Saturday Thoughts...Michelle's New Pantry


Our daughter-in-law’s business has been affected by the “non-essential” lock-downs, etc., even though she has an online presence.  You still have to keep your storefront paid for…utilities, insurance, etc. that doesn’t go away when you are forced to close for a while. Now that she is open again, and it seems like many folks in Iowa are starting to get out too (several business people have commented on how just this August their businesses have started to return to normal), she is not going to be caught unprepared in future.  
She had been able to shop whenever and for whatever they wanted until the shelves started to empty.  She also keeps chickens and a nice garden, but it hasn’t done as well this year either in the dry weather. 
She sent along this photo of the new pantry area our son built for her, using scrap door cores from the business where he works.  Notice she has started putting her home canned goods here too.
“I wanted to show you, Dave & I have been purchasing extra paper goods and canned goods every week, we are gradually stocking up! I’m glad we’ve been able to lately, never know what’s coming next in the world...We just couldn’t afford it before but we’ve just buckled down and made a few extra cans here & there work in the budget.”
People Myrna's and my age have gone through some of this scenario before…and were trained by parents and grandparents who went through the depression and several world wars.  We found we both had enough supplies to not shop at all for a while or not be hurt by shortages.  Michelle and Dave have the right idea…gradually build up a supply of what you regularly use, then keep it topped off.

8 comments:

  1. Oh, that is a very nice pantry. I love that your son used the scrap door cords. What a great way to use his resources.

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  2. A lovely pantry set up and she is being very wise. I've always kept a decent pantry (for 1 person in a huge city & a small apt.) but I've been adding a few things whenever I'm out. Even if it's just a jar of pickles or a couple of cans of beans - it all adds up.
    What I would recommend is that people think about other items besides food - things like lightbulbs & batteries, anything you may need for the kitchen and even basic clothes & linens. Even the big Dept. stores here haven't received their new Winter stock as yet and there are notable gaps or a lack of sizes or specific colours. The shoe store that I normally buy from has finally received some Winter shoes so I'm going to buy new walking shoes next week. I'm glad that I don't need Winter boots this year as I haven't seen any in stock as yet - and usually they are trying to sell us this stuff as of July 1st!!

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  3. Great looking shelves. He done a wonderful job.

    Being born and raised up on a farm in Iowa, I remember my mom had a rather large shelf unit in the basement that was stocked full of canned items. Mom always had a large garden so growing up her and I done a lot of canning.
    We also had our own meat to eat so very seldom did we go into town for groceries. Mom would be making bread basically every week.
    Had our own dairy cows so milk was always available along with beef, pork, chickens for the eggs & eating, ducks, farm raised rabbits, etc. to eat. One thing I couldn't stomach to eat and that was mom's home canned meat. (nasty stuff)
    My brothers would go hunting and maybe bring home a couple of squirrels or pheasants for us to eat. So really, there wasn't much need to go in town for unless it was for dry products; flour, sugar, TP and the such.
    I pretty much keep my pantry pretty well stocked up in canned goods, variety of different pastas, variety of different sauces etc.
    Meat products along with frozen food items; that I would purchase the following week or 2 later so my freezers are well stocked along with my pantry.
    I do keep a listing posted on my freezer door so that I know all what I have and if I need to repurchase certain items. Nice to keep an inventory of freezer items and each item has it's own place in the freezer on where everything should be placed. I done that so that my husband will know where things go and for me so that I can easily find what I want cause I know which shelf it is located at.

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  4. What a beautiful pantry! Those shelves seem to be spaced very well - and sure don't look like they'll sag. Well done on the stocking up to!

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    1. They are very solid! And they are not attached! The configuration can be changed easily if we want.

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  5. We moved to a much smaller abode this summer and it was quite an adjustment as the old place was a 2000 sq ft house, and we are dealing with a 750 sq ft apartment (temporarily). I kept a well stocked pantry at the old place and had plenty of toilet paper and paper towels due to a good sale just before lockdown here. Unfortunately we aren't able to do the same where we are currently living. Having stocked shelves gives a lot of security-something we hope to get back soon as we are looking for something permanent, and obviously larger, with actual storage. As I get older, being able to sustain from from home for longer periods of time becomes more crucial...especially now.

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  6. We understand...we have lived in several 2 bedroom duplexes since we sold our house. We have moved our storage with us. We especially like the shelving shown in this post...we have been able to rearrange it depending on our room configuration and our space. Canning Storage

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