A Working Pantry

 

I have shared about our pantry many, many times.  We have what I call a working pantry where items are moved and rotated so we use the older items first and reload the new items toward the back as they are purchased.  I frequently take stock and organized the items inside to make sure I keep it fresh and know what is inside.  It also helps me to meal plan because I always know what I have and can base those plans off of what is already on hand.

 

Over the years I have worked off of a pantry list that I keep in excel and have modified and tweaked it to keep up with us and our changing needs.  I have shared that list with friends and co-workers as well as many of my readers too and am always happy to do it.  I find it helpful and I figured a lot of other people might as well, and because it is an Excel worksheet it is easy to modify and change to custom fit our needs.  It is a constant work in progress.

 

Now that we have a prepper pantry, separate of our regular pantry, I plan in about a year to start incorporating those items in our working pantry in order to make sure things with shorter shelf lives get used so they don't expire and go to waste.  I will "shop" those items in the prepper pantry for our regular pantry and then replace what I use when I shop at the grocery store.  A good majority of what I have will be shelf stable for a very long time, but certain items like canned goods and condiments will need to be used and replaced on a regular basis.

 

As we head into fall and then winter the goal is to always be fully stocked up and prepared and we are very fortunate and blessed to find ourselves in that state at the moment.  My plans from here on out are to pick up fresh produce, dairy items and meat as we need them.  Other than that we are all set, even for the upcoming holidays.  By keeping tabs on things regularly and rotating what we buy and use we should be able to keep any waste to a minimum with zero waste always the goal.