Stockpiling
Stockpiling is the method of building up and storing longlife food and household items. I've thought about this for a long time as an adult, and I sometimes purchase extra items when they are on offer. However I don't think I'm stockpiling.
One issue I have is living in a tiny house because there is a limited amount of space. I don't want baked beans or bags of rice on the bookshelf in our lounge area - I'd rather just see books!
However we did reorganise our kitchen cupboards recently, and rehomed a couple of larger items - a large pan with a lid and a large le creuset casserole dish. This made it easier to organise our saucepans - and has freed up a little space at the rear of our pan cupboard.
I'm planning to line this cupboard with tins, leaving the space in the centre for pans.
But.
What about other things?
I mean, I know tinned things last a long time, but what about rice, flour, pasta, stock cubes?
These things last a shorter time, although are still good to stockpile.
Do you stockpile?
Is it a good idea?
What do you stockpile?
Advice please!
FM xx
I used to when we lived in the boat as i never knew when is next get to a shop. I don't stockpile now partly because there is no room and partly because we can as we can walk to the shops here.
ReplyDeleteI don't intentionally stockpile, but have a 'storecupboard' as my mum always did.
ReplyDeleteMum was just thirteen at the start of WWll and her adult shopping and storage methods were definitely influenced by rationing.
When there was enough money we always had a full storecupboard, instead of getting one of everything when shopping, she bought two, and put the extras in the butler's pantry. We didn't have a butler of course, but lived in a big old house with lots of spare rooms. There was even a board on the rear hall wall, with lights and labels for what had, at one time, been the servants rooms. Dad reconnected all the wiring, just for the fun of it, but knew better than to ring down for service!!!
My paternal grandmother was a professional cook in Hotels, my maternal great-grandparents were a butcher and a cook/baker, maternal grandparents were a grocer and a baker, so food was a huge interest in all of our lives!
I have an two enormous storecupboards in our garage, and a 'husband sized' freezer out there too. I say husband sized to keep him on his toes! There's a fridge freezer in the kitchen too, and three tall pull out larder cupboards too, so I have a lot of stores.
I don't ever 'panic buy' but build up stores by buying tins and packets of basic things most weeks, whether we need them or not. It soon builds up, and as I always bring older things to the front of shelves, nothing is ever wasted!
When Covid arrived on these shores, I more or less avoided shops, as the storecupboards and freezers were full enough for us to live on.
We eat a lot of wholewheat pasta, brown rice, lentils, and canned beans, (I could eat butter beans until they came out of my ears) so there are a lot of those things stored. I have a very large selection of herbs and spices which are bought at a local Thai grocers, in large bags, which are then divided between our family. Meat and fish is usually bought from Costco wholesale, divided into portions and frozen, and our local farm always has lovely seasonal fruit and veg.
I also grow soft fruit in our garden, so almost always have lots of fruit in the freezers too, especially blueberries, which grow like weeds here!
I wish I could be organised with a menu list the way you do, but I'm just not that organised!