Prudent Penny: Pantry Patrol

I think my favorite room in the whole house is the pantry. It's not huge, but it is a walk-in, with shelves that soar high above my head.

Living out in the boonies has forced me to become an even better planner than I already was. I hate having to drive 30 miles just to buy a bag of sugar. The cost of gas, fighting the crowds and having to pay a premium for something that was on sale the week before all figures into my mission for keeping my pantry stocked.

But with a stocked pantry comes responsibility. You have to rotate your stock and more importantly, you have to use up your stock. 56 cans of tuna are not going to help you any if they just sit there. (and no, I don't have 56 cans of tuna.) But you get the idea.

I used to store all my dry goods in big plastic bins, but with the BPA scare, I've repurposed the bins for non-food items and started buying glass only. I use extra large glass containers for the dry goods I buy in bulk: rice, flour, pasta, sugar, and salt. The items I buy in smaller quantities are things like brown and powdered sugar, oats, cornmeal and powdered milk.

Everything is labeled and dated so I know what to use first. If I buy something new, I make sure to put that at the back of the line.

This year, I am trying to use less processed food, but I still keep a few ready-made items in storage for days when I am too busy or sick to make it from scratch.

Organizing your pantry:

• Keep the heavy stuff on the floor or at chest level.

• Store lesser used items or light stuff like extra rolls of plastic wrap or plastic baggies on top. If they fall on your head, at least you won't see stars.

• I'm short, so I keep a dedicated step stool in the pantry so I don't have to look for one.

• Date EVERYTHING. I don't rely on the store's expiration date because it is really a "best by date", rather than a spoil date.

• Date it again. Want to be extra efficient? Jot down the date when you opened that jar or bag. That will give you a better idea on how fast you used up an item.

If I see that a jar of jelly lasted me two months, I know I can buy six jars and that will keep me in jelly all year. (A good homesteader would have made her own jelly, but I haven't planted my berries yet.)

• Store everything by variety. I keep my cooking supplies on one shelf, can goods on another, etc., etc. Doing this will keep you from hunting all over creation for that tiny jar of wasabi.

• Whenever possible use glass containers. I buy gallon sized mason jars, and recently I found extra large jars that can store up to 10 lbs of sugar, flour, etc.

I love my pantry. It always makes me feel I'm home.

Tell me about your cupboard or pantry. Do you enjoy stocking it, or is it a necessary evil?

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