The Pantry of Today

AsItems The Pantry of Today

The Pantry of Today - Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan
The Pantry of Today – Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan

Preparing Food in Yesteryear

In days gone by or yesteryear, canning was done at home on a larger and more consistent basis. People raised their own livestock.  Cattle allowed them to have milk and beef to eat.  Chickens provided eggs and meat.

Many things were grown and processed at home. Cows were milked and the milk and cream were used that day. Eggs were gathered to use in the daily meals. Produce was grown in the garden, harvested, and canned.

Over time, manufacturing processes allowed for the same items to be canned on a grander scale and for reduced costs (time, money, and effort). People began to buy items at the local store and put their time and efforts into other things other than growing their own foods and canning them.

Fast forward a few years…

For the past couple of decades, new options have been literally popping up all over for ways to buy and heat food. For example, microwave “TV dinners” take up large sections of the frozen section in grocery stores.  Canned foods which you can heat in the microwave in just a couple of minutes.  Boxed foods, which can cut the amount of cooking time, do make it easier to get something on the table.

It may or may not be faster than making it from ‘scratch.’ The quality of the ingredients and how fast you make the meal depends on what you buy and how you cook it.

Convenience Foods Can Be Helpful

Now, I am all for convenience and there are times that I do buy these products for that “quick” meal.  However, the cost of the convenience is too steep for me most of the time.

After my husband had two major back surgeries in two days and was home after five days in the hospital, I did go out and buy a couple of days of meals for the entire family just so I could focus on my husband’s recovery.  Not having to spend a couple of hours two or three times a day cooking was worth it for the short term.

I would rather spend the money on canned goods that we eat on a regular basis than on frozen foods that will be the first to go bad in a power outage.

Please do not misunderstand me. I mean no offense to those who often purchase convenience foods.

I want to help others build and keep up their food storage. Frozen foods do play into it. Budgeting does, too.

Convenience of having food now versus having food which is shelf-stable for months

The instant gratification of having food ready now (or in five minutes) versus having food ready in a few more minutes (making food from scratch or cooking up a meal) does have a price. The price is different for each person and family.

Another option for meals that is a drain on the budget (at least for us) is the all too super convenient drive-thru establishments offering fast food for 99 cents or more.

My family and I do love certain fast food places and meals. However, since we decided to focus on becoming more prepared for emergencies in 2011, our money has been spent on building our food storage and adding to our equipment.  As time goes on, we visit the drive-thru less and less.

It appears the new focus is on how fast can the food be ready to eat.  The focus is no longer on how long the food can safely be on the pantry shelf.

Where is the Pantry in Your Home?

Speaking of pantries, we’ve looked at many houses over the years.  There is a trend in the newer homes to have a small or no dedicated pantry.  Sometimes there is not adequate room to store food. Such a bummer for preppers like us!

There is less storage when living in an apartment or duplex.  Huge bedrooms are nice.  Accessible (and logical) places for pantry storage are even better for us.

Some may even ask, “What is the pantry of today?”

For me, the “ideal” pantry of today is easy to get access to (preferably right off of the kitchen). I want it indoors (not out in the garage) with built-in shelves or room for some.  I want to be able to store canned foods (cans and jars alike). Items I use regularly like paper towels, baking pans, and cupcake liners are in this dream pantry.

Emergency items including flashlights and batteries can be in this pantry as well. I tend to have flashlights all over the house.  Why?  We get power outages enough to warrant having them in each room.

We can lose power for a couple of hours to several days which happens once or twice a year on average.  For other areas, a major blizzard may keep you inside for weeks.

I know some friends and family are beginning to or are still canning and dehydrating their own foods.  It is surprising how canning, dehydrating, and growing your own food (produce, dairy, meat) is becoming popular once again.

The Pantry of Today - Mine has Dried Apple Slices dipped in Maple Syrup - Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan
The Pantry of Today – Mine has Dried Apple Slices Dipped in Maple Syrup – Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan

The pantry of today may not have everything canned at home like in our grandparents’ time.

In conclusion, does your pantry have enough food for your family to survive in case of disaster or emergency?

How does the Pantry of Today Look for You?

Please share below.  I love learning what people store in their pantries!

If you’re visiting from Commentathon or Tip Tuesday with Dr. Elise, welcome to Gluten Free Preppers!

~Adrienne

96 thoughts on “The Pantry of Today”

  1. I don’t keep much in my pantry. Mostly just popcorn and a few staples like rice and dried beans. You dried apples sounds really delicious!

    1. The dried apples were delicious! You might want to add some water to your pantry for emergencies. 🙂 Thanks for your stopping by to visit! ~Adrienne

  2. I have been meaning to try canning, and it is especially good for having extra food onhand. It is tough for me though, I live in a small apartment in the city with not a whole lot of storage space. Thanks for the info!

    1. Canning is fun especially if you are able to do it with family or a friend. I do enjoy having food on hand and know what was (and was not) added to it. For apartment living, there are places to store food. It takes some creativity. Under beds, closet floor, and behind books on a shelf are all places to store some extra food. Thanks for visiting. 🙂 ~Adrienne

  3. Ergh! Question is, what isn’t in my pantry?! I LOVE cooking and I am definitely not into prepackaged food. The amount of processing and chemicals in our food scares me as it is. Speaking of which… I need to clean my pantry out… might be a job for the weekend 🙂

    1. LOL. I love your answer! I also LOVE cooking! Isn’t it fun to look in your pantry and, some days, think, “There’s NOTHING to eat!” and other days it’s “Wow! So many choices to choose from…what AM I going to make?” 🙂 I agree it’s time to clean out the pantry! It’s been about six months…I know it’s time when I am not finding items I *know* I have…only to find them later, AFTER I needed them. LOL Thanks so much for stopping by! Good luck on the pantry clean-out! ~Adrienne

  4. I am glad I found this. I have heard about trying to eat gluten-free but got so overwhelmed by the heaps of information out there that I got confused and decided to stop looking it up. I have found some great info here. Thanks!

    1. I’m happy you found my site! 🙂 I agree there is an abundance of information on the Gluten Free lifestyle available now. I am happy to answer your questions. If I don’t know the answer, I will find out or point you to someone who does. May I ask why you are thinking of going Gluten Free? Happy Fall! ~Adrienne

  5. Thank you for sharing. My pantry is kind of sad. It has a few standard items and a couple convenience items. I basically have one small cupboard for a “pantry”. I like canning, my grandmother use to do a lot of canning and I use to help. I don’t do much anymore because I have so little space for storage.

    1. Hi. I do understand what it’s like to have little space for a “pantry” as we used to live in a small apartment. There are places to store extra food and water bottles/jugs and I’ve learned of more spots from Pinterest boards. How cool you were able to help your grandmother can! If you find some fun places to store food/water, I would love to hear about it. Thanks for stopping by! ~Adrienne

  6. Wow, You pantry is amazing. I was so excited when I moved into my new home because it had a pantry. I love to bake so I always have a large quantity of staples on hand. I will be honest mine is not remotely organized like yours but I have not given up yet.

    1. Thanks. 🙂 I’m jealous your new home has a pantry. It’s on my list for the next house we buy! I also love to bake and having large quantities of staples on hand reduces how often I go shopping. Yes, the photo is of the part of my pantry which is organized. The rest of my pantry space (which I access often) still needs some work. Thanks for visiting! ~Adrienne

  7. We have a pantry for our stuff (all store bought) and a pantry for the dogs (more natural stuff). I have a t-shirt that says My Dogs Eat Better Than I Do and it’s so very true.

    I grew tomatoes this year and next year, I’d like to create a container garden for our huge deck, because I love eating my own food (plus I feed it to the dogs too). I like the idea of canning so that food doesn’t go to waste. I have the last of my tomatoes and plan to look up recipes on how to preserve them naturally for future dining. Maybe I’ll make some spaghetti sauce this weekend.

    1. Kimberly, cute t-shirt! 🙂 Container gardening on a deck is possible! We had multiple planters on our deck at our previous home. This year, we have all containers except for the potato bed. I have not made spaghetti sauce, yet, as we haven’t gotten a pressure cooker yet. I would love to hear what you plan to grow next year. If you would like ideas, just ask. I’m happy to help! Thanks for visiting! ~Adrienne

  8. I wish I had a big large pantry. It would make storing these so much easier. I have thought about getting into dehydrating some of our foods, especially fruits. I know it is easier to do so now days. I also know that I don’t have enough food stored in case of an emergency, but I have quite a bit. We live in earthquake country so that is always on my mind when it comes to preparedness.

    1. Pam, I understand about living in earthquake country! While having a huge pantry is ideal, it is possible to store food in smaller spaces. Get your water and basic foods for three months. After that, expand as you can. I love dehydrating our own food! We’ve done fruit and jerky. Let me know how your dehydrating goes! Thanks for the visit. ~Adrienne

    1. Reelika, I am less stressed when I know my pantry is full. It is becoming more and more of a lifestyle for us. Canning is still a little new to me. I do love trying new recipes. Glad to have you visit! ~Adrienne

  9. Wow, what an undertaking to have enough shelf-stable food to last through an emergency. I do enjoy a little bit of canning and pickling from what I get out of my garden, but there certainly isn’t enough there to sustain us for long. We live in a tiny little apartment though, and as you mentioned, there isn’t much room for storage.

    1. Grace, thanks! We’re still newbies to the world of canning and pickling. I understand the tiny little apartment and the lack of space. Looking back to the apartment we had, there was a bunch of spots we could have stored a few items of food here and there. I would love to know what spaces you find! Thanks for visiting! ~Adrienne

    1. Hi! A bonus to the emergency dehydrated food is the lack of weight. So, you can store it in all sorts of places without worrying about overloading shelves. A case 12 of canned fruit or vegetables weighs more than the dehydrated food. Backs of the closet, top shelf of a closet, or under beds. I’d love to hear where you find more space to store your food. Thanks for your comments and stopping by! ~Adrienne

  10. My pantry is pretty bleak right now because I am training for a figure bodybuilding competition right now. BUT with that being said it never has stored enough stuff for an apocalyptic catastrophe. I store things that can last a while. Although I haven’t canned, I have done some pickling and will again this season with vegetables I get from my CSA.

    1. Shalama, a figure bodybuilding competition – wow! How awesome! What types of foods to do you? Thanks for visiting and good luck on your competition! ~Adrienne

  11. I love my pantry! Well, both of my them 🙂 I have one in my kitchen, and one downstairs in my laundry room (yes…)My husband on the other hand hates them….He likes our fridge empty, our freezer empty, all the shelves in our house empty…But I love to have food in the house, some of it I buy, some I can myself. I joke sometimes that if disaster strikes, we will be fine for a month with all I have in my house, no problem. I make sure I go through everything and use it before the expiration date, and the rotation is great! Some stuff goes into the kitchen and on my stove, and new stuff get on the shelves. I love it! 🙂

    1. Lana, So cool you have the space for a second pantry! (Okay, so it’s in the laundry room – there is plenty you can store there. Besides, as long as it’s not near the detergent and bleach, right?) 🙂 I have a friend whose husband is okay with food storage. He just doesn’t want water stored! (Strange, right?! My friend is baffled by it.) Surviving for a month without having to go to a store (or feeling like you need to) is a great start in being prepared! Kudos to you for rotating and making sure it’s used before it expires. I’m pretty good at it – occasionally an item or two slip by me. Thanks for stopping by to visit! ~Adrienne

  12. We don’t have nearly enough pantry space. What we do have is used to its fullest. I got an over the door shoe holder to store small items and packages for more storage.

    1. Karissa, an over the door shoe holder? Brilliant! What types of small items do you store in it? I’m adding one (or several!) to my list to pick up. Thanks for visiting! ~Adrienne

  13. Yeah…I try to stay away from processed foods, but I really need to stock some food in my pantry that I could survive on in an emergency. Right now…I live in an apartment, so I don’t really have much storage space. Thanks for reminding me about the importance of being prepared.

    1. Malorie, you are welcome! I’m trying to move away from the processed foods. I really am trying. There are days when it just does not happen. LOL Remember to stock food you will eat in an emergency. Store what you eat and eat what you store. Apartments do have such little storage space. I’d love to know where you find a spot to store a few items. Thanks for visiting! ~Adrienne

    1. Dna, thanks for your comments! I am amazed at the amount of convenience which has gotten into our lives without even thinking about it. I am working to get back to the basics. I would love to know how you do at reducing some convenience in your life. 🙂 ~Adrienne

  14. I so love your post and appreciate your thoughts. I did grow up on a farm, milking cows (totally grass feed and pasture raised), raising chickens (free range, no coops for our birds), canning everything from the garden so we would have something to eat during the winter. I do miss all the glorious foods we had. I applaud your approach.

    1. Jere’, thanks for your comments! I didn’t grow up on a farm. The closest thing to it was one of my aunt and uncles had a ranch with an orchard. They had apple and peach trees. I would get to eat them fresh-from-the-tree the same day the fruit was picked! Fresh fruit off the tree is so much better tasting! I’d love to have a farm with acreage, though I don’t know the first thing about it. LOL Would love to hear more about your experiences! ~Adrienne

    1. Maria, you’re welcome for the ideas! Do you have a decent amount of storage in your company housing? I’d love more storage than we have now. I love my square and rectangle Modular Mates from Tupperware. I’d love to hear how you find some extra space for storage for where you’re currently living. Thanks for visiting! ~Adrienne

  15. My pantry is not necessarily for emergency preparedness, as much as for having staples at hand, but I still think that if needed, I could make do with what’s in there for at least a few weeks. Except, for water. I need to make sure to keep water on hand.

    1. Hi. Water is so important! So many people take having extra water on hand for granted. What’s your goal for getting more water stored? Thanks for visiting! ~Adrienne

  16. This is great advice! I agree that we need to stray away from the freezer-food craze. My husband and I intentionally don’t expand our freezer space because we don’t want to get caught in that trap.

    1. Tori, thanks! I agree having too much in the freezer can be a bad thing, especially in areas prone to power outages. Since you limit your freezer storage, what types of food storage do you store? Thanks for visiting! ~Adrienne

    1. Melody, I’ve been to NYC once. I would love to have a kitchen island. My mom has one and I just loved it when I was home. It would be great to hear how you use the extra cabinets for food storage. Good luck with your canning. It’s a lot of fun! Thanks for visiting! ~Adrienne

  17. Enough to survive for a while, yes. Is our pantry up to what we want it to be? NO. We do have a generator now that we can hook the house up to so we won’t lose our stockpile of chicken and beef.

    We’ve been canning like crazy and plan to keep at it. I don’t have a pantry. We put in a big shelving unit in our extra bedroom to store all our canned goods. It will be a big deal when we pick our next house or hopefully build out on property 😉 Our goal is to be self sustainable as much as possible.

    1. Val, generators are great for keeping the food in the freezer frozen! 🙂 I think building a pantry (and then maintaining it) is a lifelong process. I’d love to see photos of your canning results. I also would like to build out on property eventually. 😉 We’re there with you on being as self sustainable as possible. It is an on-going plan, isn’t it? Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you back soon! ~Adrienne

    1. April, nuts are always in our pantry. My hubby loves walnuts and pecans. I’m trying to add more dried fruits to the pantry. However, my four boys keep eating what I dehydrate. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by! ~Adrienne

  18. Hello,
    I’ve never canned before but I recently have noticed a shift in my habits which is similar to you- away form the freezer and into the pantry. I’m loving the fact that I can create an fast food food meal from nothing- fast food Zoe style is a can of sardines and whatever veggies are in the fridge.
    Your post has got me thinking that perhaps I should make more of a conscious effort here.
    Thanks for posting 🙂

    1. Zoe, thanks for your comments! I still have food in the freezer, though I have been changing what I freeze. I am working on decluttering and decreasing what I have extra of to make room for more pantry storage. Water and food do take up room. 🙂 I’d love to hear how your efforts to store more in the pantry are going! ~Adrienne

  19. Hi! Great post! I love a big pantry!! Mine is full but I can’t say it’s full of stuff in case of an emergency. I always think I need to do that….I did dehydrate apple slices, orange slices, strawberries & kiwi slices a couple days ago… Had 2 dehydrators going for about 8 hours and my kids came home from school and had it half gone in about 15 min!

    1. Jill, hi! It’s nice to know I’m not the only one whose kids went through the dehydrated food in mere minutes! 🙂 I haven’t dehydrated kiwi, yet. Is it hard to dry? I’d love to hear about your experiences with drying fruit. Thanks for stopping by! ~Adrienne

  20. I have no experience with canning or dehydrating but my friends swear by it AND I love going to their houses for dinner because it is so fresh, healthy plus it all tastes better. 🙂 Now I just need to try something new and do it! 🙂

    1. Pam, canning and dehydrating is a lot of fun! I’m sure your friends would help you get started. Canning with my aunt has been a pleasure and I’ve learned so much from her. Please let me know how your first session of canning or dehydrating goes! Thanks for stopping by to visit! ~Adrienne

  21. I love your gluten-free pantry! I have been working to make my pantry gluten-free as well. One thing I haven’t mastered is GF baking (or regular baking, for that matter), so I know nothing about using the various almond and coconut and tapioca flours, etc. Mostly I just break open a box of Aldi GF pizza crust and use it for pitas or crackers or whatever else I want to make! Thanks for sharing!

    1. Jebbica, thanks! GF baking is so different from “regular” baking! I’ve been baking GF since 2001. I’ve gotten more and more of my recipes to work GF in the last few years. Check out my book, The Gluten-Free Way: My Way, for my family’s story of becoming gluten free. I’m working on a new GF book focusing on baking desserts. Once it’s published, I’ll post on here. I did a post on my Gluten Free Flour Blends. Use the search feature to find it. 🙂 Thanks for visiting! ~Adrienne

  22. We keep our pantry pretty stocked and I have a good supply of emergency food and water. My latest adventure is using a dehydrator to preserve fruits and veggies for the winter and it’s been a lot of fun, too bad we tend to eat things as fast as we dehydrate them- ha ha

    1. Amanda, our dehydrated apples went fairly fast, too! It’s great you have a good supply of water and food for emergency use. I need to use my dehydrator more often. We love making jerky. I’d love to know what other fun things you dehydrate or do for emergency preparedness. Thanks for visiting! ~Adrienne

  23. I had never heard of the term the pantry of today until I read your post. I was interested in your whole blog as my family is transitioning into a complete gluten free diet but we are doing it slowly so it is always good to see what others are doing. I am going to spend some time over the weekend re-looking at my pantry and how it is setup and whether the system supports the easy access to what I need. thanks for this article

    1. Lindi, the best piece of advice I can give you is if you can go 100% gluten free as a household, do so. When my husband and son went GF in 2001, we had a mixed GF and non-GF kitchen and home. As of 2003, our home (and thereby kitchen) is 100% Gluten Free. When we went to 100% GF, I gave friends all of our gluten containing foods. We were moving at the time, so our new kitchen was automatically GF. I’d love to hear about the changes you decide to make in your pantry. Thanks for visiting! ~Adrienne

  24. I’ve definitely been thinking about having some basics stocked in case of emergency lately. Somehow it just keeps getting put off so thanks for bringing it back to the forefront of my mind! 🙂 It’s probably especially important when needing food that is gluten free. I found out about my gluten intolerance about 3 months ago so I’m still new to it all…I’ll have to check back for more tips! 😉

    1. Caitlin, you’re welcome for the reminder! I’ve done best at remembering to stock up when it’s on the grocery list. We’ve typically chosen two food items a month to stock up on, so I’ve added those to the list ahead of time. Otherwise, I don’t recall while at the store what we were going to get. LOL How are you feeling since being off of the gluten? Please share. 🙂 If you have questions, please ask away! ~Adrienne

  25. This is excellent information and very much on my radar. We started moving toward cleaner and cleaner eating a few years ago and little by little I’m getting prepared foods out of our lives. As a matter of fact, I just rearranged the tiny pantry (like four shelves) that we do have because I don’t need the shelves for cereal, oatmeal, granola bars, etc. We eat fresh foods as much as possible – but like you’ve pointed out, there are difficulties with that. I would LOVE to start canning and also have emergency backups. Do you have any suggestions for where I should start – i.e. “beginners” level canning? Foods that are easiest to do?

    1. Debbie, for beginning canning, jams are one of the easiest! Jams take fresh (or frozen, thawed) fruit, sugar, and pectin. There is a reduced sugar/no sugar pectin if you want a no-sugar jam. Follow the directions and you have jam! There is also freezer jam (no cooking required, no canning required as you put freezer jam into plastic containers with lids). Pickles are also fairly easy to can. Check out the Ball Blue Book of Canning for step-by-step instructions with lots of recipes. I’d love to hear what you decide to can first. Thanks for visiting! ~Adrienne

    1. Anne, you’re welcome for the post! If you are able to get (and have room for) a portable generator, it will at least keep the food in your freezer frozen. For me, food loss is one of the biggest fears during a power outage. I’d love to hear how you add to your pantry! Thanks for the visit! ~Adrienne

  26. I’d love to start canning and dehydrating. My biggest issue is three tween/teenage boys, who all play sports, and eat everything in the house, so I have trouble keeping my pantry stocked 🙂

    1. Karen, I so understand about teenage boys and their never-ending eating habits! My 16-year old and 11-year old just keep eating and eating. (Okay, it FEELS that way. LOL) I’ve got a 3-year old and a 5-year old, too. When all four of them hit a growth spurt, I have a difficult time keeping the fridge stocked. Thanks for your comments! ~Adrienne

  27. I consider often canning, but I’m just too lazy. I buy natural as often as possible, so our pantry has cereal, a few canned items, juice bottles and pasta. I guess I’m not prepared for the end of the world.

    1. April, once you get into the grove of canning, it is fun – at least for me! Oh, it is hot at the stove and tiring if you take on too much at once. It is fun especially with kids, spouse, or others. We’ve been canning with my aunt for a couple of years, now, and I have such a blast! Thanks for visiting. I’d love to hear how you add to your pantry! ~Adrienne

    1. Dawn, I love my pantry, too. 🙂 I would love to add more shelves to our wanna-be walk-in-pantry. Unfortunately, we’re renting so adding shelves is not going to happen. When we get our own home again, a large pantry is high on the need list. Thanks for stopping by to visit! ~Adrienne

  28. I never thought about it til you mentioned it. LOL I have a small apartment that fits me well, and an even smaller pantry so not a ton of space for ‘preparedness’. Thank you for the food for thought!

    1. Jill, you’re welcome! I understand a small pantry! The one in our apartment was a mini closet – about two feet wide, if that! I’d love to hear how you add to your pantry and where you store it. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by to visit! ~Adrienne

    1. Shashi, it’s good your pantry is full of foods you eat! Getting disaster-friendly foods into your pantry is a good idea, too. I’d love to hear how you stock your pantry! Thanks for stopping by to visit! ~Adrienne

  29. I think we could survive for a little while on dried noodles and canned goods. Maybe even make some bread with our flour. My neighbor had an emergency preparedness class at her house. I’m thinking we might need to be more intentional with this idea.

    1. Rachel, dried noodles and canned goods will keep you from starving. Be sure you have enough water for cooking those noodles. 🙂 How will you make bread if the power is out? Your neighbor’s class sounds like a fun way to get some ideas on how to be intentional in your food storage. Thanks for stopping by to visit! ~Adrienne

  30. Thank you for giving us a peek into your pantry. I love having tons of staples on hand so I can make healthy meals for our family. I too try to avoid convenience food, and our pantry and freezer storage enables me to stock up when things are on sale.

    1. Aimee, you’re welcome! Stocking up when items are on sale is a must! One of the things I do not like to do is track prices. Ugh! My husband seems to keep the numbers (roughly) in his head. It feels a little ‘weird’ writing down prices in the store. I’ve texted prices to hubby’s cell so I can write it down later in my notebook. It’s less obvious I am writing down prices. I know there is really no reason to feel weird, I just do. I’d love to hear your next step in being more prepared with your water and food storage. Thanks for visiting! ~Adrienne

    1. Ayana, thanks for visiting! Your pantry sounds amazing! I would love to hear about your awesome meals. I understand about seeing the pantries of friends and seeing empty spaces. It’s one reason I try to help others build their own food storage. ~Adrienne

  31. Elise, I know what you mean about not having basements. Seattle is the same way…it rains so much here I think the basements would get way too much water. 🙂 ~Adrienne

      1. Elise, how cool! I would love to have a basement (to keep food in) as well as more storage space! ~Adrienne

  32. Fun post! We unfortunately don’t have a pantry in our house and I miss having one! I’m a big cook and baker and would love the extra space but at only 820 sf, there definitely wasn’t room for a pantry. We are lucky that we live a block away from a neighborhood grocery store and I think those corner grocery stores are few and far between these days!

    1. Suchot, I understand small spaces. The apartment we lived in several years ago was about that size. The “pantry” was a small closet that was big enough for like four cereal boxes wide. It was not a lot of room. I agree with you that the corner grocery stores (of the “Mom and Pop” variety) have dwindled severely in recent years. Growing up, I always stopped at one for a soda on the way to visit the boyfriend. The owners knew me and they had a good idea of what was going on in the area, too. Thanks so much for stopping by! ~Adrienne

  33. My pantry would probably disappoint Adrienne. I have canned vegetables, a couple of packages of dried soup, some popcorn, almonds, chips, and cookies. I haven’t canned anything in a very long time. As a child, my family had a food storage for emergencies. Unfortunately, the food choices weren’t that practical for every day use and didn’t things didn’t get rotated. Sadly, most of that food went to waste.

    1. Christie, your pantry doesn’t disappoint! It is unfortunate that so much food didn’t get rotated into the daily routine for families years ago. I’m sure some food still isn’t being rotated in households today. The good thing is that the taste of the commercially packed food is better than when I was growing up. If you don’t want to can, maybe a friend or relative does and you could help them in exchange for a few jars of food. Thanks for visiting, Christie. I would love to know how you plan to add to your pantry in 2020. ~Adrienne

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