Our Prepper Pantry

 

In April of 2020 I started prepping.  It wasn't something I had ever planned to do but when I saw the reaction of so many of my fellow Americans when the pandemic hit in March of last year and then some subsequent manufacturing and food shortages that followed I decided it might not be a bad idea.

 

Prepping rice

I began with food by purchasing pantry staples such as rice, dry beans, flour, sugar, pastas, oats, potato flakes and many other items I knew I could store long term.  I purchased a vacuum sealer and bags off of eBay.  My youngest daughter and I sat down to determine based on serving sizes and several recipes we like to use how much of each item we should parcel out and vacuum seal.  I added nutrition facts by printing them off on copy paper and taping them to the outside of each package with clear packing tape.  We dated everything with the packing date, sizes, etc.  As much information as we felt is necessary.

 

Vacuum sealing with directions and nutrition facts added to each package

After securing dry goods I moved onto canned items such as tuna, chicken, vegetables, pasta sauces, peanut butter, condiments and spices.  I added cereal, granola bars and flavored oatmeal packets.  Once that was completed we moved onto household items such as laundry products and cleaning supplies.  Toiletries items were next as well as first aid supplies and over the counter medicines we use.  All the while we collected toilet paper too.  Lastly, we began to work on pet food and chicken feed as we feel our animals are important and need to be taken care of as well.

 

I label all of my boxes

We store everything in banker boxes with lids to keep them secure, organized and protected from light.  They are a good size, stackable and have handles so I can easily manage them.  I placed labels on each box with everything that is inside so we can easily find what we are looking for.  Our house is small and there isn't room for us to build and actual prepper pantry, however we've managed to carve out appropriate storage areas within our home with reasonable climate control.

 

These prepackaged items are a great option.  I added rice and pasta
sides so we can easily add a can of tuna or chicken to make a meal. 
We also like them for camping.

What to prep and how much is definitely a personal preference and since I am fairly new to this I hesitate to make any recommendations.  What I do recommend, however, is to have some sort of long term food storage in your home and to do a lot of research in order to help you make the right decisions for you.  What I am doing may not be the right course of action for someone else.  But what I do know is having a prepper pantry gives added stability and peace of mind.  I am very glad I made the decision to do it.