Recession Ponderings #6 - Basic Pantry Items (baked goods)

Scene from my dining room table last autumn
after purchasing honey from the honey man at the farmer's market... having transferred honey from BIG jars to recycled jelly jars. :)

After a lot of questions I've received, I have come to realize there are more people who have not "stocked up" on a regular basis than I originally thought. I grew up with my mom having a pantry (some years deeper than others) and my mother-in-law's pantry usually so deep, they could have survived months without going to the store except for a few items. Both women were raised originally in rural areas of the country and both went through the Great Depression. They would have thought not having a pantry to be strange...

Remember again... recession proofing is when you purchase something today (without going into debt and on sale whenever possible) that you know you will need tomorrow when the prices will be higher. Deepening the pantry means you stock up even more than you normally would, using the foods your family always eats (with just a few exceptions, which I'll talk about later).

So... what items do you stock up on first? That is entirely up to you but here are my priorities given my limited funds. To make this simple to read (and to write), I'll share about one or two categories each day.

Basic Pantry Items (Baked Goods)

I try to have at least one extra of most of my baking goods and much more of important items. When I get extra money, I often use it to buy extras for the pantry... insurance that can be eaten or used here at home.

I always have at least one extra container of things like baking powder, baking soda, etc. I check the "use by" dates on everything to make certain they are far in the future. This is a good habit to use for everything as I've often found an item with a past due "use by" date on the same shelf as those a year or two away.

When I was in a food co-op, I would purchase flour in huge bags. Now I stock up with multiple five pound bags. I like King Arthur flour but it is now over $6.00 for five pounds in my area... not in my budget! I keep course sea salt or kosher salt, fine sea salt (for the salt shakers), ground pepper (ditto on the shakers), peppercorns for the grinder, a large Mrs. Dash original and a back up, a smaller Mrs. Dash Lemon Pepper and a back up, plenty of cinnamon, one each of all my important herbs and spices, Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning (just the right amount of "kick" for these Midwestern tastes)...

Large containers of garlic powder and of onion powder, a large bag of yeast in Tupperware in the frig and another put back in the pantry, vanilla extract and back ups, one each of my other extracts, various oils, corn syrup, molasses, Crisco (butter flavored for baking), and cocoa (at least one extra, if not more).

I also keep items like powdered buttermilk and powdered milk, Milnot evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed milk, etc. for recipes. Of course, I stock up on chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, cinnamon chips, etc., especially when they are on sale. When they aren't on sale, I find Hershey's brand to be much cheaper right now.

I like to keep a couple blocks of semi-sweet chocolate and German chocolate on hand for recipes, coconut, one or two packages of caramels, chopped nuts (when I can get them on sale, they have really gotten expensive), dried cherries, dried cranberries, currents (although I haven't been able to find any for awhile), and any other items my recipes would call for. By keeping basic baking supplies on hand, one can always go to their recipe box and "whip up something" at a moment's notice and by buying them now, they will probably never be cheaper.

I make most of my cookies and cakes from scratch but I do purchase boxes of yellow cake mix when it goes on sale because I have a few recipes I use them in. Christopher likes me to make cupcakes from the confetti cake mix at times, just because they look festive. I also keep one or two boxes of angel food cake mix on hand for recipes. All of these go on sale from time to time, otherwise they are almost always less than $1.00 at Wal Mart (angel food cake mix is a little higher).

I do still order my oatmeal from the co-op (through my friend who is still in it) and I hope to purchase a couple of bags of wheat this summer. I have a wheat grinder and I like to mix half freshly ground wheat to unbleached white flour most of the time for recipes, with more ground wheat flour ratio in my breads.

I keep confectioners sugar and brown sugar in their original plastic bags and store them in a big Rubbermaid container, placing the most recent purchases on the bottom (not the easiest way of storing but the best I can do right now). Sometimes boxes of these sugars will go on a deep discount and I'll buy them instead. Regular sugar is poured into a very large Tupperware container. You can see what I do with honey in the picture above... I purchase it from the "honey man" at the farmer's market each year. I purchase a half gallon at a time and pour the honey into these recycled jelly jars.

I buy butter at the best price I can find and keep both unsalted and salted butter in the freezer. I purchase cream cheese when it is on sale and stock up. The next time I see it at $1.00 again, we're stocking up big time! I was able to buy some recently at $1.25 an 8 oz. block and that was the best price I've found since Easter. I like to use mild olive oil for my baking where oil is called for so I try to stock up on it when I have a little extra (sometimes if that is all I can afford that month, I'll just purchase one or two extra containers of the mild olive oil for stock up).

I know I'm probably forgetting something quite obvious but these are all I can think of right now. At the least, I try to keep one extra of everything (except most spices). However, I feel much better when I have "deepened" the pantry at the level I can afford. It seems like a lot but I've been doing this for years now, just a little at a time, and it can add up. If I can do it on my small grocery budget, it can be done.

The deeper we stock up, the more it is necessary to watch for "use by" dates and keep track of items. For the most part, the easiest way for me to keep track of items is simply to put the last purchased in the back of a row and use what is in the front of a row next. If I purchase a case of anything at a time (I'll talk about that later), then I make certain to mark each can or item with the month/year purchased.

I'm amazed at how many places I'm hearing that people should "stock up" on food and basic items. A couple of weeks ago, one of the Bible teachers I listen to strongly warned people they should start adding 5% extra each week when they buy groceries just for "stocking up" for the future.

I still need to catch up on my sleep and my brain is still fuzzy. I hope you can understand what has been written. Will return with more recession/pantry ponderings ...

ADDED NOTE: If you have any stock up suggestions, do leave them in Comments. They will be appreciated as I'm certain I've forgotten some important bread and baking item (like I said, my brain is fuzzy today... yawn).