Pantry Party!

Today I hit the motherlode on canned vegetables.

Since moving, I have been trying to restock my pantry. I am slowly trying to move into shopping once a month, which involves a fully stocked pantry. Of course, I want to get the lowest price possible for those items, so when I see a sale, I buy as much as they will let me. With a fully stocked pantry, I can simply look in the pantry, see what we have on hand, and plan our meals accordingly. I used this with some success in graduate school. I planned once a week, and would only run to the store for sales and a few items. However, I had not yet achieved true once a month shopping, lacking time to really compare and shop every single sale. Now that I'm at home full time, I have this time.

Today's victories:

A case of vegetables (corn, green beans, and some creamed corn) for 6.72. (That's .28 cents each, or .019 cents per ounce, for those playing at home.)

12 cans of assorted beans for 3.96 (or .33 cents a can, or .02 cents an ounce)

12 cans of tomato sauce for 2.40 (or .20 a can, or .025 cents an ounce)

3 cans (it was their limit, or I would have bought more) of brand name Tuna for .99 cents. (or .33 cents a can, or .055 per ounce)

And my biggest victory:

3 large bags of Malt-o-Meal Mini Spooners (like Frosted Mini-Wheats) for 5.17 (or 1.72 per 28.5 oz bag, or .06 an ounce)

I can take or leave cold cereal. My husband loves loves LOVES cold cereal, but we almost never buy it because it is so expensive. I do not buy cold cereal that is more than .08 cents an ounce. Therefore, we rarely eat cold cereal. I clip the coupons just in case, and every now and again something is cheap enough. In this case, the cereal was on sale, and then I had coupons, and I was at a store that doubled my coupons. It was awesome. I felt ridiculously victorious because of this! I could have danced. I can't wait for my husband to come home and see cold cereal.

A word about sales and stocking a pantry. It does not do any good to stock your pantry with super sale foods if you hate those foods. Do not buy a ton of cheap canned corn if you and your family gag at the very thought of corn. Many people (including myself) have made this mistake. It just wastes money, space in your pantry, and food to do it this way. If it is some weird off brand and you're not sure about it, buy one small one, try it, and go back if it is good.

My pantry has other benefits. If bad weather hits, we're secure. If we're too sick to get to the grocery store, we're stocked up. We don't have to order a pizza because there is nothing but box of candy in the house. (Sometimes we order pizza anyway- eating out is our biggest vice.) If layoffs happened, we could go months without having to go to the grocery store. If the food bank is robbed (which did happen in one of the towns I lived in) we can donate without having to go to the store. We can share meals with friends who are down on their luck, even when we're down on ours. It's an excellent investment.

Every tip book I've read about pantry says yours does not have to be in the kitchen- it can be in a bathroom closet or something. This advice makes me think of my first studio apartment, which literally had no cupboards, and one very small closet. (As in, 12 inches wide, 18 inches deep. Very. Small.) I did not maintain a pantry like I do now at that time in my life, but I did have stores of food- I kept dried beans in an empty dresser drawer. I kept canned goods in those plastic drawers you can buy at discount stores. It is possible, just a little harder.

Now that I have a 'real' pantry and closet space to spare, I plan to take advantage of it.

Readers out there- Do you keep a pantry? What is in it? What is your best pantry tip? Leave a comment!