Lets Fill the Pantry

 With Hurricane Sandy and the snow storm that hit the eastern US this past week fresh on every ones minds, this might be a good time to share how our family built a deep pantry without going into debt, adding an additional room to our home, or by eating just beans and rice. I found this photo on line, it is one of the many empty grocery stores from the east coast. No matter how much money you have, if the shelf's are empty your not going to be getting what you might want in an emergency.

 This week canned goods were on sale. Milk was the only thing on our grocery list, that freed up our food budget to cash in on some savings.
Here is the list of some of the savings
Regular canned veggies were 10 for $10.00, that's $.65 cents saving on each can. I bought 20 of each, savings of $39.00
Refried beans on sale for $1.25, that's $.50 cents saving per can. I bought 6 cans and saved $3.00. In addition I had a $.75 cents off coupon for 3 that are doubled, savings of and additional $4.00. Total savings of $7.00
Manwich (YUK) on sale for $1.00, savings of $.50 each. I picked up 6 cans, saved $3.00. I had a coupon for $1.00 off 2 cans that were doubled, saving me an additional $6.00. Total savings of  $9.00
Kidney beans were on sale for $1.00, savings of $.25 cents. We bought 30 cans, saved $7.50

On canned goods alone we saved $62.50, we will eat every single thing bought so that's true savings and all of it except Manwich (in my book) is real food. The big boys love Manwich, it will be on the lunch menu for them during our upcoming Mountain trip.

 This is our front pantry (in the kitchen) It holds our everyday food, when I run low on something I shop from home in the back pantry.

 The back pantry of canned goods shelf is crammed up against a wall in the laundry room. While it doesn't look too cute it does serve its purpose. It is in a food safe environment, convenient to get at, and I can see at a glace what we are getting low on. Rotating the cans is a bit of a pain, I would sooo love to have a place for one of these cool systems.

So why so many kidney beans you ask? We like chili and eat it often in the fall and winter. My recipe calls for 3 cans of kidney beans. Thirty cans only works out to 10 pots of chili. I know we will be having at least that many pots this fall and winter. Now I wasn't totally out of beans by a long shot but I use them in lots, and lots of other recipes as well. These beans will be long gone before the expiration date of 2014.
Dry kidney beans are cheaper to use and I do know how to cook them and use them however....Sometimes I need to move fast, I have no time too soak beans overnight nor do I remember to do so. I can't use a pressure cooker on my stove so that short cut is not an option for me. Also in the event of a power loss dry beans would be a real chore to cook, water might be unavailable and cooking fuel would need to be preserved. All that being said I do have a nice pile of all types of dry beans in the pantry (more in the back pantry that are vacuumed sealed)and I do use them (when I remember and plan). I keep them in empty spaghetti sauce jars sealed with regular canning jar lids in the front pantry and restock when needed from the back pantry. DO NOT USE these jars for regular canning!!!!!

I have Kara all day today, Daddy was able to pick up an extra day of OT and with Christmas fast approaching who couldn't use a little extra cash! Kara hardly ever naps but this morning I was h.. bent on getting her to rest for at least and hour so hubby and I ran her like a greyhound dog all morning long. Then we helped him pack up the truck to head up North. Hopefully they have the roads clear of the storm earlier this week :(

OK, so lets talk food storage, stock piling or building a deep pantry whatever you want to call it. Personally I call it our deep pantry. This whole concept of having a deep pantry may seem way out of style for people who have never been around the idea of having food put back or as my Grandmother use to call it having things "put by" but it was only 2 generations ago that most ladies put food "by". The convenience of having a grocery store fully stocked with whatever your hearts desire was unheard of. People had BIG gardens and preserved their food for the year. We always had 2 years worth of garden produce in case of crop loss the next year in the cellar (basement). This year while I was down with my foot and due to the extreme hot weather I didn't can as much as usual, thankfully we have things leftover from the year before so I won't be buying any more than I usually do at the store.

For some families their church encourages food storage for hard times and to share with others. One that comes to mind is the "Latter Day Saints" maybe that's because we have so many Mormon friends who can ROCK food storage!!!! We have a deep pantry for many of the same reasons as the Mormon church. I won't get into the biblical principals here as there are many but just think of this.

A storm is on it's way and the shelves of the store are bare, you experience a job loss or reduction of pay, your flat on your back sick as a dog, your area is experiencing a terrible flu run, sick kiddo's who shouldn't be out and about, unexpected company when the checkbook is low, Murphy has been to visit too darn many times and funds are low. The list could go on and on. Having a deep pantry is one less thing to stress about.

OK you get it right? But where will the extra money come from when you are just making ends meet? Been there done that. We were so poor at times we called it "por" we couldn't afford two o's in the word poor.

 Maybe tonight when this little gal is gone, I have my sewing sweat shop set up, and I get our banking done for the week I can share some of the ways I started with our pantry, until then check out this young mom's site for some super cool things she does with her food storage. She has videos on her food storage space, lots of info on using whole grains and loads of other great stuff. Better fix a cup of tea and a nice large snack, your gonna get hungry!!!