Living the Pantry Lifestyle - Looking realistically at the pantry

I've been feeling a little "icky" today but I wanted to write a Pantry Post with all the warning signs of shortages and inflation.  Please forgive me if it is wordy and not in order.  I need to return to my throw and hot beverage.  Did I mention it has been cold and damp here?

Last week, one of the vloggers I listen to was talking about the alarming comments he had received on his YouTube video about high prices and shortages in stores.   He had asked if people who followed his channel had seen the same thing in their areas and he had hundreds of comments.  

For him, the most alarming came from store managers and employees who said it is going to get far worse by the end of the summer.  Remember, most of our canned goods that are sold right now were grown or processed last season.

He said many people were mentioning their stores were beginning to limit some items.  I've seen that with paper items and some baking items so far.  Although, I found it amusing that I could not purchase more than two boxes (any size) of tissues but I could purchase one package that had nine small boxes of tissues in it.  Which, I did!  We are entering allergy season...

I have been talking about a little at a time stock up for years now but after everything I have been hearing and reading recently, it is time for people to pray about what God would have them stock up.  Whether a little or a lot, I know He will provide wisdom.

If we still had children at home, I would be trying to stock extra flats of some items like vegetables and fruit.  I did take a close look at what I thought I had enough of and I realized I needed to purchase some more tomatoes and other vegetables while the prices were decent.  They have already gone up a lot on many canned items.

This past week included the monthly stock up day (which I now spread over two days) but early in the week, my husband and I were running errands so I went with him to senior discount day at our health food store.  

While he purchased the items he gets every week, I went to the aisle that sold maple syrup and chose a bottle of my favorite Wisconsin Grade B maple syrup to replace the backup bottle I had opened recently.  I use this maple syrup not only for those rare times we have pancakes but also when I make granola.

By putting back one or two items at a time, it has been easy to slowly build up those items in the pantry.  Some items I stock for only a few weeks but there are others it is possible to stock for longer.  For instance, I have enough raw honey now to make bread for about six months.  I bought one container each month until I had enough if used mainly for making bread.

I have been perusing YouTube videos and various articles.  Many people are saying to purchase some cans of protein and put them back (if one does not home can meat themselves).  Everything is expected to rise in price and now with the avian flu making the rounds in the U.S., chicken and turkey may get scare and will definitely go up in price.

If I heard correctly, so far only turkeys have had to be destroyed (poor turkeys!) but it is entirely possible for the virus to be found in chickens soon.  Problem is... if it is found in only a few birds, the farmers still have to destroy all of their poultry.  

Since I don't have a huge budget or a lot of space, I've been concentrating on putting back what is probably going to be hard to get at a future date so that includes items like canned chicken, which is still very affordable. 

I saw where Aldi had turkey breasts back in their freezer section, most likely for Easter meals.  There were only three left so I bought one to put in the deep freeze. I have a whole turkey in the deep freeze already, purchased when they (finally) went on sale after Thanksgiving last year.  Either one can be defrosted for a family meal.

Everyone I have been listening to has said to concentrate a limited budget on those items that you need to fill in gaps in the pantry.  One person said for most people that tends to be protein, whether in cans or frozen.  I would agree since it tends to be the most expensive unless you like $1.00 cans of tuna. 

I listened to a talk for diabetics regarding stocking the pantry recently and the expert was talking about the various kinds of rice.  He said basmati brown rice is the best for anyone with blood sugar problems, followed by basmati white rice.  Basmati rice has an ingredient that helps slow down the blood sugar spikes most rice cause.  

That is very good to know and I plan to add a couple bags of basmati brown rice to the pantry, although brown rice has to be rotated because it goes rancid quickly. White rice last for years... and years.

So, the above is mainly my pantry ponderings for the week.  Those things I have learned that I wanted to share before brewing some decaf Candy Cane Lane tea.  I made a big batch of chili earlier, knowing I needed something easy for dinner.  Hopefully, I will see you tomorrow!