Frugal Food #11 The Pantry

Most old houses were built with pantries--a small room in which to keep dry goods, canned goods, and other foods  that didn't require refrigeration.  This was a necessary place to store a summer's and fall's harvest back in the days when stores weren't open 24/7 and didn't stock every imaginable edible under the sun (and quite a few you'd never imagine on your own).  Think about it; if you had to get a whole year's worth of applesauce or green beans, or flour all at once--because that's how it happens in nature--how much space would that take up?  Where would you put it?

Today's pantries, if a house even has one at all, are often much smaller.  What I call my pantry is a cabinet 5' wide by 12" deep by 6' tall that spans about a third of one wall in my (very large) kitchen.  When we were building the house, and designing the kitchen, I told the (Home Depot) kitchen design guy that I needed a pantry that would hold two weeks of food for 6 people.  He thought I was crazy; afterall, who keeps that much food on hand at once?  There are grocery stores all over the place, some even open 24/7. . .

So, if I keep only 2 weeks worth of food in my pantry, does that mean I only have 2 weeks worth of edibles in my home at any one time?  NO!  That 2 weeks was a base. That was how much I wanted to be able to store in my kitchen.  My pantry actually houses a 2-3 week rotation, plus my baking supplies. 

baking supplies, canned fruits veggies and meats, pb & unopened jellies (one each flavor), seasoning mixes, pickles and salsas, "cereal" (granola)

snack nuts (vs ones for baking with), crackers, coffee and cocoa mix, oats, pastas, dried beans and peas, lentils, bulgur, quinoa, potatoes onions and garlic, jugs of molasses, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, corn syrup (ie anything not needing refrigeration after opening--due to high vinegar content usually--despite what the USDA/manufacturer's don't-sue-me label says)

The rest of the canned goods, extra flour, sugar, etc, are stored in my basement  and cellar where there is more room.  There have been times, now and then, that we've had a lean month financially and I've fed the family from what we had on hand, saving that grocery money for other things (like the electric bill, or gas for the car so DH can get to work and back).  What would you do with $300-400 one month if you didn't have to buy food?

Which brings me to a key point.  Just because you don't have a large kitchen with a big cabinet or a separate pantry doesn't mean you can't keep more than a few days' worth of food on hand.  It's always cheaper to buy on sale, in season, and in bulk (IF you use it up before it goes bad).   Your 'pantry' could be the space under your bed.  It could be a coat closet you never actually use for coats (if it's full of junk and you rarely open the door, clear out all the junk, sell it, give it away or throw it away, and stock that closet with edibles!).  It could be an extra bedroom your grown children only sleep in a few nights a year.  It could be a corner of your basement,

butternut squash from the garden, stored near the basement stairs

Or even in an outbuilding if you live in a temperate climate and use rodent-proof bins to store your food in. 

Be creative.  Think outside the box.  Discover storage space you didn't know you had. 

Use a bookcase if you've got one and not very many books. 

my extra flour and sugar (I buy 20-30 pounds of each at a time)

 Or even the top to a hutch (this one was free on Craigslist--look how much it holds!)

extra canned goods from the store (homecanned ones are in cellar), oils, crackers, pastas, etc bought in quantity on sale

By having a pantry--a designated storage area for non-refrigerated foods--you will be able to eat more affordably by buying things on sale or in season (cheaper to purchase), or storing your home canned garden bounty.  So if you have any usable space at all--a corner, a closet currently cluttered with junk, or the place where the dust bunnies live under your bed--turn it into something profitable instead of just empty square footage you are paying rent or a mortgage and taxes on.

Combine this with a stand-alone freezer, and you'll really be able to put a dent in your grocery expenses.  If you have the right climate and the space, go for a trifecta by adding a cellar to the mix.  I've kept potatoes from fall harvest till spring planting in my cellar, and kept apples crisp all the way from October until about February or March.  Look for a frugal food post on cellars in the coming months.