For those of you who like a quick answer all you need to do to stock your pantry for a year is to, have a pantry, buy the food and stock the pantry. For those of you who want a little more detail keep reading 🙂
Don’t be overwhelmed
As you think about stocking your pantry for a year, you will most likely get overwhelmed and be tempted to quit! It is extremely overwhelming thinking about having enough food for a year! I mean as it is you have to go shopping most likely every week and it stills seems like you never have enough! So how in the world do you think about shopping for a whole year? But don’t worry. I will help you come up with a plan on how to stock your pantry for a year. And I promise it will be without much effort!
The pantry
First of all, you are going to need a place to put a year’s worth of food. If you already have a large pantry, that is awesome. But for some of you who might not have a pantry all ready to go…Don’t worry! We can fix that. Now I would suggest you build one. If you can this is the best way to go. You can customize it perfectly to your needs. I would offer to help with this, but since I can’t see what you have to work with you will have to come up with those plans on your own. I would advise making long narrow shelves. If the shelves are too deep then you can’t see what is in the back. I would suggest to build them in your basement if you can so that your food stays colder.
If the building is out of the question for you..NO WORRIES! You do not need to have anything fancy. Put some shelving in the basement and you are good to go. Once you know exactly how much food you will be getting you will know how much shelving room you will need. Hey, you can also turn unused closet space into a pantry too. (Not that anyone has that 😉
Planning
Now that you know how much space you have to work with we need to plan how much you will need for the year. This list will include the non-perishable Items that you might use within the year.
Condiments
- Mayo
- Mustard
- Ketchup
- Ranch
- Other Dressings
- Soy Sauce
- Barbecue sauce
- Hot sauce
- Relish
Natural Sweeteners
- Honey
- Maple Syrup
- Molasses
Grains
- Rice
- Barley
- Oatmeal
- pasta and noodles
Beans
- Dried beans
- Lentils
- Split peas
Fats
- Oils ( Almond, olive, coconut, red palm, sesame)
- Butter
- Bacon Grease
- Lard
Nuts
- Pecans
- Walnuts
- Peanuts
- Cashews
- Walnuts
- Sunflower seeds
Baking Supplies
- Flour ( I use sprouted, oat, almond and coconut)
- Cornmeal
- Yeast
- Baking Soda
- Baking powder
- Sugar ( I use stevia)
- Extracts (Vanilla, caramel, strawberry,rum etc.)
- Chocolate chips
- Corn Starch
Extras
- peanut butter
- Vinegar ( white, apple cider, wine, balsamic)
- Tea
- Coffee
- Dried fruit
- Jerky
Spices
- Pepper
- Salt (Himalayan is best)
- Garlic
- Onion
- Red pepper flakes
- Cumin
- Chili Powder
- Italian Seasoning
- Oregano
- Parsley
- Curry Powder
Canned Food
- Pasta sauce
- Tomato Paste
- Diced Tomatoes
- Crushed Tomatoes
- Salsa
- Corn
- Green Beans
- Soups
- Beans
- Peas
- Beets
Food you can also preserve
- Meat
- Eggs
If it is less overwhelming think of what you use in a month and just times it by 12. I know it seems crazy to buy a years worth of stuff. But I am sure you will love it and it will save you time and money. My Grandma has what we call a “store” in her basement. She loves having anything she needs on hand.
And you will save money because whenever you go to the store you spend money you were not planning on spending. Well, at least I do. I ran into Wal-mart the other day and spent $40.00 on stuff I was not even planning on getting!
Forming the list
Now that you have written down all of your staples, make your list. Figure out what you can do yourself and what you need to buy. If you garden and can your own produce you can save a lot of money! Check out my post to learn more.
If you make your own bone broth, AWESOME! Even healthier and cheaper. To find out how to do that check it out here.
Once you have your completed list look it over and see if you can save money in any more areas. Maybe instead of buying canned soup consider making your own soup and canning it. Or instead of buying box mixes of cookies have the things on hand to make it yourself.
Making sure the Pantry is ready
At this point, your pantry area should be either built or already existing. Just make sure that it is clean and ready to go. Nothing is worse than getting all the food home and realizing your area is a mess. If your space was already there I would suggest that you take the time to take everything out and wipe it all down. If you have food in your pantry already make sure that food stays at the front when the new food comes in so that it will get eaten first. You want to make sure that you rotate the food. (More on that below!)
Doing the shopping
At this point, you are ready to get the food. Hopefully, It will not cost as much as you think because You were able to plan on doing a lot of the canned goods yourself. But It will be pretty pricey. So you might have to save up a bit before you are ready for this step. A few tips when you are ready…
- Don’t Take the kids
If you have kids I would recommend leaving them behind. (With a sitter of course) Grocery shopping can be so stressful with the kiddos and this is going to be a BIG job.
2. Take a helper
You will be getting quite a big load…So if you can I would suggest taking someone with you if at all possible.
3. Split up the shopping trip
It might be in your best interest to split up your trip. For one, you can save up and buy things slower. Maybe plane to buy the things on your list in a period of a month or so. This will also make it much less overwhelming if you have to get it all alone.
Organizing the Pantry
You want to make sure that your food is organized. If you just throw everything on the shelves you will most likely not even want to use the stuff because you won’t be able to find it! You will be so glad you took the time to organize. The best way to organize it is to take your list and put it away from the way you have it written. Does that make sense? Put all your pasta together, tomato products in one area, baking supplies in another etc.
Rotating
Now that you have your pantry stocked for the year make sure that you have all the oldest foods up front. Say you had some canned veggies from the prior year you want to use those up first. If for whatever reason you are getting more food to add throughout the year add it to the back. It is such a relief having a years amount of food on hand, but what a bummer to have things expire. As long as you did your calculations properly and use your food within the year you should be more than good. Just keep this in the back of your mind. And as you do this year after year you will get a better idea of exactly what you go through for a year.
The benefits of having the Pantry stocked for a year…
Everybody will have their different reasons. But for me personally, I love having a stocked pantry for the following reasons.
1. Saving money
I have really tried to cut back on grocery shopping as much as possible. I find that when I go to the store I AlWAYS spend money I had not intended to. Stores are stinking good at advertising. When I go less I spend more money! Simple! I also am a HUGE fan of Amazon Prime. Even if an item is more expensive (which is generally not the case) I know I will spend less than running to the store for a few things.
2. Less shopping with kids
I have 3 little people and I loathe grocery shopping with them! It takes way longer than it should and we have to stop at every candy and junk food aisle they see. If I can stock up and reduce my grocery shopping I am one happy camper!
3. Having what I need
Who hates when they JUST got home from the store and FORGOT something? Um Me!!! And there is no way I am dragging 3 kids to the store for one thing. I love that I can run down to my “store” and grab it!
4. The feeling of being prepared
My husband likes to be a crazy prepper person. He is always planning for the zombie apocalypse…okay not really. But he likes to plan for crazy situations. I personally think it is impractical to prep with things that you will most likely not even use. But I loved having a fully stocked pantry because that way I am “prepped” and my family is prepared for a whole year if something was to happen…but If nothing happens we will eat the food and it will not go to waste. It’s a win-win for you ask me!
Hopefully, this helped you realize that you can very effortlessly stock your pantry for a year! Just like anything, it will take a little work and planning but for the work you will save yourself for the next year, it will be totally worth your time. Thanks for reading!
~Courtney