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The Well-Stocked Pantry

I think I was born in the wrong era. Seriously, most women love to shop. They love to buy expensive, cutsie clothes and really fill up their closets with a myriad of shoes in various colors and styles.

Of course, women love to buy all of those expensive make-ups, and diamonds are a girl’s best friend, right?!?!

Me, on the other hand, I would much rather skip all of that and focus on creating a well-stocked pantry.

I love to stock up on all of the staples and instead of running to the store on a constant basis, I really enjoy just shopping in my own kitchen!

I have many, many ways to keep my pantry stocked up.

Some of these ways include canning, freezing, dehydrating, and of course, strategic shopping.

My biggest technique is simply staying focused on my goal of creating a well-stocked pantry.

Focus is Key

Focus truly is key. I recently heard that two of the richest men in the world, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, credit much of their success to staying focused!

I have always taught my children that focus is the key to success, but who knew that it could be key to becoming a billionaire! Ha!

Well-Stocked Pantry – Learning to Can

I learned how to can as a child while watching my mother bustle around the kitchen canning things like tomatoes and pickles every summer.

She always told me her kitchen was a one butt kitchen and told me to stay on the other side of the island and just watch this time.

When I became a teenager and young adult I started putting up my own jars of food.

I loved it!

It was always a lot of hot and hard work. It was worth it to see those beautiful jars at the end of the day, and to hear the ping of jars sealing was always such a delight!

I am not just a seasonal canner. Canning is done all year long.

There are jars upon jars of delicious food in my pantry.

First, I learned how to can tomatoes.

I grow my own tomatoes in my garden each year, so this was a logical start.

I learned the difference between water bath canning and pressure canning.

Canning Tomatoes

When I just can tomatoes without adding anything else to them, I am able to process them in my water bath canner.

Simply put, this is a large kettle that I boil the jars of tomatoes in.

The reason that straight tomatoes can be water bath cannned instead of pressure canned is that they are so acidic.

I really like to make stewed tomatoes though.

This includes tomatoes, garlic, onions, celery, sweet peppers, sea salt, and black pepper.

I pressure can these jars because the onions, celery, and sweet peppers require pressure canning.

You always cater to the weakest link, so if you add something that needs to be pressure canned by itself, then that’s what you do.

Canning Meat

If you want to give canning a try, then I recommend starting out with canning meat.

It is super simple, and simply wonderful to have available in the pantry.

Basically, just cut up the meat into desired sizes, pack tightly into clean jars, add in non-iodized salt to bring the flavor out of the meat, then pressure can.

There is no need to add any liquid when you are working with raw meat.

Raw packed jars will make their own juice when processed in the canner.

Well-Stocked Pantry – Filling the Freezer

I do my best to keep my freezer filled up with things I use on a daily basis.

I raise a lot of my own meat. Some of my adult children raise animals too, so I am able to work a deal out with them for meat.

I live in a very rural area and have many friends who actually raise animals for meat.

I have a lot of opportunities to purchase good, fresh meat from them too.

All of this ensures that I have lots of meat in my freezer.

I watch for good deals in the stores too.

One time I bought 120 pounds of chicken during Save-a-Lots 39 cents per pound sale!

This chicken comes packaged in really thick bags, so I just pop it into the freezer.

Other meat gets packaged up with my FoodSaver.

I also like to keep the freezer stocked up with bread and butter.

My favorite kind of bread to freeze is whole loaves of Italian bread.

These loaves come out of the freezer as soft and fresh as the day I put them in.

I stock up on butter when it’s on sale, or grab it at cheap stores, like Aldi.

Well-Stocked Pantry – Dehydrating

When I started dehydrating food, it quickly became my all-time favorite way to preserve food.

Dehydrated food takes up very little space, it is super light, and it practically lasts forever!

Eight pounds of carrots can easily fit into one canning jar!

I started out with a basic Nesco dehydrator.

I talked my sister into picking it up for me from a Craigslist sale.

It ran non-stop until it finally burned up the motor.

Another two small dehydrators burned up before I decided it would probably be a better plan to go with a larger, more commercialized built machine.

There are so many good things to say about my Excalibur dehydrator.

I absolutely love this thing. I am able to fit a lot more on this nine-tray dehydrator than I could I the small Nesco.

What I was able to do in a month on the small one, I am able to do in three days in the Excalibur!

I have run it for years without any kind of issues. It was definitely worth the investment!

I dehydrate practically everything I get my hands on.

I have done up a lot of onions, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, bananas, pineapple, grapes, and so much more.

A few years ago, I was given a lot of bread that needed to be used up quickly.

It was thrown onto the dehydrator, then put into my blender to make bread crumbs. I stored some of it in canning jars and used my Foodsaver on the rest.

I am still using these breadcrumbs in recipes and they are as fresh as the day I dehydrated them!

One of my all-time favorite things to dehydrate is marshmallows.

My kids and grandkids love these!

Dehydrated marshmallows sound funny until you remember that hot cocoa and Lucky Charms both use dehydrated marshmallows, and you love them!

Well-Stocked Pantry – Strategic Shopping

My final technique for building a well-stocked pantry is strategic shopping.

Strategic shopping doesn’t always have to be about getting the best prices in town.

It also means knowing when to buy.

Yes, the right time to buy usually means buying when the price is rock-bottom, but it can also mean having a plan and buying the right things when you have the money.

Income tax refund time is a great time to stock-up on things you won’t have the money to pay for later in the year.

I stock up on dehydrated eggs when I get a little extra cash.

Yes, they cost quite a bit of money, but they save me a lot in the end.

I never have to panic if I am caught without eggs in the middle of baking.

I don’t have to spend gas money, or extra money at the store by making unexpected runs to town either.

My adult children love to have my pantry well-stocked with dehydrated eggs because Mama makes them their own personal bags of homemade, just add water pancake mix. 🙂

The Well-Stocked Pantry

A well-stocked pantry ensures that my family will be well taken care of during both good and bad times.

My pantry gives me peace of mind and ensures that I will always be able to throw together a healthy, yummy meal for my family.

Tell me how you keep a well stocked pantry. Which things do you refuse to be without in your kitchen?

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