Living the Pantry Lifestyle - Not a Prepper but a Preparer

I have to write quickly today as early in the week, I noticed the muscles on one side of my back were hurting and before I knew it, they were in full spasm mode.  It is something I have dealt with during weather changes for years! Especially as the weather turns colder. Thankfully, the pain has lessened but sitting at the desk in the Study brings it on again.

The title of this week's Pantry Post came from something that was said on a prepper vlog.  The woman talked about not being a true prepper like most vloggers but she was a preparer.  I loved that!  I think that is what a pantry lifestyle is all about, we see trouble coming and prepare for it.  Hmmm... sounds Biblical. ;)

I saw a list recently of the items most needed by people living in the Ukraine where there is a war brewing. The list was very similar to those I have seen that people stocked when they saw WWII was coming their way.  Things like flour, sugar, oil, canned goods, instant coffee, batteries, and candles.

I thought about that list recently when shopping at Meijer for just a few items.  It struck me that many of those items are available now because the stores ordered them quite awhile ago for Holiday shopping.  Judging how hard it is to find some items these days, I am wondering if these will become even more difficult to find after Christmas.

There were still plenty of products used for baking on the shelves, if you didn't care what brand they were.  Although, only two bags of King Arthur flour were allowed to be purchased at a time.  That limit has been set for awhile now.  There was plenty white sugar but I have been in the store this Fall when there were only very small bags of brown sugar and only a couple bags of confectioners sugar left on the shelf.

Meijer has had empty shelves on their coffee aisle and I still can't get my favorite Meijers brand Michigan Cherry decaf coffee.  It does seem to be store brands that tend to be in short supply, even more than other brands.  It is hit or miss on the pet food aisle... mostly miss.

Aldi shelves are usually packed during the Holidays but they haven't been this year.  If some of the usual products have come in and I missed them, it was because not very many boxes arrived.  I didn't notice any shortages in their Fall and/or Octoberfest products but they are certainly evident for Christmas.

So far Kroger has had everything I have been shopping for except their store brand organic mixed berries in the freezer and their organic Margarita pizza.  Both of which we can live without.  I stocked up on large cans of Red Gold whole tomatoes the last time I was there and plan to get a few more cans.  I cannot find whole tomatoes (that are not imported) at the other stores.

I can still find most items on my list but sometimes it has required going to four different stores.

My husband was going over our expenditures for the month and asked if I had been stocking up on a lot of food.  Except for the six large cans of Red Gold tomatoes, I hadn't stocked up any more than usual.  I mainly purchase an extra can here, a box there, etc.

What he was seeing was the higher costs of what we buy every month.  That included include buying less meat because beef was prohibitively expensive.  I've decided next month to purchase one chuck roast and cut it up for two or even three vegetable soup recipes.

Because of back pain, I had not planned to do anything pantry related last week but I ended up going through the cans of soup that I had on the shelf and write the Use By dates on them.  I usually don't bother because I rotate them but I didn't use many cans in hot weather and I found we were close to the date on a few cans.

I reorganized them after writing the dates to make certain those that needed to be used first were in the front.  This also gave me an opportunity to see if I needed to add anything to the next Stock Up grocery list.  With cold weather already here, I definitely needed to buy some Campbell's Tomato Soup.  (I can almost taste the combination with grilled cheese as I write, taking me back to childhood.)

The other thing I did get accomplished was to look through the few recipes I was making for Thanksgiving to make certain I had everything.  I do not want to be near a grocery store on Tuesday or Wednesday.  What surprised me was how low we were on eggs so they were added to the list for my husband to take to the health food store on senior discount day.

I think I am ready now as far as having everything on hand that will be needed (almost).  The turkey is sitting in the baking dish defrosting slowly in the refrigerator.  Although I didn't need one this year because I am roasting a smaller turkey, I have found the aluminum roasting pans to be perfect for setting the turkey in the refrigerator to defrost.  They are deep enough to hold all condensation and "stuff" the turkey package gives off while defrosting. 

Be diligent.  Pray about what God would have you do even if it is only making a few small purchases for your pantry at a time. Someone pointed out recently that the limits on various items we are seeing already at the grocery store is a type of rationing.  We must give serious thought to what we need to budget for now to purchase a little extra.  Not in fear but in wisdom.

I just have this feeling that we will be grateful for what we can purchase (grow, can, freeze, dehydrate, etc.) now.  Who knows what will be available in the new year but one thing we do know is this... it will probably cost more.