be a bit more of a challenge – they will take up more space and cost a lot more.
My pantry is an integral feature of my approach to self-reliance
PinIt has ample supplies of flour, other baking requirements like yeast, the raw ingredients for baking powder plus salt, sugar, rolled oats, milk powder and cocoa.
Protein ingredients are dried legumes and tinned tuna, plus there’s also tinned tomatoes and tinned fruit in the cupboard.
PinAnd, complete meals will be added to the shelves as I get the hang of using my Presto Pressure Canner.
I also have a stock of basic consumables on hand too; toilet paper, soap, toothpaste, etc.
Plus, I keep a supply of fresh milk, meat, butter and lard in the freezer.
Oh, and cat food, lots of cat food – I always stock up when it is on a super special, which generally happens every few months.
And, that’s a good reminder to make sure you include the four legged, feathered, scaled, etc., members of your family when you’re building your supplies.
These are just some examples of what I keep a stock of in my cupboards, your needs will probably be different.
A well stocked pantry gives you choices not available to those who operate on ‘just in time’ logistics.
It saves you money if you buy only those ingredients you use, and you buy them in bulk and/or on special.
It gives you a buffer against financial adversity because even if you’re without an income for a few weeks, you still have food in the cupboard.
And, the future always looks brighter on a full stomach!
A well stocked pantry saves you money
A pantry filled with itemsbought on special or in bulk saves you in many ways:
- Nolast minute purchases, which are usually more expensive
- Protects you against seasonal price fluctuations
- You always have the ingredients on hand for a quick, simple meal so there’s less temptation to eat out or order in
- Plenty of options on hand for taking lunch with you to work or school so no expensive cafe lunches
- Fewer trips to the grocery store mean less opportunities for impulse purchases
- Insurance you know will pay out if times get tough.
Organising your pantry stockpile
Investing in a well stocked pantry requires planning.
You need to know where you are in order to map out the route to your destination. Organising your stockpile is no different.
Once you decide to buildyour own well stocked pantry, you’ll need to do a stocktake. That means getting everything out and making some decisions:
- What’s in your pantry now?
- How long has it been there?
- Is it past its expiry date or best before?
- How many of each item do you have?
- Will you (and your family) still eat it?
- If not, can you donate it?
You might be surprised at just how much stuff has made its way into your pantry, never to see the light of day again.
Sort through it as quickly as you can, if you linger too long at this task you’ll start to focus on the money that’s potentially been wasted rather than the task at hand (sorting it) and that’s not useful at this point.
Create three separate piles; keep, use immediately, donate
It would be prudent to throw away some things and I’m sure you know which ones when you see them.
The ‘keep’ pile will form the basis of your stockpile, the ‘use immediately’ pile will mostly consist of items you bought on impulse rather than items you buy regularly so find ways to use them immediately. If you can’t, donate them via a local food charity.
Anything you can’t ever see yourself or your family eating again, that’s still well within its “use by†or “best before†date, donate.
Give your pantry a clean while it’s empty. You might want to cover the shelves while you’re at it, too. But, don’t get too carried away or you’ll lose sight of your objective, which is to start buildingyour stockpile.
Start building your stockpile
When it comes time to refill your pantry, take a couple of lessons from the supermarkets.
Make sure the items you use every day are the most easily accessible and that usually means eye level.
Items that are heavy or bulky should be on the lowest shelf or floor, items that are used less often can go on higher shelves, which is probably a good place for the biscuits, too!
And, employ stock rotation. Make sure the oldest stock is at the front so that it will be used next and when you replenish your supplies, move everything forward and put the new stock at the back.
Label everything
PinIf you decant flour or other dry goods into jars, make sure you attach a label that clearly identifies the contents, when it was put in the jar and the use-by or best before date on the original packaging.
A pantry full of mystery jars isn’t helpful. Same goes for mystery tins and cans. You can write directly on the lid or bottom of a can as a back up in case anything ever happens to the paper label.
PinYou don’t need to get fancy with your labels, although you can if you want. A sharpie and some masking tape will do the trick or you can grab a DYMO Label Makerand create crisp, clean uniform labels for everything in your pantry.
Things to remember when you create yourpantry
- Check the dates on the items you buy. Make sure it’s worth buying for your stockpile.
- Always rotate your stock. Always. When you’re adding new stock to your pantrymake sure the products with the longest expiry date go to the back.
- Keep a stocktake list, including use-by dates. This can be as simple as a dry erase board on the back of the pantry door or as complicated as a spreadsheet on your computer. Do whichever works best for you.
- Work out how much you’re likely to eat in a year and don’t exceed that amount in your stockpile. Keeping most items beyond a year usually requires special packaging (like mylar bags) to keep it tightly sealed and fresh.
A well stocked pantryprovideschoices not available to those who shop using‘just in time’ logistics.
It can save you money if you buy only those ingredients you use, and you buy them either in bulk, using coupon deals or on special.
PinRemember, you’re Stockpiling Not Hoarding, so always think about what you’re adding to your pantry stockpile and if it’s really a bargain.
Your Turn…
Have you built or started building a pantry stockpile? What did you learn in the process and how has it benefited you?
Last updated: 20 March 2019
Image: Pexels
Note: This post contains affiliate links.
XFacebookPinterest
