Y’know…it’s funny how in the homesteading and prepping world, certain topics seem to come up across the board at the same time. This past week, several of my networks have had newcomers asking how to quickly and easily build up their “prepper pantries.” After handing out the same advice across several different forums, I decided to make the topic this week’s blog.

Now, when I say “prepper pantry,” I don’t mean a pantry full of MREs, pre-made buckets of food, etc. This isn’t a prepper porn article, you guys. A prepper pantry is full of the food that you eat. As Nicole Sauce from Living Free in Tennessee always says, “Store What You Eat and Eat What You Store.” In fact, just yesterday, she talked a listener through how to start her own prepper pantry based on what she feeds her family over a week. It was a really informative conversation, and I’ve got some ideas on how to help Nicole better organize and create the spreadsheet she was using.

Jack Spirko from The Survival Podcast regularly tells his listeners to start a food journal and then begin copy canning. Copy Canning is where you take your regular shopping list, and buy two or more of each item on that list. So, if I was going to buy a can of chili, pack of nacho/taco cheese, and a brick of cream cheese, because I was planning on making up a Taco Dip, I would buy double that. The second can of chili and extra cheese and cream cheese would then go into the pantry and freezer.

I’ve done a mixture of both styles of pantry building. We meal plan, so when we move into Little Red House last fall, I took our weekly meal plan, and put all items into the shopping list. Then, I picked up between two to four of each item. (HINT: Aldi is a GREAT source for stocking up on almost everything you will need) If we had extra money in the food budget that week, I would go down the canned food aisle and grab two each of the various soups, or fruits, or vegetables, etc. As we did our weekly shopping trips, I started seeing holes in the shelves and freezer sections. So, whenever Aldi or Walmart had pasta, rice, crackers, oatmeal cookies, etc., I would grab two of them simply because I had no clue when they would be available again! Once we are comfortable with one area of preps (6 months supply), then we stop double or quadruple buying.

Let me tell you, buying the deep freeze was a total game changer when it came to our preps. We didn’t have to buy meat a week at a time, or just the cuts that would fit in our fridge freezer. I picked up 2 crates at Menards, and they have been quite useful to store the breakfast meats in one and various steaks in the other. Again…Aldi has been a great source of meat. We have been buying two to four of each type of steak they have on sale each week; same with the breakfast sausage and bratwurst when they were marked down. Now, we have a nicely full deep freeze with a big assortment of meats, and looking through it this weekend, we are golden and don’t need to pick anything up for about 6 weeks, if not longer.

The fun part always comes when you get home and need to organize. I have a “pantry” cabinet up in the kitchen. It has quick baking essentials (2 corn bread mixes, blueberry muffin mix, pancake mix, 2 types of cake mix, handful of canned goods, spices, flour, sugar, etc.) that I use regularly. The rest of our supplies are in the basement. Squatch picked up some shelving units from Menards that I have now stocked from top to bottom with supplies. The tops have paper towels and toilet paper. One shelf is dedicated to cleaning supplies: dish soap, cleaning spray, deodorant, bar soap, shampoos, etc. Medical supplies are in their own separate bin. Flour and Sugar are in a locking tote separate from everything. And I’ve got all my rice and pasta in another. I’m hoping keeping them separate and sealed off will reduce the issues of bugs getting into them.

The rest of the shelves are a “First in, First out” set up. I would LOVE to have some can rollers, so I can just throw the newest canned items on the top and have them roll down, but we aren’t that fancy right now. Everything is stored so we can see what it is, with the oldest of each item at the front, newest at the back. It can be frustrating to have to add new items to the shelves, because I have to pull all the older things out so the new can go to the back. But, this way I know that I’ll be using it efficiently, and won’t have 2 or 3 year old items hanging around the back.

The best thing about having a deep pantry? It has made our shopping trips SO MUCH EASIER! Granted, we have since switched to eating carnivore…So what about all the carbs that make up the majority of our pantry? Well…We do have our cheat days. If I’m cooking chicken, I like to have something as a side, because the chicken itself just isn’t filling enough, so I’ve about 2 dozen various Knorr rice and pasta sides on a top shelf (they have gone up from $1 each to $1.40 each since September!). It’s also great to be able to shop from your basement, instead of having to run out to the store and paying more for something than what you could have paid 6 months ago or so. I have 8 months worth of peanut butter and jam for Little Man; when we use up a jar of peanut butter, I just walk to the basement and pull out the first one. Then, peanut butter gets added to the shopping list, and the new jar will go to the back of the rotation.

I also look at our stores as a goodwill pantry. MIL and FIL were complaining about not being able to find saltine crackers and some various pasta over the last few months. Well…we went to visit and I ran down to the basement and grabbed a box of each for them; “Hey, we know you were looking for these, so I grabbed them when we were last at the store.” We also look at our pantry items as a form of currency. If we are in need of something that we can’t find at the stores, but we know MIL and FIL, for example, have it, we can use our stores to barter.

I’m telling you, it is NOT difficult at all to build a deep pantry. It does take intention and shopping smart. If you are looking for something one week and it’s not on sale, go ahead and keep it on the list until you can find a better deal on it. And, don’t forget to look at resources other than Walmart, Aldi, and your local grocery store. For spices and other mixes, I get a better deal at the local Mennonite shop. I know people who use Azure Standard to build up their pantries. Minnesota and Wisconsin have Ruby’s Pantry, where for $25 each month, you come home with a huge assortment of pantry items; unfortunately you don’t know what the delivery will be each month, but there are A LOT of goods that come in each monthly pick-up. Mexican and Asian grocery stores are often overlooked, too…From what I heard, they did not have shortages during the COVID crisis of 2020. You can get these supplies, you just have to keep your eyes open. And, lastly…you can freeze dry, vacuum seal, dehydrate, and can the supplies you have on hand. All that takes is picking up the supplies needed.

I hope this has helped you as you go about starting to create your pantry, or even just redoing what you currently have. Be sure to check out the video I made about this on Odysee or YouTube, as I share some more tips and tricks!