Living the Pantry Lifestyle - Setting Priorities for Budget and Space

This was stock up week again and I was thinking how much my food shopping has changed in the past two years, especially the last fourteen months or so.  I used to make a grocery list from past lists and the only variations were usually seasonal or if we were having company that month.

Now I make out a basic list of what we need for the month (except produce and dairy, which we shop for weekly) and then look to see what is available that wasn't before.  I still need to shop Meijer, Kroger, and Aldi most week as one usually has what another doesn't.

I've begun adding another section to my monthly grocery list and that consist of both food and nonfood items that are either getting much harder to find (like wet cat food, I buy a little at a time when available) and those items that are going up in price quickly that I can make room for now within limited space and budget.

I saw multiple news stories online of the price of wheat skyrocketing in the past month and that it is expected to continue getting higher and probably we will have shortages in some areas.  So, I decided to purchase a couple bags of King Arthur bread flour and a couple bags of King Arthur All Purpose flour. I did have a few bags already on the shelf but they should be used soon.

To have room in the deep freeze to leave the bags in there for awhile to "debug" them, I took one morning when it wasn't as cold as it has been to completely reorganize the deep freeze.   Which usually results in an aching back but the results are worth it.  I found a few whole chickens hiding in a corner that should come to the top of the deep freeze and a bag of cranberries from 2020 that could be thrown out.

I moved a turkey and a ham to another part of the deep freeze and took out a family size package of chicken thighs as well as a smaller size package of chicken thighs to defrost in the refrigerator.  This resulted in plenty of room for the four packages of flour and now I know where everything is in the deep freeze again.

I prefer King Arthur flour just for the quality but if you do not have room for both bread flour and all-purpose flour in your pantry, the King Arthur all-purpose flour has a high enough protein level that it can be used successfully for making bread. I don't know if it has changed through the years but at one time, the King Arthur all-purpose flour was the best AP flour to substitute for bread flour.

I thought purchasing four bags of King Arthur flour was wise this month since 1) that brand has been available off and on in the stores, and 2) it will only be increasing in price.  If you have never made your own bread, it can take a lot of flour if you are making bread for a family. 

The chicken thighs are still defrosting, I will be making chicken soup for a dinner early next week and I will freeze the rest of the broth.  These chicken thighs were purchased and frozen when I could still get them for 79 cents a pound in a family package size.

I made chicken soup last week and put a package of the frozen (cooked in the microwave first) brown rice in it since my husband really likes chicken and rice soup.  That is what his mother made the most.  I can have chicken and rice or chicken noodle soup the first day with no spiking of blood sugar but the rice or noodles absorb the stock and get thicker (and softer) by the next day.  

Al dente pasta doesn't spike the blood sugar as much as well cooked pasta, or pasta and rice that has been in soup a day or longer.  So, if I know I am going to freeze the soup, I freeze the broth and add a carb later if the recipe calls for it.  I do sometimes add some of the cooked chicken meat in with the broth I'm freezing since that doesn't affect blood sugar.

It has also been off and on to find my favorite dried pasta on the shelves.  So, I bought some more packages of spaghetti and a couple boxes of orzo (which I use most of the time instead of rice) to "put back".  I still have a little pasta left from 2020 in excellent condition.

It has become very difficult to find a couple favorite and more unusual shapes of pasta like orecchiette.  I have one bag left that I purchased a little over a year ago but if I can't find the shape again, I can use small shell pasta instead.  So far, small shell pasta has been available... although all pasta aisles have been empty off and on.

I have been stocking up, a little at a time on my spices this past year after noticing some of them were becoming less available.  Last month, I purchased a bag of Frontier onion powder.  Last week, I purchased a bag of Frontier garlic granules (for they have been impossible to find the past few months, only the garlic salt or powder have been on grocery shelves) and a bag of Vietnamese cinnamon. 

Ordering spices by the bag has become a cheaper option for those spices I use a lot like onion powder, garlic powder, and garlic granules.  We really like Vietnamese cinnamon and it can be harder to find these days on grocery shelves in bottles. Sometimes it is also called Saigon cinnamon.

I am still trying one or two new items each month.  I saw on one of the prepper videos a suggestion to try canned herring.  The person making the video said she has been reluctant to try it but she, too, checks out something new once in awhile.  She was surprised how good it was.  

It has a fishy taste so I know my husband wouldn't like it but I thought it quite good, especially if served on crackers.  Each can of Polar brand herring fillets is one serving and very inexpensive.  It would add variety to the canned proteins.  I also bought one can of Polar Smoked Herring Fillets with pepper and in brine that I'm going to try.  It is about a dollar more expensive but has two servings.

Speaking of crackers, Aldi was out of my favorite Ritz-like crackers for a few weeks.  I bought two packages when they came back in instead of one package as usual.  Most crackers do not have a long shelf life, about six months if unopened and a couple weeks if opened, so I don't usually stock up but I thought it was wise to buy two packages at a time these days.

I did see where someone had vacuum sealed Ritz crackers.  I need to check out that video and see how it worked for them.  Of course, Pilot crackers have a very long shelf life but I have never tried them.  They are hardtack crackers and I would assume they would not be very soft?

I have made crackers before so in a pinch, I could make them again.  I know I keep repeating it here but I am so glad I have had to make most of what we eat from scratch due to my husband's food allergies and sensitivities.  I now have decades of experience in making many items, although I haven't made crackers often.

I feel like I could almost make granola in my sleep now since I have to make it every few weeks.  One of his sensitivities was to barley and you wouldn't believe how many store bought granolas have barley malt sweetener in them!  But it is far cheaper to make your own, anyway, and easy.

It is going to be interesting to see what the result of the war in the Ukraine will do to countries outside Europe like the United States and Australia.  I can already see much higher prices in wheat products and of course, when filling our cars with gas.  Yikes!

Please, please remember that it is better to do a little at a time preparing than not doing anything at all.  

Mentioned in this Blog Post

My granola recipe... here.

The new-to-me YouTube Prepper Vlog that recommended the herring is called PREPSTEADERS.  I have taken the time to watch a few archived videos and find them quite useful.  I can see why it has the name for it's part prepper video, part homesteading video.  Anyway, I thought I would share it here because it has good information.  Video homepage is... here.

NOTE: You may notice that the Amazon Widget is missing and there are no links to Amazon right now.  I have let them know, politely, that doing away with widgets and the quick link function was not a good thing.  I wanted to say it was stupid but I also wanted to retain a Christian witness, which hasn't always been easy to do when dealing with them on Amazon Chats.