Living the Pantry Lifestyle - The new normal?

The shortages really hit home early this week when I went to Meijer for my Stock Up shopping and was shocked by how many food products were unavailable.  I must admit that it was unsettling.  I have had to refrain from purchasing items before because they were not in my budget but the products were always on the shelf.

Not only were there shortages but limits on the amount of purchases per item have been the rule for a couple of weeks.  The price increase in meat continues to be alarming, too.

Aldi was better stocked, although they were just beginning to put their Christmas season items on shelves the day I was there.  Which was a day or two later than they had advertised.  I will definitely be going back this week to (hopefully) get a few bags of their Christmas candy for the small children in my life (and their parents). Oh, they did have their chocolate Advent calendars stocked already.  I was tempted to get one for me.  ;)

I've been reading that these shortages will not be over soon.  In fact, many people who are covering the supply chain stories are saying it will probably get even worse before we see any improvement.  

It has become even more important to sit down with pen and paper (and budget) to decide what pantry priorities are necessary in the next few months. I've already done this for the Holiday season.  This week, I plan to go over my most often cooked meals for cold weather cooking and write down what is essential to make them.

I had to have a conversation with my husband recently about what canned vegetables he is willing to eat should fresh not be available this winter.  Of course, we will concentrate on frozen vegetables first but I do want to have some canned available.  I'm thinking I need to get some hominy in memory of my mother, who served it often.  I lost him when I told him how hominy is made.

Now that I have been cooking more again, I'm seeing areas where I knew I had more than enough to get through a couple months.  However, there would not be enough to get along any longer than that.  Cans of whole tomatoes have gone on this week's grocery list.

Something else that was a surprise last week was when I was making goulash for the first time in ages, I found both my onion powder and garlic powder to be rock hard, so solid that even a sharp knife stuck in each container could not get them to crumble... much less turn to powder again.  It was a very long, hot, and rainy summer and fall and obviously the humidity got to the spices.   Even inside the house!

Our new refrigerator was delivered this week (we knew about the Veteran discount at Lowe's since we have used it before but Menards had their 11% discount extended into the Appliance Department) and that turned what was already a busy week into one with nonstop work for a couple of days.

We were prepared to take everything out of the refrigerator/freezer but did not know we would have to take everything out of the hutch in the Living Room to get the refrigerator in the house.  It stores two sets of dishes behind the lower doors, as well as all the cloth and paper napkins, and the drawer is full of teacups and saucers!

We already knew we had to take everything out of the antique yellow pantry to get the refrigerator into the Kitchen, so that was started the day ahead of time. While the antique yellow pantry was empty, I washed down the shelves and did some rearranging of the items as I put them back in place.  

My husband was astonished at how much was in the antique pantry but it holds most of the baking supplies, cooking oil and vinegars, various kinds of salt, honey, maple syrup, and some various canned goods used in baking like evaporated and sweetened condense milk.

It may have been exhausting at the time but having gone through everything, I now know what is there, what I need to add in the way of spices (onion powder, garlic powder!), and what was way past the Use By date (two cans of evaporated milk, obviously I have not made pumpkin pies lately).  

I had to buy the Thanksgiving turkey for a price far more than I have ever paid before.  I hear that Aldi may now have them slightly cheaper per pound.  However, there is now a turkey and a turkey breast in the freezer since I finally found one for the first time in ages.  

I need to tweak the deep freeze to add a ham for Christmas.  Meijer was out the last time I looked but other stores have them.  Which means, I'd better get one soon if I want to have one for Christmas Eve dinner.

The vanilla extract I made in early August is looking lovely now.  I will start shaking it more regularly and then pour most of it into pretty bottles for gift giving in early December. I plan to let one pint continue getting stronger, though. When I made the extract in August, Christmas seemed so far away!

I'm so glad that I have been putting a little at a time in the pantry. I am not a true prepper in the sense that I don't have months worth of food set aside (neither the budget nor the space for that), just adding a few cans here and there will help. Thanks to a dear long time friend, I was able to get the turkeys and will buy the ham.  (Letter soon, my friend!!!)

Also, thank you to my other friend who sent me tea last week.  Both of these women have been a part of my Holidays for many years now.  One friend keeps me in my favorite tea that I have a hard time buying here.  Another has paid for our Thanksgiving meal so my grocery budget is not strained when we welcome guests. She has made it possible to feed everyone and send home edible Christmas goodies with them, too.

This time of year, as we enter the Holiday season, it is the perfect time for helping those whom God has placed in our circle of friends and family.  I remember when we went through long term unemployment because of my husband's mental health condition, how overwhelmingly helpful it was to receive food needed to make a Holiday meal.  

When a card is slipped in with the food, even if it is anonymous, giving the gift in Jesus Name... what a witness!  I am positive we are going to need each other even more in the coming months and years.

Now, after talking about giving, I have to make a confession.  I used my Amazon credit on myself last month instead of on Christmas gifts.  I know, so bad!!! However, I will make it up this month when credit arrives.

I ordered two items for the kitchen since anything that makes cooking more fun and easier these days is something I appreciate.  The first item I bought was recommended on a cooking show that I watch on one of the Christian channels.  I don't have a lot of room for utensils that don't work but the woman on the show raved about it.

It is called a meat chopper.  Have you heard of it?  I hadn't.  It is inexpensive so I thought I would try it and while it worked fine on the ground beef while cooking, what I really loved was how it smashed the canned whole tomatoes with no mess at all.  It is also supposed to be good for smashing avocados for guacamole and for mashing potatoes... among other things.  

The other splurge (although also not expensive) was the brand new Pioneer Woman cookbook called The Pioneer Woman Cooks Super Easy! This had interested me because it is all about cooking when you want something quick and easy.  She also recommends her favorite pantry foods and uses them in the recipes.

Sometimes when I think a cookbook will be good, it isn't.  This one was even better than I hoped.  I will be making a lot of the recipes from it now that cooler weather is here.  She has said that her inspiration for the recipes was having a house full of teenagers and young adults during the COVID lockdown.

While it received mostly raves on Amazon, there were a couple of complaints.  One was that she used more convenience foods than she previously had in her cookbooks.  However, most are healthy and even those that aren't necessarily (like Bisquick) can be replaced by making your own baking mix at home. Not to mention... that is what the cookbook is about!

The other was that she used a lot of spices in her TexMex recipes.  Well, of course she did!  TexMex!  However, being married to someone who considers cinnamon a wild and crazy spice, I have learned how to deal with it.  You can either eliminate the spice completely or just use a tiny bit.  

For years now, when a recipe calls for a teaspoon of cumin, I add about a quarter teaspoon.  If a recipe calls for hot sauce by the gallon, I give a small squirt.  No one has noticed and the flavor background is still there.  Just lighter than it calls for in the recipe.

So, how are things where you live?  

Mentioned in this Blog Post

The FENDIC Meat Chopper... here.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks Super Easy!... here.

Disclaimer:  Most links to Amazon.com are Associate links.  I get a teeny tiny percentage of the purchase and it costs neither of us anything.  

Image:  Bushel of Apples