 Linda Petty is an editor at CNN Living. She liked boxed mixes, tarted-up vegetables, letting produce rot in her crisper and eating cold pizza at her desk for breakfast. What’s behind that pantry door? This week I will do my food shopping only at one very special place: my own pantry. Lord only knows what I will find in the back corners of the lowest and highest shelves. I expect to be eating some tuna salad from all those cans I bought when forecasters were predicting the last snow storm that brought Atlanta to a halt - which may give you some idea of the vintage of those items. And there is the soup I added to my shopping cart during cold and flu season. Or maybe several kinds of soup (remember those corners). They will go nicely with the grilled cheese sandwiches I can make from the ends of the frozen bread that play hide-and-seek in my freezer. While hunting said bread, I also found some frozen tortellini that will go well with the jars of pasta sauce that I dug out of the pantry. But some of the pasta can go into a salad with some limp broccoli that threatening to go bad – and I can use some of the tarragon vinegar or maybe the lovely aged balsamic vinegar. Ahhh - decisions. Some "aged" carrots can be sautéed with garlic, onions and the can of black beans, and all of that can be stirred up with the bag of brown rice that I didn’t know I had. And for dessert - either some canned pineapple, or if I can turn the brick of brown sugar I found back into granules, I could bake an apple stuffed with pecans, newly uncovered raisins, a spritz of bottled lemon juice and sugar. Think of the money I will save not acquiring any "new" food until I whittle down the stores of comestibles in that kitchen closet. That could buy an awful lot of tuna. |
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In addition to the pantry, I keep 3 months of MREs on hand and my portable water purification system ready to go. Have a supply of fire wood and ways to make electricity. Have seeds and hand tools. Have a pond stocked with fish.....no problem
NINE MEALS TO CHAOS
My wife and I have always had an eye toward preparedness – even before we were married which was many moons ago. It is said that, 'With age comes wisdom.' Somehow that reference seems to have completely passed by our friends in Washington D.C. but for us it has steeled our resolve for 'defense in depth' against hunger and thirst.
After a person has lived for a while she or he begins to see that trouble DOES visit everyone from time to time, and that bad things DO happen...even where I live! That person, if she is a prudent person, begins to take steps - steps against hard times that WILL eventually present themselves, ready or not. It's crossing a threshold from cartoons and fantasy into an age of enlightenment and understanding of how the world truly IS...
What does all of this have to do with our pantry? Simply put, it's this: If the trucks stopped moving, for whatever reason, your local supermarket would have only enough food to supply the area immediately surrounding the store for three days. Three days! That means that the population is only NINE meals away from hunger, looting, and chaos. NINE meals folks. That's it. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is well aware of this fact and plans (in vain, mostly) to have emergency food onsite before the end of the third day.
Do yourself (and your family and neighbors) a monumental favor and have a backup supply of food and potable water. As others have posted here, building a supply can be pretty painless; simply buy a few extra cans/boxes/bottles of the things you normally eat, write the purchase date on each item (a Sharpie works well), and set them in a cool, dry, dark place (basement, if you have one). Shoot for a month's worth of food storage at first. When you reach that, shoot for three months, then six. Finally, work your way up to the ultimate food storage target of one year.
Why one year? The answer is something that farmers have understood and lived by for eons. What happens if a large-scale crop failure occurs (any of you happen to see this in the news over the last couple of years?). Farmers know from experience that if their crops fail they won't have income (or food from their own garden) until the harvest comes in (praying) NEXT FALL. 'What are we going to eat till then?' Thank goodness Aunty Em put up all that produce in Ball Jars last year when food was aplenty and Uncle Jed dried that jerky last summer when he processed a beef cow.
Can you see what I'm driving at? As a minimum, each and every individual and family should take pains to get as close to one year's supply of backup food storage as you can, space and funds permitting.
Do I practice what I preach? I won't bore you any more than I already have with our food storage details. Suffice it to say that we have between one and two years of food storage and three to four months of potable water on hand at all times. We've gone much further than this in regard to back up fuel, electricity, water purification, various means to cook food, gardening, chickens, etc., but that's outside the scope of this article and discussion.
Take matters into your own hands NOW and protect yourself and your family from needlessly going hungry and thirsty should difficulty arise in your home. Remember, NINE MEALS IS ALL THAT SEPARATES US FROM CHAOS...
I work night shifts and used to rarely eat at hime as I always rush tothe gym before work shift starts. for the past 3 mos or so, Ive been dropping by "carinderias" in opur area and eat while watching tv. At the moment, I have @ cans of tuna, a spam and 3 cans of armour vinnas and a potted meat. I cant cook the flat pasta because I ran out of LPG for the stove...oh, and I can keep stuff for long because the fridge broke down. sigh.
I could survive well for a full week on what is in my refrigerator, including meat and fresh produce. If worse came to worst I could actually stay alive for weeks on the bags of rice and rice flour that are sitting in the pantry, plus dandelion greens and whatever from the yard and my tiny garden. Wouldn't be as much fun as shopping, but hey- and my daughter has left cans and packages of things I can't eat no matter what, from her visits that involved snacking (she for some reason doesn't equally enjoy my diet of broccoli, eggs and grilled onions). I think she could survive for a few days on her forgotten stash here, but I'll wager that I'd last longer if it came to that.
How long after the expiration date can you safely keep and eat food in cans, or jars.
Soylent Green never goes bad.
I live 70 miles from town and we have frequent power outages. Having been poor all of my life, I have always been very food conscious. My husband and I can live several months on what's in the pantry. Also have a full freezer, but the food will only last about three days if the power goes out. Got a great book called Hard Times Hand Book by Sarah Autry on how to feed your family for less than $5.00 a day and lots of other money wise and survival tips for hard times. Avail from Amazon, or from the website (cheaper than Amazon) surviveanythingt.webs.com. We keep more dried goods than canned, but do keep things like tomato sauce, paste, flour. You can buy whole grains and grind yourself with a cheap coffee grinder to small amounts of fresh ground on hand. Learned a lot about keeping foods cool when the power goes out from the book and between the garden and the pantry, we could survive months. I get lots of water stored, but we have a well and could draw water by hand if there were a prolonged period of no electricity. The way things are going in this country, we figure it won't be long before we all have to go it along. We're looking into home grown energy now.
Thank you so much for your comment. I was absolutely disgusted by this article when there are so many people in this country who struggle to find food and so many who have so much food they don't even realize they should appreciate that blessing instead of turning it into a joke. I think you are right too, hard times are coming quickly.
I don't think anybody wants to make a joke out of hunger, and there is a lot of that, but when my mother-in-law died they found her basement full of stored food packages, cans and bottles of salad dressing from the 1960's! She had a mindset forged in the Depression and always bought more than she needed at the time-but it was a bit crazed, since most food had expired decades earlier and couldn't have been used safely. We have a mixed reaction still to that, joking sometimes and shaking our heads other times. I think a little humor over what folks have stashed away and forgotten about is quite refreshing!
I recently went through my pantry and found processed stuff that expired in 2007. Gotta go through there more often! But I do have a good supply of dry pastas, dry beans, canned soups and ready-to-eat stuff (like ravioli and spaghetti), box dinners that you have to add other stuff to, mac & cheese dinners, lots of spices and flavored vinegars and popcorn, stuffing mixes, breadcrumbs, oils, baking goods (all kinds), various boxed dessert mixes and canned pudding. I could probably eat for quite some time!
I Could probably survive 3 days max on my pantry. I east mostly fresh food and vegetables so what I keep in my cupboard is mostly spices and the occasional carbs. Right now there is half a container of couse-couse, some honey bunched of oats, pre-made mac and cheeses and of course coffee. I buy most of my food every other day so there's not much else.
Eat your pantry empty, then fill it back up, wiser this time, knowing what long-term-storage foods you're willing to cook and eat. It's a good idea to have extra food, and a good idea to not let it sit there for years.
We live in a climate with lots of heavy snow in winter. We overstock in the autumn for being snowed in, then whatever's left in spring we eat.
Living in South Florida, we keep a lot of food on hand through hurricane season, just in case. We could probably go 3 months without feeling much strain. Shelf stable milk is KEY. So are copious amounts of rice and beans. Fresh veggies would be the toughest loss, but even so I probably have ten lbs of Vidalia onions hanging in the garage right now along with pickled okra, green beans, asparagus, red onions, and cabbage.
In light of all the "panty raid" comments here's a drawer full of panties. *dumps them out on the bed* They've been worn by hot & cold sorority sisters. Knock yourselves out ...
.... and please learn to read ALL the letters in the headlines. :D
EWWWWWW-These have skid Marks on them.
Those are your panties, White Trash. I picked up the wrong drawer.
Here's the right one. Skid mark free! :D
Will those fit me? I've had GAS and blown holes in all of mine.
I tend to be a food hoarder, when I see a sale on something I use occasionally, I'll buy it knowing I'll use it within the next month or two. Canned veggies, tuna, pasta, rice, instant potatoes, flour, sugar, yeast, cereal and grains. Same with frozen meats such as ground beef and chicken. We just went through a few "lean" weeks and have eaten very well. All I needed to buy was fresh milk, bread (although we did still bake a couple loaves of bread in the breadmaker), frozen pizzas (teenagers on school break!) and fresh fruits & veggies. Now I need to restock for the next time we hit a lean spot. :-)
I have a full stock, water purifer los of pastas and grains cereal oatmeal canned meat and fish and more and more I have been listening to Glenn Beck
Oops, Thought It Said Panty Raid!
@Aninadog. Canned salmon can actually be quite good. Flake it with a shot of flavored vinegar, finely chopped green pepper, parmesan cheese, and bread crumbs (or crumbs from the bottom of triscuits or cracker packages), fashion into about six generous patties and bake! Unfortunately that is the only DECENT recipe I have, although a friend once told me her young son LOVED it stirred into yellow rice with the inevitable can of Campbell's soup–what flavor I don't know.
something about the smell of a salmon croquette cooking makes me absolutely nauseous, but it can't be discounted because it's full of protein and fatty acids.
I would eat for months, but there would be a lot of dried beans.
It took me a decade to eat all the foods I stored away for Y2K. Of course Katrina struck down here and many were without electricity and even fresh water for weeks and weeks. After that I prudently restocked. I have about 10 cans of Progresso Lentil soup (doesn't even need fresh water and some small cans of evaporated milk (has a very short shelf life). I need it for my PG tips tea, which I have 12 boxes of. I also have half a dozen cans of salmon, which apparently has a shelf life close to infinity (but pretty soon I'm going to need some creative canned salmon recipes. For an instant massive sodium fix I have Spam, which never dies in the can, and the inevitable vienna sausage, to share or barter :) All of this may come in handy when the economy collapses because of recalcitrance in the U.S. House of Representatives!
As a teenage orphan end of the fifties In Alaska, I starved. You bet I have food storage. My bedroom has bags of beans, rice, oatmeal, flour, sugar, dried milk – a portion of my living room has storage shelves with canned fruits, veggies, meats, fish, nuts, dried fruits, salt, spices, etc. I also store small change, $1 and $5 bills. Gas tanks, two burner camping stove, lots of water and hand wipes – do not neglect hygiene. Disaster could be a hurricane, a four day power shortage or loss of employment, A three month supply of vital meds could save your life. Get real, learn to manage resources.
Creativity abounds when driven by hunger... too bad my learning curve for cooking doesn't keep pace.
There have been winters when I couldn't get out to the main road for three to four days. The drifts were higher then my head and the plows couldn't break through to get to my road. They had to get construction equipment with buckets to bust the drifts open. Even the state highway was only open with one lane for a whole week back in January of 1979!
Well because of that, I keep a large pantry equipped so I don't have to worry about food. I keep powered milk on hand and lots of flour. We have an older gas stove with (wasteful) pilot light that will cook even without electricity. I put the new stuff in on the left and push it around in a clockwise manner. Once in awhile a really OLD can or box will make its way to the front as if it was afraid to come out into the light but basically the system works. The better way I know if is those shelves that slant toward the front. If you always load the new stuff at the top, the oldest will be in the front so you use it and don't lose track of the age. At least this way I am prepared to feed myself for at least three weeks. Not counting when the garden comes to harvest then I will be good for months.
I lived for many years in an area that got snowed in as well. It seriously shaped my shopping habits. After years of living outside of snow country, I don't intentionally set out to have a "stocked pantry" but it always kinda ends up that way. We could eat comfortably and well for about a month. After that, it might start getting creative.
I am stocked up. Don't feel safe without either We also have hurricanes on the Tx coast I like being prepared anyway and having backup plan a, b c. d,e ...I also garden year 'round but not much grows in S Tx in mid summer Having even a small garden is NICE!!!!!! Got enough ammo for whatever reason(but no bunkers ha ha ) and a working knowledge of edible and useful wild plants etc So I think I could (theoretically) go for years and years???? Funny... the elderly parents pantry
I actually did this recently. Went a full month before we were done it all. Had some very 'interesting' meals, I must say.
We are all very lucky to have pantry's never mind stuff we don't remember buying!!
We'd starve - we eat a lot of fresh food and very little, if any processed anything. Our pantry is kind of bare always but that's okay. I think we are better off in the long run.
I only go to the grocery store when the pantry is bare. There is no need to buy food when I have food. Granted I might need items to go with pantry food but I don't go "full cart" grocery shopping until I HAVE too. I save food and it causes me to be creative which generally turns out very good.
I have an 95% empty pantry. I eat all my goodies!
Oh, I thought you said panty raid.
Last time I visited my elderly parents for an extended stay (22 days, but who's counting?), I reorganized their pantry. I found 31 cans of pineapple, 27 jars/cans of spaghetti sauce, 12 cans of canned salmon (gross!), 3 cans of hot dog chili, and so much more. It was around superbowl sunday, so I made the folks coney dogs for the big game. They loved me even more that day...
I cleaned out my grandparents' pantry a couple of months ago. Poor things. 15 boxes of jello mix- 9 had expired over a year ago. 4 bottles of ketchup. Endless cans of vegetables- all expired. It really upset my grandmother that I had 'emptied' her pantry, but for the sake of their health, it was worth the dressing down.
I keep about 6 months worth of food on hand between dry goods and my freezer. In the summer we primarily eat the vegetables we grow and freeze or preserve the excess for consumption during the rest of the year. Last year's tomato crop (10 plants) produced 8 months worth of tomato sauce for the off-season (we eat pasta at least once a week-family of 5). The best thing my parents ever did was to teach us how to grow our own food and preserve it. We all hated doing the work as kids, but every single one of us started a garden and preserved the excess after we moved out.
Lessee... twenty pounds of bread flour and over a pound of yeast. Six pounds of arborio rice, some smoked Gouda, a huge jar of sun-dried tomatoes. I won't lack for carbs. Perhaps six cases of wine and a fair amount of distilled spirits. Enough frozen meat for at least a couple of weeks. One miserable cucumber, but a big bottle of vitamins. Nope, I wouldn't starve.
I could survive quite a while actually, though the diet might be a little bland after the first few days. A pantry staple (rice, noodles or other pasta, rice, bulgar) usually is included in most meals. My pantry tends to be a bit short on veggies since I tend to keep fresh veggies in the fridge... but there are lentils, canned tomatoes and jarred peppers, and maybe some canned mushrooms - also some canned pumpkin, but pumpkin soup just seems wrong this time of year. Anyway, I think I would have to reply on spices to keep things interesting.
We've always been the "home of last resort" for various family members, and we've moved a lot. The moving included fires, typhoons, floods, blizzards, power-outs, you name it, so I've always back-stocked. The last year or so has used a lot of my stores, so I'm trying to recover. I always recommend having a backstock; frankly, we don't feel safe without it.
Everything is bare in my place right now. Lol... We've got eggs & tortillas & some hot sauce.. Besides our spices, that's it.
Guess I need to read more carefully. I clicked on the article because I thought it said PANTY Raid!
Stock up on beans, rice, lentils with plenty of grains and flour...I have at least a months worth or maybe even two. Additionally – have a good collection of seasonings, hot sauces, spices, vinegars and oils to add to the pantry items.
http://www.inspiredhomekitchen.com
Canned chickpeas/black-eyed peas, white beans, canned vegetables, jarred vegetables, pastas, sauces, canned fish, canned seafood, canned fish stock, canned chicken broth, canned beef broth, flour, sugar, salt, spices, juices – canned and plastic bottled, canned white meat chicken, boxes of felafel mix, cereals – cold and hot, canned soups, dried fruit mixes, rice, oils, dried yeast, tea bags, coffees, okay enough of this – it's horrific that people are starving on this earth.
How old can stuff in boxes, jars, and cans get, before it is unhealthy to eat? I am sure there are items in my pantry that are at least 10 or 15 years old. Is peanut butter good after 15 years? What about pickles? Or olives? Jelly?
The thing that takes up the most space in my pantry is dog food and treats. We have 200 lbs of dog and about 25 lbs of cat! (2 of each species)
too much of everything because I stock up on sales & hate to cook unless I have to for entertaining purposes. I do go thru it often and donate to the food pantry...just think of the $$$$ I could be saving if I threw out all my cookbooks, I wouldn't buy stuff for just in case I make it...however the booze cabinet is a different story, lol
Twinkies do, in fact, have an expiration date.
And now back to your regularly scheduled Eatocracy...
But no expiration date can so far be confirmed on McDonald's hamburgers.
MOO.
That's good to know.
There is a McD's hamburger in my refridge that has to be at least 3 years old.
I do not!
We don't have very much in our pantries since we shop on a weekly basis and do very little processed food. However I have enough flour that I'll be just fine in that area. I do need to be better about keeping staples on hand but since I buy only what is on the weekly menu I have never had an issue with running out of something.
Am I meant to have a pantry? As someone who has gone real-food only, I don't have a cupborad full of all that stuff any more. I should stockpile some rice or something though, I know I wouldn't survive more than a day or two in an emergency.
Rice, beans, dried fruit, oatmeal, pasta, olive oil – all very real. No need to fill a pantry with processed garbage. Though I admit to using canned tomatoes at times (especially winter) and have yet to make my own mayo.
You could still can or preserve your own food to have "real" food that will last longer.
We do eat real food. Home made/canned pasta sauce, home grown/canned tomato (in every form)... same goes for green beans and corn. My freezer (commercial size, chest freezer) is full of squash – all types, from my own garden.
I have about 10 cans of tuna, 4-5 different flavors of vinegar, some unusual stuff I thought I might like to try but haven't gotten around to yet, and a LOT of basics (canned tomatoes on sale, cereal, pasta). I'm trying to go through it more because I want some space!
On an aside – it was weird seeing this article title right below a photo of people enduring a famine. Kinda puts our pantry problems in perspective, no?
Oops I thought this story was about PANTY RAID. I should read slower.
Me too. :D
We have two refridgerator/freezers, one in the garage, on in the kitchen, which are pretty much full all the time, plus a pantry in the kitchen and one in the garage, again pretty full. And all this for TWO people! My husband likes to have lots of food on hand, but he does eat a lot of what is on hand and replaces it immediately...his OCD kicking in. I think we are good for at least a month or two, until the beer runs out. :)
Gotta start making your own beer :)
Thats why one fridge should be stocked to the gills with 30 racks the other with food
Or the power goes off... :)
I have 6 months of food stored, largely because it's suggested by my church (LDS), though it's come in handy more than a few times in the past.
I just buy a few extras whenever I go shopping, and rotate through them so they never get old and nasty. My food storage is made of stuff I always use, so when it is needed we're not adjusting to stuff we've never had before.
I have rices, pastas, beans, and lentils, bouillon cubes (doesn't take as much storage space as cans of stock, though I have those too), sauces, flours, oatmeal, canned veggies, and fruits, and even some canned meats (tuna, salmon, chicken). I also have a few dried veggies, fruits, and meats, in case things get really crazy, or packing for camping or weekend hiking trips.
I also have powdered milk, eggs, and butter, which I use in baking fairly frequently, though obviously fresh is better :)
In 2007 both my husband and I lost our jobs. Our savings went to our mortgage and bills, and our food storage kept us fed. It was a year before both of us were employed again, but it was enough to keep us from either losing our home or going on welfare.
Whatever you think about the church, it is a good recommendation, and more people should try to store up for a rainy day.
I agree. Just because I don't agree with all of your church's theology doesn't mean I should discount ALL of your teachings. Preparing for a rainy day (with monetary savings as well as food and other supplies) is always a good idea. The problem is that nowadays, people equate that with crazy doomsdayers that have large caches of weapons or bunkers. In the past, it was just considered prudent.
My cat brought a freshly killed rabbit in for us this morning. Going right in the oven.
That's why I love cats over dogs. They don't wait to be asked to bring home dinner.
Okay, I did not read the first word of this right when I glanced at the title of this article.
On topic, I used to have the kind of cupboard that would have kept me through the nuclear apocalypse. However, recently I've been actually eating the food I already have, and my supplies are quickly depleting. I blame it on the fact that I finally splurged for a can opener that actually works. And also, I've been eating fresh foods much more, and they're much more expensive.
I really do need to take an entire week's grocery money and restock my cupboard. And buy a few gallons of water. Just in case...
Dude, don't forget the water purification system for when the zombies attack! A couple of gallons won't last that long!
have some Microdyn or iodine on hand for H20 purification. Don't count on chlorine bleach. Chlorine bleach loses it's effectiveness after six months or so :)
Darn it zombies! For the last time, leave me alone!
You should eat the food you have. It is important to turn your supply over regularly. Canned goods don't last forever and neither do dry goods. Plus by eating them (and restocking them) regularly there is less of a problem transitioning to subsistence off of your pantry goods since you are already incorporating them into your daily diet.
With the canning, pickling and preserving my family could probably last a year before we reached a starvation state. If you include the food we raise on our own we could stretch that to several years AND if you allow us to trade our excess with others we could go on more or less for the rest of our lives. At our home we eat like kings, nothing in this world tastes like a breakfast of home raised eggs, home cured bacon and a side of home grown potatoes. It is never too late to take control of your food source, and even a small window box will give you better food than you have ever had before.
I have a lot of the basics, but nothing to put with it. Sauce and pasta, but no meats or veggies to go with it. Cans of tuna and jars of mayo, but no bread... soup, no crackers. Tons of salad dressing, and sides, just no 'main's.
My biggest problem is that I rarely purchase "prepared" food such as canned broth, beans, fruit, etc., but I have rice, pasta, coconut milk, siracha, pickles, spices, and exotic sauces given, and sometimes prepared, by friends. I certainly would not starve, but the wine cellar is a bit low, except for some very old bottles of Chateau Petrus and a half bottle of Chateau Y'Quem I've been saving for the perfect peach.
I found over 10 cans of beans...I don't know why, beans. A family size round box of oats, pancake syrup and a can of Pam. Hmm, should i invest in a can opener and buy cans of Vienna sausage?
You're in luck Vienna Sausage have a pull-top as does Spam.
A vitual feast of pigs, lips and brown-eyed fillet...
it's frustrating how a pantry can be easily filled with sustainable items – oreos, chips, soup – but fresh things like bananas and spinach are both expensive and perishable. the dollar just doesn't stretch as far on produce and deli.
I agree, the husband and I have revamped our eating to cut calories and sodium so a lot of pre packaged processed foods are completely out and I am spening twice as much at the grocery store
Weeks if I could live on the pizza the dude/dudette delivers thru the zombie hoard.
The pantry is sparse:
a box of smart pop popcorn
two single-serving-sized cans of spinach
one single-serving-sized can of baked beans
a can of soup
3 bags of Doritos (different flavors)
Go shopping!
Why? I'm not complaining. Just answering the question. Like POE, I eat what I buy at the store. If I could manage it, I'd shop for what I want to eat each day. Living minimally (when you have no children) is simplest for me.
While you're shopping, pick me up a 6-pack of Amber Woodchuck. Thanks!
It seems counter intuitive, but I shop and eat better when I buy for the meal rather than for the week. I also end up saving money.
When I lived in London, I would stop by a small shop every day and buy just what I wanted to eat, and only enough to make that. Sure I kept staples around, but being on foot limited my shopping. The strange thing is, even though the small shop was more expensive than the grocery store, I saved money, because I didn't stock pile things that would go bad or never get used. I miss that.
Linda - You didn't mention what beverage you'll be drinking with your "vintage" meal. Any dust-covered wine bottles at your house?
LOL... dust covered wine bottle... what is that? More likely that old container of Tang that would need to be chipped out of the container, or the variety of tea bags that were tried and never used.
We do this every once in a while. When money gets tight it seems rediculous to go to the store for more groceries when we already have cupboards and a freezer seemingly overflowing with stuff. We then only buy milk, eggs and any absolutely necessary fresh ingredients to make all the pantry ingredients work. It's always fun to see what we are able to make!