How To Stock a Pantry

Whether you keep a large pantry or a small one, the first rule of stocking is to know what you'll use.

That sounds like a no-brainer, but I can't tell you how many times we've bought something on impulse, and then never eat it.

I'm not as bad as Greg. He loves new and different. I'm kind of a stick in the mud when it comes to what I'll eat.

Everyone falls for an impulse buy sometime. Someone gave you a sample, or the package looked appealing in some way. The next thing you know, it's in your cart. 

• Whether it's an established pantry or a new one, take everything out and decide if it's worth keeping. If it's not, start a box, toss it in, then donate it to a Food Bank.
  
  
• Sort by type. Tomato products at one end. Beans and broth at the other end. Stock tinned meats/fish, pasta, and rice products to fill in between. No matter what you like to eat, store by type. It will make it easy to find later.
  
  
• Speaking of pasta, whenever possible, store pasta in large glass containers. If mealy bugs show up, they'll only spread so far. When I found them in my pantry the last time, they were in pasta boxes I had not stored in glass.
  
  
• What to store? Everyone is different and everyone cooks differently. I prefer to store whole foods and cook from scratch. That's not to say I won't use convenience foods. For example, I might keep a few cans of pasta sauce, but that's only a base for the tomatoes and spices I add to it.
  
  
• Calculate. This is where you have to extrapolate what you might cook in a month. For example, I know in a month, I will make pasta twice, Mexican food five or six times, chicken recipes four times, steak/beef dishes four times, Asian dishes twice, and fish/shrimp at least four times a month. From this I can predict how many cans/packages of tomato, rice, pasta, and beans I'll use in a month. I multiply that by 12 and get a ballpark figure for what I should have in storage.
  
  
• Since grocery stores are a 30 minute drive in any direction, my goal is to not to have to stop and run out for a missing ingredient. If I don't have it--which is rare now--I substitute.
  
  
• Convenience foods. I keep a few. Cookie mixes, prepared salad dressing, pickles, and salsa. Yes. I can make all of these items from scratch (and sometimes, do) but it's nice to have a few convenience foods on hand when you're in a crunch for time.
  
  
• Baking section. I keep one corner of my walk in pantry strictly for baking supplies. These are a little harder to predict. This is something you'll have to plan for by feel and experience.
  
  
• One + One. I have a rule to always have one product to use and one in reserve. The other day I ran out of baking powder. I keep a reserve can in the freezer, so I took it out, and the next time I went shopping, it was on my list to buy the new reserve can.

It was a big load off my mind to get that pantry organized. Since many things go on sale this time of year, it's the perfect time to stock up on anything that you're missing.

To my American friends, how was your Thanksgiving? 

We fried a turkey at a friend's house, plus we fried a midget turkey for us to take back home, and a fried duck for our friends.

Yesterday, I put our mini fried turkey in a very hot oven for about 20 minutes. I was so pleased it was still juicy and the skin was nice and crisp.

It's always hard to cook at another person's house. I know how hot my ovens run, and what bowls and kitchen tools I have. When you're at someone else's house you have to improvise. But it all turned out. We had a nice big crowd and it was great to see our friends again after a very long absence.

We went out for Black Friday, which is something we hadn't done in years, but I needed groceries. Surprisingly, it was no more crowded than a regular Friday. Maybe it's because we shopped in the early morning. It was a welcomed surprise.

On to Christmas and New Year!

**If you're shopping Amazon, start from this link.