What staples should always be in our pantry that have a long shelf life?

[1gemstone]

We will be in the fall season very soon here in the USA,  and with the ongoing Pandemic, and our last Covid - 19 update  from the branch, it was suggested that we made sure we have food and other necessities on hand, but we should not become hoarders.  I was wondering what items do you make sure that's always in your pantry.  

 

I make sure that I keep rice, pasta, can tomatoes, can beans, flour, oatmeal, spices, tuna, sweeteners, tea, coffee, and can veggie. Am I missing anything ?

 

[Ahuvah]

Oil in dark glsss bottles (I use Olive)

Ghee (clarified butter) is very shelf stable

Coconut Oil

Baking ingredients:

Flour (some suggest putting your flour into the freezer for 10-11 hours to kill bugs that may be dormant in the flour) then storing  it in airtight jars

Tinned food - with a aluminium shortage good idea to get a few now. Make sure they aren't dented. Tomatos are very acidic I've had a can explode on me so rotate those often.

Sugar ... (I have sugar, but also carry Honey (4 kgs of it) - very shelf stable - also cane sugar I have).

PICKLES - GHERKINS (apparently all gherkins are pickles but not all pickles are gherkins) 

Pickled onions now these are important because if you can't get fresh veges the pickling process will help your gut micro biome.(Probiotics - also great for tummy upsets)

Sauerkraut and kimchi of course

Powdered Egg

Potato flakes are great.

Oats

Rice/Noodles - pound for pound pasta has 2--3 x more calories than Rice. - In normal times that's why pasta is avoided but in times when calories count it's a good thing

Chippies/crisps again the oil content gives needed calories

Dark Chocolate - stores well and can make some baking yummier

Soup mixes

Beans/lentils/barley

Tinned veges like asparagus.

Olives - very good for you calorie dense

Cheese - my sister waxes her cheese for a better shelf life

Dried fruit and nuts - nuts - not peanuts as they go rancid if exposed to air-uless you can keep them airtight.

PEANUT BUTTER though - better shelf life and good source of protein.

VEGEMITE ... love it or hate it - it can boost soups/stews ifyou don't like it on toast

SPICES - a lot of goodness in spices and it means if you have them on hand a bland meal becomes tasy

 

Anyway that's what i have right probably other stuff but that is what I can remember.

Edited August 26, 2020 by Stormswift

[New World Explorer]

51 minutes ago, Stormswift said:

Pickled onions

Instead of onions,  I store these: 

[Ahuvah]

I'm really not sure if i want to try those ... i'd have to see you eat them first.

[Qapla]

Not sure why I would keep these in my food pantry

 

as the title of the thread mentions ... however, in addition to some of the other things suggested:

• yeast to make bread (sealed yeast packages keeps good for a long time)
• canned soup
• Ramen noodles (cooks quickly and can be used in pasta dishes)
• Jelly - goes with the peanut butter on the homemade bread

We can also have a garden since we don't get snow ... we have chickens for fresh eggs - since my daughters are "vendors" we have a constant supply of chips and tortillas (flour and corn) plus items from several of their "fellow vendors" that they are given on a regular basis

 

 

Edited August 26, 2020 by Qapla

[Omoyeme]

7 hours ago, 1gemstone said:

 

I make sure that I keep rice, pasta, can tomatoes, can beans, flour, oatmeal, spices, tuna, sweeteners, tea, coffee, and can veggie. Am I missing anything ?

 

That's a good list. You may want to add powdered milk, broth, vinegar (distilled and apple cider) and some bottled sauces for added flavor to your meals (i.e., Worchestershire or soy sauce.) And always keep an ample supply of water, unless you have a monthly supplier.

 

I'll be visiting a cannery soon to pick up some fruits and vegetables also.

 

Edited August 26, 2020 by Omoyeme

[Qapla]

We have a well for water - and a generator to run it if we lose power

[McKay]

Right now, I just have a huge bag of rice and canned beans for emergency use. But @Stormswift’s list gives me food for thought. No pun intended.

Edited August 26, 2020 by McKay

[Ahuvah]

7 hours ago, Omoyeme said:

That's a good list. You may want to add powdered milk, broth, vinegar (distilled and apple cider) and some bottled sauces for added flavor to your meals (i.e., Worchestershire or soy sauce.) And always keep an ample supply of water, unless you have a monthly supplier.

 

I'll be visiting a cannery soon to pick up some fruits and vegetables also.

 

A note on the apple cider if you get one that has a cloudiness in it - get it - that's the mother developing and you can actually make kombucha from it.

[Ahuvah]

19 minutes ago, McKay said:

Right now, I just have a huge bag of rice and canned beans for emergency use. But @Stormswift’s list gives me food for thought. No pun intended.

Yeah it's about nutrients as well ... get things as natural as you can ... like the olive oil pickled food, honey all of those have nutrients that will boost your immune system. I also grow lots of spinach, kawakawa and silverbeet. Just bought a cheap greenhouse with four shelves I can grow capsicum/chillis and other seedlings.

Been buying up seeds.

Microgreens are perfect for growing indoors very nutritious.

I am also sprouting my own bean sprouts - spicy mix, alfalfa, mung aMUNGst others.

If you just have rice and beans, great spices to add to those are ginger/garlic/chilli and turmeric. Don't be scared about adding salt either.

If you have honey on hand - and a lemon tree you always have the source of a yummy lemonade.

 

Just a note again on tins that can be a bit volatile like tomatoes they are a staple (with less iron than Qapla's) of many of my recipes especialy curry. So when I buy new tomatoes for my 'living pantry' I swap them out from the others I have stored. 

Edited August 26, 2020 by Stormswift

[Icewolf]

I also go to bulk stores like Stormswift and get bulk spices to add flavour and nutrients to a meal.

 

Always also store food that you normally eat, if you dont eat something do not stock it, as you wont enjoy eating it or may not eat it. 

[New World Explorer]

3 hours ago, Stormswift said:

that's the mother developing and you can actually make kombucha from it.

If I tell my mother that I am going to make her into Kombucha, then I will face a long litany, about not appreciating how she raised me etc.. no way I am going that road ..my mother stays where she belongs LOL 

[1gemstone]

I love all of your suggestions, please keep them coming everyone on the forum.

I need to put Yeast on my list because I want to learn how to make sour dough 🍞, has anyone here made sour dough bread?

Stromswift love your list and thanks for the additional ideals.

[Icewolf]

My other sister (not stormswift) is giving me the bug you use to make sour dough, you dont need yeast to make this because you use the natural yeast in the air, google how to make it, it takes patience, and my sister said she thought when making the bug it was wrong because it didnt look right, but she said she should have left it because it goes through a funny stage. 

 

Also plenty of videos on youtube as well.

Edited August 27, 2020 by Icewolf

[Icewolf]

Oh another thing I am about to make is what you call a hobo stove, my brother in law is a bush craft person, and he does youtube videos on things, I think this is a good alternative if you dont have camp stoves, and gas (butane etc) as these are always limited supplys and can run out.  All I am doing is I get formula tins that mums have finished using, instead of throwing out, I will put holes around the top and bottom, and a larger hole also in the bottom for embers to come out, and you can cook on it.

[Qapla]

Since a sourdough starter needs "feeding" and I don't feel like having to keep up with one - I make "fresh" bread with the yeast.

 

I can throw a batch of bread dough together in 5-10 minutes - it doesn't take all that much work since it raises by itself. It will bake in about 30 minutes when it is ready.

 

Now, when I make NY Style Pizza dough - that I have to make a few days in advance to get the right "cold ferment" results.

 

I usually keep several packages of ADY and IDY around all the time - I used to buy the ADY in bulk but found that, by the time I used it all, it was losing it's useful life ... so I went back to the envelopes/packages

 

 

Edited August 27, 2020 by Qapla

[tekmantwo]

6 hours ago, Icewolf said:

My other sister (not stormswift)

Wait-----,

 

There's, m..more of you?!?!

[New World Explorer]

1 minute ago, tekmantwo said:

Wait-----,

 

There's, m..more of you?!?!

Hey, they converting mothers into stuff, so who knows what else they converted into sisters? LOL 

[tekmantwo]

5 hours ago, Icewolf said:

Oh another thing I am about to make is what you call a hobo stove, my brother in law is a bush craft person, and he does youtube videos on things,

I used to make little stoves when I worked nights in the foothills where it got chilly sometimes.

I made them from 10pound and 1pound coffee cans, put dirt in the bottom, put a strip of rag for the wick, use parts solvent for fuel and it takes the bite out of an 18F° night in the dirt.

 

I am very interested in what your brother does. Would you mind sharing his utube channel? Last year I just wound up buying one, it burns twigs and holds a midrange skillet fairly well...and I have a 2burner propane stove but thats not something I would carry.

Edited August 27, 2020 by tekmantwo

[Amygdala]

5 hours ago, Icewolf said:

my brother in law is a bush craft person, and he does youtube videos on things

What is his channel?

[Icewolf]

13 hours ago, Lieblingskind said:

What is his channel?

His channel is this, here in New Zealand, its a very simple stove which anyone can make and use.

 

13 hours ago, tekmantwo said:

I used to make little stoves when I worked nights in the foothills where it got chilly sometimes.

I made them from 10pound and 1pound coffee cans, put dirt in the bottom, put a strip of rag for the wick, use parts solvent for fuel and it takes the bite out of an 18F° night in the dirt.

 

I am very interested in what your brother does. Would you mind sharing his utube channel? Last year I just wound up buying one, it burns twigs and holds a midrange skillet fairly well...and I have a 2burner propane stove but thats not something I would carry.

I have just replied with a link for the hobo stove one, its  not like all the others where they are flashy etc, I like to keep things simple, that way use to make and use for anyone

Edited August 27, 2020 by Icewolf

[Icewolf]

14 hours ago, tekmantwo said:

Wait-----,

 

There's, m..more of you?!?!

Um yes LOL wait for stormswift to see this one hahahahhahahaha, I am the youngest of 5 so run for cover now.

[tekmantwo]

48 minutes ago, Icewolf said:

Um yes LOL wait for stormswift to see this one hahahahhahahaha, I am the youngest of 5 so run for cover now.

Not skeered, we have you outnumbered, there are 6 of us kids....

[Omoyeme]

On 8/26/2020 at 8:59 AM, Omoyeme said:

 

I'll be visiting a cannery soon to pick up some fruits and vegetables also.

 

 

Sis. Missy, I visited the cannery and collected a few jars of fruits and vegetables. (Good looking ones I may add.)  Mind you, these are jars with an expiry date of 2 or more years from now, so I would consider these as "reserves."  I picked up a jar of apple butter since it was a throwback to my childhood...yum! 

 

[Omoyeme]

Part 2: 

 

Quote

I need to put Yeast on my list because I want to learn how to make sour dough, has anyone here made sour dough bread?

 

I have yet to make sour dough bread too; looks more complex than other breads I've baked but I'll give it a try soon.  I've learned my lesson back in March of this year and try to keep extra packets of yeast for future breadmaking.  (I made this one a couple of days ago in cast iron and top my slices with ghee).  But seriously, I need to get a loaf pan too...lol.

 

Edited August 28, 2020 by Omoyeme