Keeping a stocked pantry does not make you a doomsday prepper; It makes you an individual prepared for emergencies. I can tell you for a fact, self-reliance and preparedness never go out of style. As a general idea, my pantry and freezer can usually sustain me for about 3-4 weeks without having to leave the house. I’ve recently moved, so unfortunately I am in the process of rebuilding a pantry and reorganizing everything but hoping to have this sorted out in the next months…
This blog post lists a few reasons to keep your pantry and freezer full.
Keep on reading to find out more!
Inflation
The cost of life is going up constantly. By purchasing items and stocking your pantry at today’s price, you won’t be paying tomorrow’s price, which WILL be higher. When you find a good sale, stock up so you can save extra money in the future. That being said, even if you don’t find a sale, chances are you’ll still be saving money.
Fluctuating income
Are you self-employed, a subcontractor, or working on a contract basis? You can’t always know how much money you will be making next week, or next month, depending on your job and how the amount of work available fluctuates. If your pantry is full, and you know your basic needs are taken care of, you are less likely to stress out when work is slower for a week or two. Whenever I made more money, I made sure to buy a few more things to stock my pantry shelves or my freezer, so that I would be ready when work got quieter.
Frugal mindset
I stock up when good things come up on sale. Flyers change every Thursday here in Alberta. The new ones come out on Wednesday, so you can see them both and see what will be on sale starting the next day. Having a look on Wednesday will also give you a last chance to go buy what is currently on sale.
Main flyers I like to look at:
Walmart
Save on Foods
Real Canadian Superstore
Illness, job loss and weather events
Do you live on your own? If you get sick, you might not be able to go to the store to buy some chicken and noodle soup. Sure, you can ask a friend, a neighbour or a parent to bring you food. You could also have food delivered (They do that, now, I guess?!). Chances are, you are feeling like crap and want to be left alone watching cartoons, eating soup and drinking your sleepy-time tea.
What if you are in the middle of a snowstorm and the roads are as good as closed? You can’t even go to he store! What if you can’t go anywhere for 3 days? Do you have enough food? Preparing for these situations is very important too!
Also worth mentioning, stock up on first aids and medication. When you are hurt, injured or sick is not the time to go buy those things at the store.I always say having first aid handy is like buying insurance. My medicine cabinet is always filled with basic medication, gauze, ointments, etc. I go through it every year and discard what’s expired (that’s a loose term).
Mitigate stress
Going back to the first point regarding fluctuating income, keeping a stocked pantry is a great way to mitigate stress. Knowing you have enough food in the house to sustain you for a few weeks is a kind of “safety cushion”. It is easy to grab a few extra things at the store so that your future self does not need to stress as much.
While a full freezer is nice to have, I’ve been trying to preserve more meat and various foods with canning. This way, power outages will not affect any of the canned food in my pantry.
(I will make another post specifically on canning and link it here when it is up.)
Save a trip to the grocery store
Inflation does not only affect food, it affects fuel prices too! Every time you head out to the store because you “forgot one thing”, you will spend time, fuel and likely extra money. An extra trip to the store equals more money spent, and another opportunity for impulse purchases, such as candies, magazines, or spotting a BOGO sale. Make your trip to the grocery store count!
Keeping a stocked and organized pantry and freezer is always more challenging when living in a condo/apartment because this type of dwelling is designed for urban living, and counts on the proximity of the grocery store and other amenities. (Been there before!)
Here’s a few ways to make it work:
- Get a small upright freezer
- Use you space vertically
- Use shelving in your closets.
- Start canning to free up freezer space.
- Use the back of your closet doors to store spices, canning jars or small containers.
- Be intentional with what you stock (stock what you eat, eat what you stock).
There you have it! I hope this post was helpful, and you can use a few of tips for your home and now understand why keeping a stock pantry is important!
Also see my other posts on how to save money on groceries, as well as cutting down on food waste at home.