Pantry hacks and failures

[Cascadian]

We don't have a thread on this that I saw. Post what does and doesn't work. I have seen some of this sprinkled around in other discussions. Such as rotation systems physical shelves as well as lists.

What gave me the idea was eating some of our mistakes. Canned food past it's "best by" dates. We moved and had things in more than one geographical location. So far I can say beef stew 2 years past it's prime was fine. A Dak ham 7 years past it's prime was edible but as a last resort. I have been kinda exploring the boundaries a bit.

One current thing we do is mark the expiration date on the front of the can with a sharpie. That helps a bunch. We also use can FIFO racks designed for soda. We don't buy soda anymore but they work for most canned goods.

 

[Pearl]

Great thread!! My "preps pantry" is well organized! My smaller kitchen pantry is a total failure, just because I need to go through the whole thing and see what is actually in there!!

 

[Amish Heart]

That's always the case, isn't it? The kitchen pantry being more of a wreck. I've got not much for kitchen storage, but it still gets messy...just cleaned out some of it last week.

 

[Pearl]

That's always the case, isn't it? The kitchen pantry being more of a wreck. I've got not much for kitchen storage, but it still gets messy...just cleaned out some of it last week.

I guess my problem with the kitchen pantry is it's all stuff I use regularly, so I assume I am going to just know what's in there!! But stuff gets shoved to the back! It's made it to my " better do it soon" list! Updates coming!

 

[Peepaw from Tex]

We just finished building this pantry. It is huge and already overflowing. Not good at taking picutures.

 

[Patchouli]

that's a fine photo, @Peepaw from Tex
Never thought I'd come across a bulging can but did...recently trashed a few cans, some guy came by that picks over trash, never saw him before. He took them to recycle the cans. His little ugly dogs helping him (mutt chihuahuas).
Back to the pantry. Things are looking a little looser and not packed so tight since we've I have been trying to use what's in there. About four years ago I got a costco membership, went once. Hate the crowds and the ridiculous traffic. Have hardly used what I have either, but at least it is there. Stock up on stuff when it is on sale as far as canned goods, but I've been bad about rotating stuff.

 

[Weedygarden]

I have been working on this lately. I have tried the FIFO racks, but what kind do you use? I have wire ones that seem to fall apart when I take a can out. I have a vertical wall space where I realized I could have a few vertical racks, and up higher shelves that could hold larger items such as #10 cans.
I bought wood to make one wooden vertical FIFO rack, and have done some work on it, but I have not finished it. Once I get it finished, I want to make a couple more.
My kitchen doesn't have room for a walk in pantry, but I do have a couple tall pantry cabinets that I made many years ago.

The struggle is real!

 

[Magus]

I use milk crates, my aunt uses 10-gallon chlorine buckets stacked in her closets and a big "dry goods" room.

 

[Peepaw from Tex]

We actually used a room adjoining the kitchen. On one wall we have a wire rack for # 10 cans and other stuff. Having an open pantry is so much easier. When we tore out the old pantry with doors found food items from 2010.

 

[Hooch]

I'm terrible at rotating stuff..
What I've resorted to doing is cleaning and organizing everything every few months.
Part of my problem is I lack proper space and the time to stay on top of stuff. So eventually..everything gets stacked on.
I am getting more racks and shelving every time I go down below.
I'm on a mission to get it together better. I function better when I'm organized.
This winter my kitchen cabinets are getting cleaned out big time..they are a a disaster.

 

[Cascadian]

In the bottom of this photo are the soda can racks. They were pretty inexpensive when we bought them. I don't think any of that stuff is anymore.

 

[Weedygarden]

We actually used a room adjoining the kitchen. On one wall we have a wire rack for # 10 cans and other stuff. Having an open pantry is so much easier. When we tore out the old pantry with doors found food items from 2010.

Those shelves that you have? I have some of those. I have considered putting them together so that the shelves are closer together, the front end is down one notch so that cans will roll forward, and the shelves are upside down to use the front edge as a stop. If the front edge doesn't stop them, a board of some sort could be attached. Then the shelves could be used as FIFO (first in, first out), with newer cans being added in the back. This is my thought for #10 cans. With a shelving unit like that, if you put the shelves closer together you can either get more shelves or put 5 gallon buckets on the floor underneath.

It is when I stand cans up and stack them that things get lost for me. I have been doing some research for better FIFO cabinets. Thrive Life used to have some tall ones for #10 cans, but they haven't had any on their web site for the last many times I've looked. I would like sturdy, but not outrageously expensive. I would like a shelving unit that I could make myself.
Outrageously expensive? What isn't these days. A 1 x 4 x 8 foot board is over $10 now. Put together an 8 foot shelf just for rolling cans forward so you can have a better FIFO system, and you could really have several hundreds of dollars invested.

 

[Weedygarden]

In the bottom of this photo are the soda can racks. They were pretty inexpensive when we bought them. I don't think any of that stuff is anymore.View attachment 119839

Those are heavy duty. I should look around for those. Stacking the cans like you have above is something I have done forever, but I mess myself up that way.

 

[Weedygarden]

I'm terrible at rotating stuff..
What I've resorted to doing is cleaning and organizing everything every few months.
Part of my problem is I lack proper space and the time to stay on top of stuff. So eventually..everything gets stacked on.
I am getting more racks and shelving every time I go down below.
I'm on a mission to get it together better. I function better when I'm organized.
This winter my kitchen cabinets are getting cleaned out big time..they are a a disaster.

Join the club! Time, money and space are big factors!

 

[Patchouli]

Also had canned goods stored under the bed. I can’t eat most canned soups these days, or tomato sauces. But they had expired and were looking questionable.

 

[UrbanHunter]

We have always had trouble with deep pantries, in 2020 I remodeled our kitchen and made a shallow working pantry so the wife could reach everything without over extending herself. The pantry is an 8' floor to ceiling unit with everything below the 3' line being drawers. We only keep 3 or 4 of any one thing in the pantry, I have food storage downstairs that feeds the pantry.

Some of the drawers have nested drawers to allow for spices and such,

It was a lot of work (did it all with the help of me, myself, and I ), but the wife likes the ability go get what she needs when she needs it. The only trouble is that there are times she forgets to tell me that I need to bring something up and she can't reach the basement to get to the reserves.
We don't use a lot of the store canned soups due to the salt, so we make our own versions and can them, the center row of drawers has about 2 weeks worth of canned quart jar meals.

 

[Pearl]

We have always had trouble with deep pantries, in 2020 I remodeled our kitchen and made a shallow working pantry so the wife could reach everything without over extending herself. The pantry is an 8' floor to ceiling unit with everything below the 3' line being drawers. We only keep 3 or 4 of any one thing in the pantry, I have food storage downstairs that feeds the pantry.
View attachment 119853
View attachment 119854
Some of the drawers have nested drawers to allow for spices and such,
View attachment 119857
It was a lot of work (did it all with the help of me, myself, and I ), but the wife likes the ability go get what she needs when she needs it. The only trouble is that there are times she forgets to tell me that I need to bring something up and she can't reach the basement to get to the reserves.
We don't use a lot of the store canned soups due to the salt, so we make our own versions and can them, the center row of drawers has about 2 weeks worth of canned quart jar meals.

THAT is a GREAT idea!!

 

[Weedygarden]

We have always had trouble with deep pantries, in 2020 I remodeled our kitchen and made a shallow working pantry so the wife could reach everything without over extending herself. The pantry is an 8' floor to ceiling unit with everything below the 3' line being drawers. We only keep 3 or 4 of any one thing in the pantry, I have food storage downstairs that feeds the pantry.
View attachment 119853
View attachment 119854
Some of the drawers have nested drawers to allow for spices and such,
View attachment 119857
It was a lot of work (did it all with the help of me, myself, and I ), but the wife likes the ability go get what she needs when she needs it. The only trouble is that there are times she forgets to tell me that I need to bring something up and she can't reach the basement to get to the reserves.
We don't use a lot of the store canned soups due to the salt, so we make our own versions and can them, the center row of drawers has about 2 weeks worth of canned quart jar meals.

Love this! You did an awesome job! I like drawers for storage.

 

[Weedygarden]

I built a platform for two different beds so that five gallon buckets could fit underneath. I haven't been underneath that bed in years. If the bed had drawers underneath it, it would be a very different story.

 

[montanabill]

cleaned out a spare bedroom to expand the living space for the young famiy we rent the lower level of our house to.
With the floor to ceiling stuff in the bedroom, the hallway and spare bathroom i have just about filled a 10X17 harbor freight temporary garage. And that's just the stuff that can go outside and freeze.
Made a bed patform out of 5 gallon buckets of FD with a piece of plywood on top then covered it with a yard sale quilt.
Made a couple of dump runs with expired cheap food (way past expired) only broke one glass jar of spaghetti sauce on the foor.
We have our ready supply next to the kitchen then other stuff here and there. Not so worried about FIFO since we stock more than what we currently could eat in a year or two. Mainly have excess for when the others (or a few with strong backs and a real need for their kids to survive and thrive) come home to roost.

The chickens love the expired peanut butter.

 

[Amish Heart]

We eat expired peanut butter, and as long as it's not the "natural" variety, I think it's still good. Usually up to two years past. I do put some big spoon fulls of the old stuff in the chicken bread I make. Chicken bread is made with all the old stuff. Or buggy stuff.

 

[FarmOR]

My grandparents, no doubt inspired from living through the great depression, always dug out a small area in their crawl space opening for a small set of shelves for root cellar type food storage.

They'd send us kids to fetch some assorted home canned food stuff. It was always adventurous for us. "Look out for black widows!"

 

[montanabill]

we have the natural stuff and it was more than two years old....

Do the chickens get to pick the dough out of the pan?
The lyrics might have something to say about the situation in todays world.

Johnny, rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard
'Cause Hell's broke loose in Georgia, and the devil deals the cards
And if you win, you get this shiny fiddle made of gold
But if you lose, the devil gets your soul

When the devil finished, Johnny said, "well, you're pretty good, ol' son
But sit down in that chair right there
And let me show you how it's done"
… "Fire on the Mountain" run boys, run
The devil's in the House of the Rising Sun
Chicken in a bread pan pickin' out dough
Granny, does your dog bite? No, child, no

 

[Bacpacker]

I miss Charlie's singing. His lyrics even more

 

[lonewolf]

Rotate, Rotate, Rotate.
dont buy anything just because its on sale if you dont normally eat it.
I have a larder and an overflow box, I restock the larder from the overflow box and anything new goes into the overflow box.
then I repeat.

 

[Caribou]

We eat expired peanut butter, and as long as it's not the "natural" variety, I think it's still good. Usually up to two years past. I do put some big spoon fulls of the old stuff in the chicken bread I make. Chicken bread is made with all the old stuff. Or buggy stuff.

Just finished a jar of PB that had an expiration date of Dec '17. I'm getting ready to open the other half of the two pack. Expiration dates are made up by the attorneys and and the marketing department. Canned goods have been found after being left for over 100 years and were tested to still be edible and almost as nutritious as the newer stuff. Last time home I stumbled over canned salmon that I canned in '08. I will probably eat it next year while I'm home. The manufacturer says it should be okay.

 

[Tootsie]

I miss having chickens to give the really old expired stuff to. Peanut butter, corn meal, and oatmeal are never a problem as I make food for the wild birds in winter, mixed with bird seed.
Rice and grains go into bird feeders, too. Jelly- birds love year round.
Dumping a can or two at a time of vegetables has mixed results. It seems a lot rots before it’s eaten. I am going to try to dehydrate some old vegetables and see how well that works.
If dried food doesn’t go well, compost time.
I guess I got carried away. Come spring, the number of canning jars needs to be reduced. Someone else can use them. I no longer see a need to provide for a tribe, and I can only eat so much.

 

[montanabill]

I miss having chickens to give the really old expired stuff to. Peanut butter, corn meal, and oatmeal are never a problem as I make food for the wild birds in winter, mixed with bird seed.
Rice and grains go into bird feeders, too. Jelly- birds love year round.
Dumping a can or two at a time of vegetables has mixed results. It seems a lot rots before it’s eaten. I am going to try to dehydrate some old vegetables and see how well that works.
If dried food doesn’t go well, compost time.
I guess I got carried away. Come spring, the number of canning jars needs to be reduced. Someone else can use them. I no longer see a need to provide for a tribe, and I can only eat so much.

find a young family and gift them the jars and some of your knowledge of what to do with the jars....

 

[LadyLocust]

I will add in for what it’s worth: my pantry shelves are 3 quart jars deep. That helps me keep things rotated fairly easily. Also with that I always work pulling from one side.
I see the box store shelves like we have in the garage used for pantries and I know I would have a mess if I tried to use those.
Lastly, I have very few commercially canned foods. I can most of our foods.

 

[Magus]

I just discovered that since my aunt stopped heavy baking, that she has three months of canned food stored in her old stove! 0_o