A Working Pantry For One

 

When I retired on April 1, 2022 (yes, on April Fool’s Day) I had a pantry stuffed beyond capacity, not to mention my long term storage which I keep separately.  It gave me great peace of mind to know that, if nothing else, I wouldn’t go hungry.  Much has changed since then and as a result so has my working pantry.

 

In the past two and a half years I’ve eaten, shared and donated most of what I had originally stockpiled in my pantry.  In the process I’ve been able to figure out what I truly do use and want to keep stocked while I’ve rotated and replaced items from the LTFS.  I’ve fed myself and a lot of other people quite well so far.  Now I have a well stocked working pantry that is both functional and much more manageable.  And also less than half the size of what it used to be.

 

You may be thinking I’ve culled it back a bit too far and perhaps this is due to my extreme grocery budget this year, however rest assured that is not the case.  While I’ve been working on streamlining the pantry and using up the older items that have been hanging around too long I’ve also been focusing on adding to and keeping the LTFS, including my deep freezer, well stocked.

 

So far this year I’ve used up forty eight jars of home canned goods and added back twenty four jars already.  I have plans to add twenty four more jars of home canned meats and beans soon and then I’ll reassess and decide what I’ll be canning next, but I’m planning to add back a little bit more than I’ve consumed this year once all is said and done.

 

I’m using the extra space in the pantry to store appliances like my bread machine, electric skillets and the toaster oven with all the mini baking pans I now have.  More importantly I’ve designated the two lower shelves to storing my extra papercrafting supplies.  It sure makes it handy to have good places to store all that stuff.

 

Even though I have less than half the food in the pantry I used to have (I still have too many condiments) I know I still have plenty of food with no concerns for whatever the future may have in store for me.  Plus!  Now I can see those pretty green walls I painted in there.