[Melissa]

Today I looked at my big food storage cabinet and thought, "Melissa, you have to clean that mess up!" Things were piled hodge-podge. I had five bags of opened powdered sugar! Once I took everything out, wiped the shelves and started organizing to put it all back in, I realized that in case of severe crisis the Norris household is well-prepared in a few areas. We have ten boxes of tea bags, 12 boxes of those little packets of hot chocolate mix and six brand new gallons of vinegar. I thought to myself, "We are sooooo ready for a depression, economic collapse, unemployment, sickness, just about anything." We have tea, chocolate and the ultimate cure-all...vinegar! :angel:

 

[belladulcinea]

Woohoo! Good job! :rock:

 

[Melissa]

Hey, I can't be the only one. Tell me about your uh-ohs.

 

[gone-a-milkin]

You are so good. Reward yourself with some of that nice cocoa mix!

 

[Melissa]

Those were a pretty good deal. Krogers had them on sale for a $1 each (10 packets) then they had a special where if you bought 10 of certain items you received an instant $5 discount. They ended up being only 50cents per box or five cents per packet. I bought the rich, dark chocolate variety and it tastes pretty good.

 

[cindy-e]

I have really tried this year, and we would be OK for a while, but putting by is FAR more difficult in a rental house with way to raise your own... anything. I have bought a bunch of stuff in bulk, but we would actually be subsisting on beans, rice, bread, jam, tomatos, chicken broth, and nuts if we needed to be self-sufficient right now.

Cindyc.

 

[thequeensblessing]

Hey Melissa, I have the kroger hot chocolate stacked up on my shelves too! But my big "whoops" was pudding mixes though. We have an Amish bulk store a couple of miles away and every now and then they have pretty good sales. I bought a lot of pudding mixes at one of their sales. A week or so later, I was there with my daughter and they still had the pudding mixes on sale, so I bought more of them, forgetting exactly how many I'd bought last time. (it was a lot!) When I got home, I realized that if things ever got bad, we'd eat pudding, pudding, and more pudding. Boy, do we have pudding mix stocked up! We've used a few of them since then, but I think I still have 15-1lb bags in the store room. Each 1lb package makes about 18 servings.

 

[Ann-NWIowa]

We are debt free, my pantry is full, I still have a job and I qualify for social security come March. Due to the economy I intend to continue working as long as I'm able and I have a job. I'm a born again Christian so I'm covered to the end and beyond for the things that really matter.

 

[Lisa in WA]

What is it about opened bags of powdered sugar? I always find a bunch of those too. I think they breed in the back of my pantry.

 

[FoghornLeghorn]

We may go hungry during a depression but we won't have dandruff! I have 21 bottles of Head and Shoulders shampoo.

 

[holleegee]

Toothpicks. For some reason my husband buys a box every time he goes to the store. If times get bad I guess we could use them to start a really small fire.

 

[katydidagain]

I've been shuffling between Ohio and MD since April. Bill cooks as do I so we buy "ingredients" here and there then can't find them when "at the other house". Result? Before we came back this time, I cleared the fridge including a few condiments and packed up my "once in a lifetime" ingredients (including my only bag of powdered sugar--I knew I had 1). When we return to Ohio, I'll pack up MD OIAL stuff I have here. I figure 2 boxes of these things and a big cooler should cut down duplications and a lot of cussing when you just can't find the dill pickle slices you just bought. BTW, we now have 2 juicers, 2 breadmachines, 2 blenders, 2 French presses, 2 toaster ovens and 3 dehydrators (he owned 1 and I already had 2) and many other duplicates. Transporting 2 boxes and a cooler is one thing; dragging your kitchen 350 miles away every month or so borders on insanity IMO.

BTW, I have a gallon of vinegar at each house--just 2.

 

[Callieslamb]

Feels good, huh? And having a clean pantry is great too!

 

[Guest]

What is it about opened bags of powdered sugar? I always find a bunch of those too. I think they breed in the back of my pantry.

I have the same problem!!

But I've been working on organizing all the food stuff and I'm getting there!

All the sugar is getting grouped, and all the pasta, and all the everything that's similar. That makes it so much easier to see what you have and to rotate it AND to use up the opened stuff before opening more of the same thing!

I did find several different opened containers of oatmeal this week :shrug: but I poured all those into a couple of containers. I promise I won't open any more until I use up the oatmeal that's already opened!

Last week I got all the rice together. It was scattered everywhere!

 

[Kstornado11]

Hee hee sounds like my Mom,she has "The Store", a big Huge shelf my step-dad built for her in her laundry room, where she has ...everything!! I call her the Stock-up Queen! A typical Virgo,the woman is prepared for ANY emergency,as far as the basics go,and THEN some! She was sent to her great-aunt's house in the country as a child a LOT,as punishment,and Aunt Teenie was the very epitomie of a Homesteader,to the core. Looks like my mom learned a LOT from her.

 

[Ohio dreamer]

sent to her great-aunt's house in the country as a child a LOT,as punishment,and Aunt Teenie was the very epitomie of a Homesteader,to the core.

If I say I've been bad, will someone send me to a homestead??? PLEASE!

I had one of those "OH, I didn't need that" moments last week. I thought I had it all worked out, knew what we had and didn't. I finished a jar or instant coffee (I'm the only drinker, so a full pot would last me 4-5 days or more). I brought up the one from the in box the basement (my auxiliary pantry next to the "real" pantry) and put coffee on the shopping list. Got home only to take the new one down to the real pantry and find yet another jar of coffee. Guess I have enough to last me till June or July now!

I did that allot more in the US. There I had allot more room to "hide" things on myself!

 

[Txsteader]

I just discovered I had 6....6! cans of Cajun Injector Hickory Grill in my pantry. Now granted, we love the stuff and grill alot, but good grief. You beat me on the gallons of vinegar....I only have 4, lol.

 

[Txsteader]

Toothpicks. For some reason my husband buys a box every time he goes to the store. If times get bad I guess we could use them to start a really small fire.

Now that's just LOL funny!

 

[kasilofhome]

I too have excess of pudding boxes and jello it was a great sale. My thinking at the time was with just water or milk from the goat I could provide a welcome treat quick and easy. It is my bribe for if SHTF to make meals of potatoes, pasta, rice and bean and canned up farm animals worth showing up at the table. The funny thing is with out it being SHTF we eat like this now and do not have a "zert" (family word) so why do I feel the need to in the future? I do not know.

 

[LvDemWings]

The last time I cleaned up the pantry I found 3 jars of peanut butter that I had accused the kids of eating, 2 canned hams that I thought I had eaten and 10 bags of King Arthur flour. I guess it can sit next to my lifetime supply of pudding. I'm still working on the #10 cans of chocolate and tapioca. Thought I only had 7 left but found a stray on a high shelf. My biggest oopsie is soap. I find soap in the clearance bin all the time and shove it in the bathroom cabinet. I could probably moisturize, wash and exfoliate a medium size village at the point.