Restocking the pantry

One of the reasons why we originally bought this house was because it has a huge pantry/laundry room.  I think the room is 14' x 16' or something monstrously large like that and there's space for freezers, the washer and dryer, and a whole bunch of shelving and cabinets for storage.  I like to purchase things in bulk because it's so much cheaper that way but my pantry has always been a disaster. It's where I shove stuff to get it out of the way or the other rooms.  Now it's all gone because it was all pretty much destroyed when the tree crushed it all so we're rebuilding, bigger and better.  Part of that is restocking the shelves.

At one point a few years ago I decided to try an experiment and just eat out of our freezer and pantry (except for fresh fruits and vegetables) and see how long we could go.  After about three months I got tired of the experiment but it became clear that I had enough stocked to last six months or more.  It has been making me crazy that I don't have my in-house stores to cook from.  We just don't have the storage space at the rental for me to re-purchase everything until we're able to move back home.  That hasn't stopped me from planning though and I've been updating my price book and clipping coupons like a mad woman for the past week or two.

I have a few goals for the new pantry.  I want to keep it organized so it's easier to find things.  I want to keep it inventoried so I know what we have and how much of what we have.  I want to keep track of expiration dates better so I don't find a can with a best by date that's a couple years past.  I'd really like to know how much of each food item we typically eat on a monthly, quarterly, yearly basis so I can more effectively buy in bulk or shop sales.  I'm still trying to figure out the best and easiest ways to do this but I've definitely got some ideas to start off with.  I know there are plenty of blogs out there that cover exactly this sort of topic but I really want to throw my two cents out there too.  At some point I'll quit writing on this blog (since the house will be back together again and my tree disaster will finally be over) but I'm thinking about morphing it into something else or starting with another blog as I track my pantry and trying to stay more organized overall.