How To Organize And Maintain A Family Pantry Stockpile
A family pantry stockpile is a system you create specific to your family. It is taking the food and household items your family normally consumes and multiplying them so that your family’s storehouse is full.
In years past, a family would naturally accumulate a pantry stockpile by canning and preserving their vegetable harvest and livestock. Until recently, the practice of having a family storehouse had gone out of style with the ease and multitudes of grocery stores.
So what changed bring about a resurgence of interest in creating and maintaining a stockpile? I would have to say the political climate and stay-at-home orders. But that is just my opinion because everyone’s reasons vary.
For some, it is so that if another stay-at-home order should happen, they are safe and prepared. For others, self-reliance has become a lifestyle and a well-stocked working pantry just makes sense. Whatever your reasons for wanting one, creating and maintaining a working pantry stockpile is a bit of work and requires organization.
In this post, we talk about the difference between a pantry and a stockpile, tips on how to begin shopping, and the best way I found to keep track of my goods.
The Purpose of Keeping a Pantry Stockpile Inventory
1. Depending on the size of your family, a 3-month stockpile is quite a bit of inventory to keep track of. If you don’t know what you have, you will not use it and it will spoil. We are all busy and none of us want another to-do item on our list. I get that. But, maintaining a pantry stockpile is like any other responsibility; you take the good with the bad and pray for wisdom.
2. As you keep track of your inventory, you will easily be able to create weekly menus, shopping lists, and even bless others with your stock.
3. Just like the Proverbs 31 woman, you need to have a plan, a system, in place that allows you to look to the needs of your family.
It’s not wise to randomly buy things and hope you can create meals with what you have. Or worse, forget about what you have accumulated until adversity hits and panic sets in. Without a system in place to know what you have and what you need, you might be tempted to run to the store and buy loads of random merchandise that you toss into your dark cupboard and hope you use before they expire.
That is a waste of the resources God has blessed your family with.
The Steps To A Well-Organized Pantry Stockpile
Initial Preparation
As described in our last post, (which you can find by clicking this link) to prepare to have a family pantry stockpile, you will need to:
1. Make a few decisions about your family stockpile (such as where to put it).
2. Create or buy the supplies you need to house your stockpile (shelves, containers, etc).
3. Create lists of everyday-type of items you already have on hand.
4. Mark your list based on items needed and quantity desired.
Gather together all the above preliminary information you have been working on and get ready to take your stockpile to the next level!
*If you have not done that prep work mentioned above, I highly suggest you stop and do those steps first. It will make the rest of the process so much simpler.
Separate Your Kitchen Pantry Items From Your Stockpile
For explaining purposes, I will assume you have decided to keep a 3-month family pantry stockpile. I will also assume all of that stock will not fit in your kitchen cupboards.
To get ready to add to your storehouse, you need to make room for your future purchases. You will need to separate your working pantry (stuff you will consume in a week) from your 3-month stockpile. So if you use 2 cans of green beans a week, group them and leave them in your kitchen pantry. But the rest of your canned green beans should be put in the basement with your 3-month stockpile.
Think about the way a grocery store sets up its shelves with (mostly) single lines of a product and like products together. This is the type of organization you want to strive for.
At the beginning of this adventure, lack of organization was an issue for me. I didn’t have trouble separating the week’s groceries from the long-term stock because it freed up my kitchen pantry space, which I loved. But I sure didn’t keep track of what I had or put it on the shelves in a logical way.
I would try so hard to remember what I needed to use before it expired and what I wanted to stock up on but I almost always forgot and made a lot of bad guesses.
However, I will admit that two good things came out of that time; I got to work on my cardio running up and down my basement stairs for items I should have kept upstairs and I was forced to work on my patience.
To help with my lack of organization, I created and began using a pantry inventory list to keep myself on track. If you would like a free copy, click here.
How I Began Using The Pantry Inventory List
After creating the pantry inventory list, I made two sets of the printable; one for food and one for household goods (light bulbs, deodorant). I put these lists in page protectors and kept them on a clipboard by my stockpile shelves. I use a dry-erase marker to record my inventory.
Practical Tip
You could use the printable sheet for more specific lists (baked goods, freezer items, spices, etc) instead of combining so much onto one giant inventory list. Instead of hanging the lists on your stockpile shelves like I do, you could keep them in page protectors in your household binder.
Keeping them in my household binder didn’t work out so well for me. I learned the hard way that I am a visual person and would forget to use them if they were tucked away in my binder.
Do what works best for you.
Column One
I made a list of the items I had on hand in both my pantry and my stockpile area. If you were following along on our last post, you’ll notice that I did this with plain notebook paper at first. But with my lack of organization, I felt the need to start over from the beginning.
This time I recorded what I had in an organized way (canned items together, baked goods together, etc). I also recorded the size I typically used of a product (for shopping purposes later). If I thought I needed a different size in the future, I marked the item with an up arrow (for bigger size) or a down arrow (for a smaller size).
Practical Tip
I don’t know where I first heard this tip but it is ingenious: use the voice memo app on your phone and record your inventory so that you can sit down at your convenience and fill out your inventory sheet. If you can only work on recording your inventory a bit at a time because of other responsibilities, this app makes a world of difference!
Column Two
I recorded the expiration date of the item I was currently using. When we have organized our inventory properly, the oldest expiration-dated items will be to the back of the line allowing us to use the earliest expiration-dated items first.
Recording the expiration date of the item I am currently using helps me to know that I have a bag of walnuts that will soon expire so I need to incorporate them into my menu before the expiration date (hello, banana nut muffins!).
Practical Tip
The first in, first-out rule doesn’t always apply! You might buy an item that has an earlier expiration date than you anticipated. That item shouldn’t be placed in the back but moved up the line so that you can use it before it expires.
Column Three
This section is where I recorded the quantity on hand of each item. I also marked with a slash mark if the item was full (unopened) or with an X if the item was partial. This is important because some items, such as yeast and flour, are impossible to use a whole package at one time. But if you mark that you have one, it might mean the little half-ounce packets of yeast or the giant big blocks of yeast. It might mean one double package of yeast or a single package.
Because they are my “working product”, I always record partials first.
Practical Tip
Don’t forget to put the current date on your list!
Almost Ready To Go Shopping!
It is from these inventories that I created my initial shopping list. Even now, I use the pantry inventory lists in the same way as I prepare to do my shopping. But before we talk about shopping, let’s talk menu planning and budgets.
Your stockpile is great when an emergency happens but it is also for your everyday use. So a great way to use what you already have plus wisely replenish your stock is to write down 10-21 meals that your family enjoys. I know that sounds like a lot but nobody wants to eat the same 7 meals each week. However, you can start with 7 and build from there.
As you meal plan for the following week, you can check the ingredients list of your recipes for items you need but do not have on hand. Add these items to your shopping list. I created a restock shopping list that has helped me stay focused. Just like the pantry inventory list, you can find a free copy of the blank shopping list in our resource library.
Next, take the initial list you created of what you already have on hand. On it, we marked what was a need (N) for our family and what was a want (W). It is your job to prioritize which needs are primary and which needs can wait until next week (as in your deodorant is a necessity and you’re almost out but you’re pretty sure you have enough to last until next week so it can go on next weeks list).
Based on your budget, decide which “needed” items to add to your grocery list this week. If your budget allows and you decide you need 3 of that one item to meet your goal of a 3-month stockpile, note that on your shopping list.
And speaking of budgets, I stated in my last two posts (So you want to start a pantry stockpile and How to plan out a 3-month pantry stockpile) that your stockpile budget will depend on how much you usually spend at the grocery plus how much “extra” you are able to devote to stocking up your shelves.
Practical Tip
Take the time to write out and keep recipe cards of your family’s favorites in your household binder so you don’t have to go searching for them or guess at the ingredient.
It’s Shopping Time!
Depending on how much you plan to get, you might need to break your shopping up and do your weekly shopping then do your stockpile shopping. I’ve tried to do both at once and got quite a workout from pushing the overflowing shopping cart.
There is a common misconception that to accumulate stock you need to buy in bulk. I think that makes sense depending on where you live (some states have bulk lot sales).
Here in Ohio, I’ve found that bulk buying isn’t always my cheapest option. Sometimes I can find things on sale and the sale price blows the bulk price out of the water. For example, every month my Kroger store sends out coupons for free and discounted items. These coupons are based on items I normally buy, so when possible, I use these coupons over a bulk sale.
Sorry for repeating but this is important; always purchase your weekly groceries first then use the extra money you have set aside to add to your stockpile. Don’t worry if it doesn’t seem enough. Creating and maintaining a family pantry stockpile is a slow, steady lifestyle change. Don’t even try to accumulate everything in a few months’ time. Once you get a system in place, you will begin “shopping” from your stockpile before you head for the grocery.
Practical Tip #1
Because I did not want to make two trips to the grocery, I have been known to separate my list not by weekly and stockpile but by shelf-stable and perishable. I go in and buy the shelf-stable items first, checkout, load up my vehicle then go right back in and repeat the process with perishable items. It takes planning but sure beats running back to the store twice.
Practical Tip #2
Consider taking a photo on your phone of your pantry inventory list so that you can scan it when out shopping. If you see a potential sale, you can quickly determine if it makes sense for you to buy the product or move on to another sale item.
Putting Your Stock Away
When you drag your groceries home, put them on the floor near your stockpile shelves. Grab your on-going inventory list, a permanent marker, and masking tape. Use the permanent marker to record (right on the product where possible) the date purchased, the expiration date, and where you purchased it from (so, P:8/3/20, X:5/21/21, WM). Use masking tape when you can’t write right on the product.
A little side-note here: The reason I record where I purchased the product is so that when I decide it is time to buy more of that item I know how much I paid and which store I found the product at. As I check for sales and compare prices that information gives me a starting point (and it is one less thing I have to try and remember).
Organization is critical so don’t just throw things on a shelf and move on about your day. Put them in rows based on the expiration date (earliest expiration dates to the front, farthest away dates to the back) so that you will naturally rotate your stock as your grab things for your working pantry. Place similar items together when possible so that all canned goods go in one section. Then in that section, all the vegetables are kept in the same area, all the fruit in another, etc.
As you run out of something in the kitchen, pull another from your stockpile. Be sure to add what you took from the stockpile to your running grocery list (and mark your pantry inventory sheet!) so that you can purchase another. Making these steps a habit will greatly enhance your organization.
Practical Tip
Be careful where you place some items. You don’t want heavy items on the top shelf with light items on the bottom and you don’t ever want to put water (or other items in plastic containers) on a concrete floor.
In Conclusion
Stockpiling has been getting a bad reputation since the shortages of toilet paper last year. Creating a working pantry and stocking up isn’t a bad thing. As 2020 showed us, it is wise to plan ahead and prepare. We can’t take our regular habits for granted and need to have a practical backup plan in place.
For my family, that backup plan began years ago with a pantry stockpile. Due to my lack of organization, I learned many hard lessons over the years which eventually resulted in creating the pantry inventory printable and the shopping restock list.
Although this has become a lifestyle for us, I am in no way an expert. However, I pray that you were able to find tips and inspiration to help you create a pantry stockpile for your own family!
Your Turn
How do you organize and maintain your family pantry stockpile? What is one tip you have found to be the most helpful as you began stockpiling?