Planning a From-Scratch Pantry

By which I mean a pantry stocked (to whatever extent) with food you can use to make homemade meals, snacks, and deserts. I’ll also discuss planning what you need to can and dry for your pantry.

Getting Started

• Track current usage
  What are you eating? Is it from scratch? If not, do you have a recipe? What ingredients do you need?
  

• Frequently made recipes
  What do you like to eat? You should keep ingredients for a batch or two of family favorites in the pantry. I'd keep enough for 2 of each meal, in case you don't get to the store to restock before you want it again.
  
  
• Create a sample one-month menu/ grocery list.
  
  Example: pet supplies. I know we need about 18lbs cat food, 2 14-lb bags of litter, and about 4 bags of treats. I can get everything in one trip – and since it’s to the large pet store, that makes it a time-saver as well. This will last two months (sometimes more) for our two cats.
  
  Example: Vegetables. During winter, I like to serve a can of veggies with dinner. So, 5 nights x 14oz cans = (5 nights x 30 weeks) in pints (16oz each) = 150 pints of assorted veggies, add 10% for extra coverage - 145. I’ll take that and round it off so that I run full batches of 8 pints – so, 144 pints of assorted vegetables is what I’ll need, if I can everything myself. Note that this doesn't allow for fresh veggies, which is always preferred. I'm still learning how to estimate what we need, so the first few times/years it will be a learning process.
  
  Example: I’ve had to change from getting groceries weekly, to monthly. I knew the change was coming and kept track of what we use each week, and used that to estimate what we’ll need for the month. I mentioned the cat supplies and veggies above; I also know that I like serve meals in a pattern – two nights are leftovers, one night based on beef, one night meatless, three or four nights based on chicken. Times that by four and I know what to buy for the month. When sales come I do make exceptions and stock up as much as our small freezer will let me.
  
  
• Expand the list to cover 12 months, allowing for seasonal variations - lighter foods in summer's heat, more soups and savory meals to fight back winter's cold.
  
  
• Make your own convenience foods.
  
  Example: I cook much more chili in the winter. I have other recipes I only make in winter, or fall, because they suit the weather. Chili is easy to make; a few rounds of 7 quarts each should be plenty for the winter. I like chili-mac for lunches sometimes, so I may also can some half-pints for that. This is also something where I can make a canner full, and then make more when that runs out.
  
  Example: Healthy quick meals can be prepped by making and canning soups, chilis, and meatballs. Home-canned meat can be used as a basis for quick meals, and increase your use of local pastured beef – for me, this is seasonal, with spring being the hardest time to get any. Also, if your freezer is full you could can the sale meats.
  

Drying Foods

• Benefits: Food dried in season retains nutrients and flavor throughout the winter, and takes up a fraction of the storage space. This is especially nice when you have limited storage space. Some foods also take less of your time to store this way.
  
  Example:Tomatoes and greens can be rinsed, patted dry, and sliced quickly before placing in the dehydrator. Then, you just take out the dried food when it's ready.
  
  
• Soups (as well as other recipes) can be made ahead in dried form, rehydrated & cooked. I have at least two recipes I’m going to try –I will dehydrate all ingredients, package them together, and see how they come out after simply putting the dry mix in the slow-cooker with water or broth. If it works (I believe it will), I‘ll have wonderful, homemade, dinners for the times I forget to thaw food or plan ahead. Those are the days where I’m drinking my coffee before work and go “Eek! What are we eating tonight?” Dump things in slow cooker, add broth or water, turn on. Come home, stir well, serve. That sounds nice, yes? You can also look for "Gift in a Jar" or "Dinner in a Jar" type recipes, and use these the same way.
  
  
• Unique candies – candied and dried fruits & fruit leathers. We made candied watermelon rinds one summer. Delicious!
  

Windows Update

Having gotten the windows done just in time for the snowstorm last weekend, I'm happy to say they work wonders. The entire house felt warmer, and the chill that used to stay in the air (even with the heat at 70'f) is gone. The heat is turned down a bit and we're still more comfortable. In the evenings we sometimes use the fireplace for supplemental heat in the main area. It gets toasty warm and even the cat curls up to watch the fire dance.

I'm now planning on getting a window film for the patio window. It's too large for the shrink wrap. the film has the bonus of helping block heat gain in the summer, plus a smaller-but-still-there effect with keeping the heat inside in the summer. Since we are in the South and this is largest window in the house, blocking heat gain is a good thing. I just need to find out when it goes on (while it's warm out?) and what it's going to cost.

Related Links:
Gila Residential Film - this page lets you see what they look like as well.
3M Residential Film - they also have security films.

Both also have privacy film options.

Windy Windows - not anymore!

I've finally finished the windows.

Wow. I can't believe the difference it's making. We may not need those insulated/blackout curtains for our room after all. The room got warmer with the plastic up, before I picked up the hairdryer. It's windy out today, and I could see the plastic moving...

I watched this video before I did it. That did help. I learned that part of the reason you leave the extra is so that if it pulls off the tape (or pulls the tape off the frame) as it shrinks, you can re-stick it. My hair dryer is several years old - I can aim it straight at my hand without burning my skin, which the one before could do. So I learned that after the initial "make sure the edges really did seal to the tape" phase, to aim the dryer directly at the plastic from about 3 inches away. That got results.

All told I spent an hour or so on one window. Please measure each window before you go to buy the supplies. When the package says "Enough for three 46x62 inch windows!" it means 3 pieces of plastic. Our bedroom window used half of a package meant for a patio door. At least I have a piece to apply next winter - or possibly next summer, to keep the A/C costs down....

Another Step Warmer

The outlets & switches are done. I use foam insulators from the hardware store - $2.16 for a six-pack, and I bought 3 each for outlets & switches. I have leftovers, but I will simply put those into my toolbox and use them when we move again.

Before & After:

If there is too much open space on one side, I cut the edge of a switch cover and taped it on the insulation. I learned that North walls need to be done first, then the rest of the exterior walls, then the interior walls. There have been one or two that had actual breezes coming through the outlets.

For the cable hookups, I used a switch cover and cut a slit from the bottom to the center opening. Worked great.

Insulating an Apartment

I've spent three days watching trees dance in cold, whipping winds, and we had actual snow accumulation yesterday, along with icy rain. In this area, that's usually a month or two away - this is early! And next month will be colder. The Old Farmer's Almanac says we're in for a bit of a cold winter this year, and January will be the coldest. I don't want to pay as much as we did for last year's bills.

So, I'm doing more research on how to insulate our apartment. I've bought insulated curtains for DD's room, and picked up some socket/switch insulators. We've got a towel at the base of the front door until maintenance gets the door sweep fixed, and I plan on getting vinyl fabric to make a waterproof airlock curtain for the front hall. We've turned the heat down and eat more soup.

Putting a blanket on the water heater and insulating the pipes from it wouldn't hurt, either, but it's lower on the list. It's inside, so it's at least room temperature, but this will still help.

Related Links:
5 Ways to Insulate Your Windows for Winter at Apartment Therapy - a great site for anyone living in apartments!
Weatherizing Your Home: Weatherstripping
Resealable (Cat Proof) Magnetic Window Insulation Tutorial
Applying Temporary Insulation (video)

Snow update...

It snowed all day today, we got about 8" by 2pm when we went for a walk. We didn't go out otherwise -reports of accidents and people "driving" sideways across the overpass are sufficient to keep us home. We love this weather - the way the light looks, the quiet of the snow. Being out it, kicking it up, throwing it at each other (it wouldn't pack for snowballs), playing :-)

We've got to move somewhere with Winter, rather than a cold rainy season.....

Snow?

I've been working, since the beginning of last summer, on expanding the pantry. The eventual goal is to have enough to get through the winter, with only occasional visits to the store. While I'm not there yet, we do have a fair stock. It's very reassuring to have.

Case in point:
Down here, snow is rare. At least, rare enough to cause seeming panic for most of the area - I've seen places close for 4" of snow, that wouldn't close when a hurricane was coming that night. Yesterday the weather started calling for 5-10 inches of snow, starting tonight around 9pm. We discussed it last night - we needed milk, Coke, and to fill the car with gas. I checked this morning, and we have plenty of milk. That's it. Today's update is 100% chance of snow, accumulation of 8-12 inches, starting around 7pm. I'll go at lunch, grab what we need, and just go straight home tonight. Dinner is already cooking - last night's leftover elk in it's own broth, with root veggies and barley. There's two other soups in the freezer, and homemade pumpkin pie in the fridge. We'll have a nice quiet evening, enjoy the snow, and avoid being on the roads - it doesn't bother me to drive on snow, but others? I don't want to find out the hard way.

A Learning Year

This is my first year storing local food for the winter. We should be OK on strawberry jams & jellies -there are about 2 dozen in the pantry, plus the raspberry jam. I've canned 12 pints applesauce, and have the same to do again, plus 40lbs of granny smith apples to dry & can. We have home-canned chicken & beef broth, beef stew, Hobbit Stew, and bread & butter pickles.

A lot of food has been dried: tomatoes, potatoes, turnips, turnip greens, bananas, watermelon, peppers, celery - if I can dry it I'm trying it! We have a box of winter squash stored as well.

I plan on learning to make sourdough bread, and keep the starter going.

I'm still putting up, for as long as the local market is open. I'm not sure how long our stores will last, but it's a learning year.

for a full pantry list, scroll all the way down the page

Self-Care

I'm one that rarely goes to the doctor. I have one that knows me- I've been going to her for many years and refuse to switch doctors to keep the insurance happy. I go for my yearly visit, and only rarely otherwise.

My first defense is my kitchen- the things that we eat, that keep us healthy enough to stave off most of the little illnesses. This is part of why I'm building a from-scratch pantry (more on that in another post), and eating as local and seasonal as we can. It's also part of why I prefer organic as often as I can get it - I realize USDA organic certification has some problems, but I do know it means no GMOs and a more natural way of farming. I believe those things result in a more nutritious plant, thus more nutritious food.

Second defense is cleanliness. We wash dishes by hand, as the dishwasher has shown it can't clean properly - and we noticed less colds after that change. I have sanitizer by all the sinks (to be used IN ADDITION to hand-washing, not instead of!) If someone has a cold, I start changing all hand-towels daily, and disinfecting handles and the like just before bed. I don't want to let cold germs breed all night! I make sure to get sections of wall that are often touched, as well. (ex: light switches, and the place you always put your hand to push open the door).

The third defense is treating symptoms as soon as possible. Rest is one of my treatments - as soon as I realize I'm starting to catch something, I spend the day at home in bed. I eat well, and maybe eat some homemade soup. *poof* the cold is gone! (alright, not quite *poof* but definitely gone.)

With these simple steps, we went from several small colds and a couple of larger ones, to one small cold, in two winters. And yes, we have a child in public school.

Related posts elsewhere:

Bulls-eye Medicine: about re-localizing medicine, among other things.

Improve Your Diet Now: from the Preparedness Pro.

A Brief History of Health and Medicine - makes for an interesting read.

How to Avoid GM Foods - a Wiki article

Autumn Quiet ?

There is so much I want to do this fall, and I’ve no idea how I’ll find the time.

I want to preserve more for winter – root vegetables dried to chunks and flakes for cooking; making dried soup recipes for slow-cooking on lazy winter days. I want to knit socks, and a comfy sweater with that wonderful wool I found; I want to knit the sontag with the yarn I will spin from the wool roving I have. I want to stitch up some of the clothes I’ve thought of, and crochet snuggle-beds for the kitties. I want to become familiar with my loom and learn it’s song.

I want to work on the cross-stitch projects I have, and embroider pillows for us; I want to make an “Irish Maple Leaf” quilt for our bed; to make another fabric lunch sack and more fabric napkins.

I want to reduce the Pile of stuff that I have stored (and it is me, not him, that has all of this stuff). And I want to do it this winter, as we get into the storage for winter decorations, and we’re digging through it anyway – I want to pull it all out and have half as much, if that, going back in. Some of the items we already know are leaving and it’s just a matter of getting to them, so that they can be given away (including two of the largest!).

Hopefully this weekend we can start to get into the Pile and start filtering. The sock-knitting class starts soon, too. And once I get the drop spindle, I can start spinning the roving for the sontag.

Fall is here, winter is coming. Time for drawing close to the hearth, and working winter’s crafts while we talk and enjoy the company of those we love.