Living the Pantry Lifestyle - Spring brings both a renewal and lots of work

I can see signs that Spring is beginning to take hold in my part of the world.  It is still warm one day and cold the next but we are slowly having warmer highs each day.  This morning, after walking down the gravel lane to get our newspaper, I stayed outside to begin trimming back overgrown bushes and dead brush.  

It will take awhile since it did not get done last year.  I don't recall why we were not able to do it but usually it is because of the weather not cooperating before the growth of everything around the bushes makes it too difficult for me to handle.  As it is, I can only work about twenty minutes at a time... rest... and work again.

While outside, I also cut my first big bouquet of daffodils.  They are beautiful!  I will take a photo and put it on Instagram later today or tomorrow.  I also plan to cut some more tomorrow to put in other vases since they don't last long.  I cut the flowers closest to the house and leave the flowers out by the fence line to enjoy from my kitchen window.

Isn't it amazing what a little warmth and sunshine do to our spirit?  As I'm writing, I have The Best of John Denver playing on the CD player next to the desk.  It's the Cracker Barrel edition that has all of my favorite songs.  There is nothing like a John Denver song to act as a backdrop to the budding of nature and beautiful daffodils.

I had been doing some spring cleaning a little at a time in the house but my attention will be out of doors for at least a week or two.  About this time of year, we begin to see farm equipment being driven on the country roads as planting season begins.  While it is not safe to plant flowers around here until May (although people do!), seeds can be planted and some gardeners have their cold weather veggies planted (and covered up when frost returns).

I have sorted through the deep freeze, kitchen cabinets, and the antique yellow chimney cabinet where I keep baking supplies and things like oils and vinegar.  Now, it is time to tackle the canned goods once the garage warms just a little more.  I need to write 2020 on the cans I purchased last year.  Time went by so fast that I forgot!

It's just an easy way to mark them since they do not require the month and year as do products like pancake mixes, cake mixes, etc.  I used to write the Use By date on the can but then they started using a code with some brands and while we have a cheat sheet that tells us what the codes are (I think my husband got it from the local food bank), it takes so long that I just stopped marking them altogether.

I have found that if something I need to do is easy, then it usually gets done even if it is not the very best way to do it.  Good enough is better than not at all.  I can't think of any canned goods that require being used by a specific month.  It is good to know how long specific canned foods can be kept.  

I rotate acidic foods in cans to be used within a couple years, although honestly they are mostly rotated within months since I use them a lot.  However, I've used canned green beans that I forgot I had far past their Use By date and they were fine.  As usual, we do not even open cans that have a bulge or a huge dent and I'm careful when I smell the open can for freshness.

I think the question I get asked the most is how deep our pantries should be and that depends a lot on your budget and the amount of space you have available.  Even then, I would say that it also depends on how much attention you are willing to give to the pantry and other preparedness items.

The deeper the pantry, the more you must do things like write the dates on cans (the way I'm doing it now is so much easier), rotate new purchases to the back and use the oldest items in the front, check the deep freeze quarterly if you have one, and make changes in extreme weather conditions.

For instance, most items are fine in the garage since we only have a short period of very hot and humid weather but I do bring some items inside by July.  Especially items like canned and condensed milk as well as the aseptic containers of whole milk.  These are all kept in an area I can keep an eye on them all the time, anyway. 

I keep items that melt like chocolate chips in the house all the time.  I have a few packages of white chocolate chips that I keep in a drawer but I have separate half-gallon Ball jars for milk chocolate chips and semi sweet chocolate chips.  Nuts are kept in glass containers and in the freezer.

My pantry is not nearly as deep as it used to be since there are only two of us but COVID has certainly taught us how quickly life can change and items we take for granted are no longer available.  Right now, the Suez Canal is blocked and they are still trying to free that huge cargo ship (I had no idea they could come that big!).

I was watching an interview with one of the men who had been in the preparedness industry for many decades before retiring to concentrate on other projects.  Although the interview was about the extreme weather we have been seeing, the interviewer asked him if he still believed people should prepare and for how long.

He said people should have extra food and supplies put back now more than ever, especially since we saw what could happen to the availability of many items during COVID.  He believes each household should have three months of preparations as a minimum.  

Others recommend a year, especially for people who depend on their own gardens since that is about how long one would have between planting and harvesting all year.  So, as usual, people need to pray about what God wants them to do.  Not everyone needs months worth of food put back while some He will tell that a year is not enough.

Whatever we do, if we do it only through fear then we will make bad decisions.  That is when we buy ten cans of tuna because it is on sale and well, it is protein... not remembering at the time that we do not like tuna.

God knows exactly what the future holds for each of us.  I've written about prior to Y2K when I felt He wanted me to put back months worth of food but a good friend felt she was only to continue her usual canning of produce and meat she did each year but they were led to buy a generator.

As it turned out, my husband had a job loss soon after and the food helped us live off of unemployment insurance.  Her family moved to a part of the country where there were constant power outages and the generator was a life saver.  See, He knows what we all need!

The worst thing we can do is nothing because we cannot do everything.  Even a little gives God some loaves and fishes.

Image:  This photo was taken when I was still gardening to show off my new chicken garden boots.  Yes, I still have them!