The State of the Stockpile

Well I got the pantry cleaned/organized a couple of weeks back after College Boy went back to school.

The before shot.............

And the after shot.........

I got rid of the cardboard box and put all the small appliances from it into an extra Rubbermaid tub we had laying around.  Multiple of the same items that were opened were combined, thus taking up less space.  Item CB had brought in from the stockpile to use and then changed his mind and then shoved into the pantry were put back into the stockpile.  Now the only items in the pantry are opened items being used and maybe if that open item is almost empty another of the same kind, ready to be pressed into service.  Also in here are unopened items which will be used in the coming week's meal plan and/or items used often like a can of tomatoes, tomato paste, a box of pasta, a can of soup or beans, etc.
The large paper bag holds my onions and there is a bag of potatoes behind it. 
The only exceptions are my dried beans and a bag of sugar which critters might get into if kept in the garage.

In conjunction with cleaning out and organizing the pantry I also thoroughly went through my stockpile of foodstuffs(you know, the shelf stable canned, boxed, bagged, bottled stuff)in the garage, cleaning and organizing that.

It took me 3 full days to get it all gone through and organized again.
Between me just throwing grocery store purchases happenstance on the shelves and College Boy taking items out then changing his mind about eating said items and shoving them into the pantry instead of back in the stockpile, both locations were an utter disaster!!

In progress after Day One of cleaning......items all over my antique sewing machine cabinet, some items still on the floor and only 2 shelves organized.

So I moved everything around and put it all back into some sort of order.  Amazingly, I only had to throw out about 10 items that got pushed to the back and forgotten and not eaten before it was safe to do so.
Barbecue sauce from 2010 and a can of condensed sweetened milk from 2007?  No thanks! lolz

As I reorganized I also made sure to rotate stock so that "first in" gets used first, going forward. 8-)

Everything can be seen now and is grouped and arranged by "last in, first out".  Plus most items are off the floor too(except for those gallon jugs of tea and our "alcohol stockpile" which is a whole other story. lolz

Over the last 2 years we have actually reduced the amount of the stockpile.  We have two industrial type metal shelving units(one is pictured above)with 5 shelves on each as well as 3 dinky metal shelving units w/5 shelves each, like they sell at Home Depot.  Every single shelf was filled with food/paper/cleaning products!
Now we are down to using 8 of the 10 industrial shelves and 9 of the 15 dinky shelves.

So here is the state of the stockpile.

And these are the items I don't even need to THINK about buying again before 2016--

ketchup no-salt
mustard
relish
pickles
tartar sauce
pie crust mix
baking/pancake/waffle mix
salad dressing
tomato paste
canned tomatoes
canned soup for cooking
canned soup for eating as soup
baked beans
canned chili
canned beets
barbecue sauce
various marinades
coconut oil
olive oil
veg. oil
spray oil
solid shortening(Crisco)
mayo
taco shells
100% juices
steak sauce
most spices I use regularly
sugar
cold cereal
oatmeal
coffee
tea bags
tuna fish
green chiles
rice
pasta
brownie mixes
cake mixes
muffin mixes
cashews
walnuts
pecans
peanut butter
applesauce
prunes
pineapple
pumpkin
dried beans
vinegar
no-cal sports drinks
chocolate milk drink mix
drink mixes
bottled water

And on the non-food side of things--
laundry detergent
dishwasher detergent
dish soap
spray cleaners
toilet paper
paper towels

This list is more for me, to refer to in the coming months before I go food shopping, rather than a report to y'all on what I stockpile.

Currently out of in the stockpile----

panko


How is your food storage looking lately?
Do you stockpile goods when you find them for a good price?

Sluggy

What and How I Spent My Week

Well I can tell you what I didn't do this week......I didn't spend much money on anything other than food/paper goods! lol

I went to Rite-Aid early in the week, but that doesn't count because I don't actually spend money there, do I?
Hubs and I went to Big Lots last Sunday, as they had their 20% off Everything in the Store Day.
We stocked up on some food/paper goods, as they were cheaper there than even when they go on sale at the grocery stores around here.
That came out to $67.12.

Napkins(because we always need those), brown sugar(holiday baking ahead), and some canned goods.
I make no secret that I am not a big fan of canned foods, at least not canned veggies outside of corn and water chestnuts.  But tomato products, olives and green chilies are another story!  I like to keep these 3 types of products stockpiled.
Especially in the tomato arena, I love to keep paste on hand.  It's so handy...duh...on hand, handy...lol  I find tomato paste is the jack-of-all-trades in the kitchen.  It can be used in so many ways in so many dishes.  Why pay more for pizza sauce.....you've got a can of paste, garlic and spices and access to water?....you've got pizza sauce.  You need an easy sauce thickener?...tomato paste.  Need to extent a sauce to feed more?.....tomato paste.  Need to help or fix a meatloaf and out of tomato sauce?.....dilute some tomato paste and cover that ugly meatloaf.
If tomato paste was a person, I'd marry it. 8-)
I also love green chiles when I do Mexican style dishes(and even beyond Mexican).  But access to fresh chiles here in PA?  Not happening.  And those tiny cans in the grocery store?....You'd think they were filled with gold instead with what they charge.  So any time I can find them cheaply, I buy them.
I also picked up some cornbread mix and pancake mix cheap.  I know I can make my own mix just as cheaply, if not cheaper.  I buy these for my family to use or for when I am rushed to get something on the table.  I try to encourage the kids to cook things for themselves and if I have a box with directions on it that's already to pour out and use, they are more likely to cook it if they are hungry.  I should make up batches of my own pancake mix and such but as soon as I do it, the kids will never eat another pancake.
Seriously.....they would do that!  They drive me crazy that way.


I also picked up a few Christmas presents at Big Lots.  Now I need to spend some time going through what I have picked up through the year and start calculating where we stand with the Christmas budget for 2012.  That should keep me busy and out of the stores wandering around, being tempted to buy crap I don't need NEXT week.

I took #2 Son driving a bit this week, since he still needs hours of practice before he can take his driver's test for his license.  Of course we hit some cemeteries while we were out and I got some Find A Grave photo requests fulfilled and took some extra shots of headstones to pass along to other memorials on that site.
The only spending(other than on gas)was $3.39 for fast food for a starving 16 year old.  We justified it by calling it Drive-Thru Window practice.......

We got Chinese take-out on Thursday night for dinner.  There was $34 out of our Eating Out part of the budget.

Besides the Usual daily stuff I do, there was some working on stockpile organizing and some changing out the wardrobe to the Fall/Winter clothing.  Still have some items to go through with that.

We finished pulling up the garden this morning.  We had a severe frost last night so many of my Collards didn't survive but I was able to harvest a shopping bag full of the smaller leaves.

 I gleaned some Morning Glory seed pods that had dried out already, off those flower vines before Hubs yanked it from the deck railing too.
If I can get these seeds to germinate next Spring, that's a money savings.  Yay!

We'll be attending a local Church auction this afternoon.  I talked about that last year HERE.  I'm hoping to get some more goodies this year.  Wish us luck bidding! 8-)

Other than a quart of milk I had Hubs bring home, I've spent $0 at the grocery stores this week.  And we've eaten at home 6 out of 7 days.  Tonight is a frugal pasta and sauce dinner plus leftover veggies in the fridge.  The Collards are on the menu for Sunday dinner but I'm still undecided on what to fix with them.....maybe a pork chop or two?

Oh, I almost forgot to add that I bought gas this week.  I drive so few miles that I can usually fill my minivan tank once a month(unless Hubs or the Daughter uses my car for work that month).  I had 80 gas points from Weis PMITA Markets that had to be used this week.  The timing was right so I filled up on Sunday.  I saved $12.42 on my gas fill-up.  Go me!

I'm off to get ready for the auction now.

Sluggy