Stocking the Pantry

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

velochic

Sous Chef
Joined
Sep 2, 2004
Messages
874
Location
Midwest
Just wondering what others think should be on your pantry shelves. I don't mean the usual "flour, sugar, bread, etc." I'm thinking in much larger terms. I try to keep processed foods out of our diet (dd is on a modified Feingold diet), although there *are* a few items that we feel comfortable with. I have to be very diligent about reading labels. Right now we have, for example, about 50 cans of different varieties of tomatoes, dozens of canned vegetables and fruit, 20lbs. flour, 40lbs. rice, 20lbs. pasta, many pounds of dry beans, lentils, peas, etc. Dry cereal, sauces (like bbq sauce), baking goods, salt, coffee. There's more that I can't think of now. Most, well about 90%, of our foodstuff is fresh (except for some junk for my mother) and I'm having a hard time thinking of what needs to be put up for long term storage.

What do you think needs to be in a well-stocked (long-term) pantry? Indiana used to get some really nasty winters and I'm preparing for that. Next year, I hope to have the garden producing enough to can.
 
:) I also keep a well stocked pantry because Im so far from town I have everything you have including dehydrated tomatoes that I grew, albacore tuna some canned beef,sardines,smoked oysters,salsa,jams,dried and canned beans,mango chutney,Thai Pad noodles with sauce,rice and soba noodles, molasses,karo syrup,maple syrup,cocoa,corn starch, peanut butter ,canned and dried mushrooms,homemade venison jerky,dried fruits,dried minced onions,garlic etc.A few canned soups and dried soup mixes and so on.It sounds like alot but I dont have huge stocks of any of these things but yet well stocked.I dont even want to get into the two freezers.
The good thing is my neighbors (sp?) know where to go if they need something wether its a spice,dried herb or saurkraut I usually have it.I also rotate my stock fresh or other wise.
Im sure Ive also missed a few things.
 
I've always kept a well-stocked pantry. I've raised 8 children and made it a point to have at least 6 months-worth of canned/dried/frozen goods. We also live 30 miles from the nearest grocery store.

Even though it's just the two of us, I still adhere to that way of housekeeping. There is essentially no packaged goods in our pantry, too. More like home-canned/frozen fruits and veggies. Can't abide the packaged stuff because of too much salt, among other additives.

When the Y2K flurry came about, we didn't worry about how we would fare. The only thing we added to our stores was bottled water.

Just off the top of my head, we have at least 15 different kinds of canned and dried beans in the pantry. Mostly dried.
 
I always make sure I have Rice, Corn Starch, Veggies, Soy Sauce, Chili Sauce, Hot Sauce, some cooking Oil, foil and tupperware for easy storage, extra napkins, drinks like diet soda and sugar free energy drinks that arent ready to take up space in my fridge.
 
I always have oils (olive, peanut, canola, toasted sesame), vinegars (distilled white, red wine, white wine, balsamic), a variety of dried pastas (capellini, spaghetti, linguine, lasagna, penne, rotini), rice and couscous. Chicken broth in the 4-cup boxes. Canned tuna and clams. Salsa.
 
My pantry is a joke among our friends. Our pantry is a separate room about the size of the kitchen (about 12 x 12). I also keep pots and pans there, but I'm known for keeping lots of everything there, maybe not 6 months, but every person doing a food drive knows they will make out like bandits at our house. I don't know the psychology of why I keep so much stuff, but it may be from not having a grocery here until about 10 years ago. I keep whatever we use that doesn't need refrigeration. The fridge and freezer are other problems - they stay stuffed too. In fact, I need to clean two freezers now.
 
My pantry items are nearly identical to GotGarlic's, with the addition of lots of canned tomatoes & a large variety of canned & dried beans. We also pretty much steer clear of processed foods, but I do have a weakness for the Zatarain's rice mixes, so always have a few of those on hand. With the addition of sausage, chicken, or shrimp, they make a quick meal.

I also have one pantry cabinet devoted solely to Asian food items - dried shitake & wood ear mushrooms, canned gluten, different types of Asian noodles, curry pastes, blocks of tamarind, soy sauces, soups, coconut milk, etc., etc., so I can whip up a stirfry or curry at a moments notice.
 
BreezyCooking said:
I also have one pantry cabinet devoted solely to Asian food items - dried shitake & wood ear mushrooms, canned gluten, different types of Asian noodles, curry pastes, blocks of tamarind, soy sauces, soups, coconut milk, etc., etc., so I can whip up a stirfry or curry at a moments notice.

I really like this idea :chef: I'm starting to put stuff into my new cabinets (kitchen renovation is almost over, yay!), so organizing them by cuisine is a great idea.
 
I get teased about hoarding food, but I think that's because there was a time in my life when I went hungry. I'm also a creative cook, and like to have ingredients on hand when I have a sudden inspiration.
I have a pantry built into my kitchen cabinets, and shelves in the basement for the overflow.
Here's a basic inventory: beans, rice, assorted pasta; canned soups, canned vegetables; dry packaged mixes of Onion soup, Italian Dressing, Ranch dressing; sauces such as catsup, pesto, assorted mustards, soy, teriaki, Heinz 57, BBQ; canned meats like tuna, salmon, sardines, chicken breast, ham, crabmeat, clams and cocktail shrimp; olives, black and green, capers, marinated artichoke hearts; box mixes like Zatarains, Rice-a-Roni, Uncle Ben's, and the ubiquitous blue box of mac & cheese, Jiffy cornbread mix; assorted cake mixes and Bisquick; cornstarch, sugar, flour, cocoa; assorted salts; lots of herbs and spices; pickles and relishes...I think that's pretty much it. The deep freeze is full, too.

Oops...forgot the assorted vinegars, oils, canned broth, evaporated and condensed milks. Thanks for jogging my memory, Robo.
 
Last edited:
kosher salt, corn meal, cracker meal, various flour, various pepper.

barley, bulgar, couscous, orzo, pasta, various, rice, various lentils dried beans etc.

cans of whole tomato, diced tomato, crushed tomato, tomato paste (no sugar added packed with basil, san marzano)

cans of broth/stock

large cans of clams

coffee beans, teas, sugar, molasses, baking soda and powder, spices and dried herbs.

crackers and crisp breads, nuts

various oils, olive canola peanut and lard in the fridge.

various vinegars

various condiments (mustards, ketchup, sauces and syrup, some jams and jellies)

canned milk both condensed and evaporated

(In the freezer: peas, chopped spinach. I consider these pantry items.)

none of these are in large quantities. shelf life is never much more than a year. beans dry out and get too hard to use. canned milk separates, etc.
nuts rice etc can go rancid. but these items are on hand regularly.

I make my own soups stews chilis etc, so the stuff gets used. I do not bake much except pancakes of all types waffles and popovers/yorkshire pud., cornbread and simple biscuits, banana bread.
 
Hmmm. Interesting question. My pantry is small, I built the shelves myself into a little recess of the laundry room. I keep lots of dry goods there but I don't have the room to stock up 6 months worth of stuff. I keep lots of dry cereal, soup, rice, pasta, crackers and "lunch" items there (fruit snacks, those little cracker and cheese things) and I do a fair pile of canned goods too. Soups and canned tomatoes etc. My freezer is full of things like salmon (good sale this week!!), farm chickens, boxes of chicken breast and thighs. We usually have beef and pork in there too.

I'm not much of a doomsday person, so I don't stock up for stuff like Y2K. I just think about how to stretch what I DO have.
 
I keep large quantities of a few items, just because I only get to a health foods store about twice a year, and I simply can not be without these items:

canned ground coffee
organic oats, usually a 50# bag
olive oil, in the gallon tins, this store has a NICE selection
dates
raisins
dried beans
pasta in the 10# box

plus the usual stuff

Have 2 small freezers, each about 1/3 full, bout time to clean them out, for the corn calleth.....
 
My food stores are running on the low side right now. That will start to reverse itself when the kids go back to school.

I usually keep a couple kinds of pasta on hand, mac-n-cheese, ramen noodles, flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, canned green beans, canned hominy, some pork-n-beans, several different kinds and sizes of canned tomatoes, Bisquick, big bags of Malt-O-Meal cereal, etc. I prefer frozen or fresh veggies over canned, with the exceptions of the ones I've listed.

My g'mother gave us several cans of evaporated milk, some sweetened condensed milk, canned pumpkin, coconut flakes, different kinds of nuts, etc. She knows I like to bake during the winter.

I do try to keep some Asian ingredients on hand. I've got a can of coconut milk, soy, toasted sesame oil, chile garlic paste, soy, oyster sauce, etc.

I don't always think end-of-the-world prep, but I will sometimes keep some powdered milk on hand. PeppA, my other half, likes to keep instant rice and instant mashed potatoes in the pantry. We also have some stuff from her mother in our stores, things like shake-n-bake mix, some kind of boxed potato side dish, bread crumbs, etc. Those items are rather old, and need to be File 13'd.

I've had to scale back the sheer quantity of stuff that I keep in stores, as our current pantry is the size of a coat closet, and my last pantry was the size of a bathroom.
 
My pantry isn't all that big to look at, but I keep it really full. When I lived near my family I kept a lot more food on hand (at that time a side-by-side fridge/freezer, a 9 cu ft freezer, a huge pantry closet, and many bulk items in the garage). Now I don't live near my family, and still I think that my husband and I could live out of my pantry for over a month. I keep at least two kinds of rice. I keep at least one couscous and one taboule. I keep many cans of beans. I keep some kind of poultry, some of pork, some of beef in the freezer. Once a week I go shopping for vegs and fruit. I keep a variety of ethnic stuff (there is always a can of coconut milk, a couple of nukulator curries, many cans of beans, many frozen and canned veggies, pickles, chutneys; lots of cheese ...

well, I have enough food in the house to feed a family of 12 I think, and just for the two of us.
 
WOW!!! Phenominal!!!!!! I wish I had the kind of space you all have!! I hoard what I thought was alot of foods because I like to stay stocked up for hurricane season. I only live in an apartment though so I have very limited space. Once I fill my kitchen cabinets it overflows into my second bedroom closet..LOL!!

I got some great ideas for new things to stock up on here!! Thanks!!! :LOL:
 

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom