I’m so impressed with our $20/$20 Challenge entry this week because Krista stocks her pantry without having a car! They try to walk when they go grocery shopping for the exercise and because it’s cost effective. Sound like anyone you know? π Here’s her story:
Hi Mavis! I’m Krista from Washington {the same one that passed on theΒ Rhubarb Cinnamon Jam recipe a couple years ago}. I’m super excited to submit the photos of my pantry and food storage and think the $20/$20 challenge is such a cool thing to do! Thank you.
I’m a mom to two older teenage boys who are fairly picky eaters and a wife to a husband who appreciates pretty much anything I cook. I cook dinner 6-7 nights a week mostly from scratch, but do stock up on easy side dishes and quick meals to have on hand for the kids to make or for days when I don’t feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen. I also bake desserts & breads and can jelly/jams.
Since our sole vehicle finally died and went to car heaven back in October, getting groceries has been interesting. I’m thankful for the stockpile we have been able to rely upon from my couponing days, but also super thankful for grocery delivery through Safeway as well as mail order meat. Although we’re not able to do as much stocking up without a personal vehicle, my husband and I make use of backpacks as well as a wheeled cart for making grocery runs when the weather cooperates. Exercise + grocery shopping = win!
We have a very small yard that I tried to garden in for a couple years, however between the squirrels and moles, it’s just a never ending battle. One year we even built a cage around a square foot garden, but forgot to put hardware cloth under the soil, so while the squirrels couldn’t get in, it was basically a personal salad bar for the moles. Any tips on keeping the critters out would be much appreciated! I really miss gardening and never had a problem keeping animals out when I lived in the country.
Our house is on the small side so we store our food in several places. The main area of course is the kitchen and we keep the rest in the garage. One of my favorite tips is to keep updated inventory lists taped to the inside of the cabinet doors so you know what’s in there. I keep a big master garage pantry/freezer list on a clipboard in the garage as well. This makes keeping track of things so much easier.
We are big tea drinkers so we have a huge corner cabinet devoted to that. There is a lazy Susan in there that helps to keep it semi-organized. We also love coffee have a cabinet devoted to all things coffee as well.
Our deep freeze in the garage is awesome and annoying at the same time. It doesn’t have the cool dividers like your freezer, so we mostly use cloth grocery bags to keep items sorted and that works ok, but there is still a lot of lifting things out of the way to find what you’re looking for. We like to keep it mostly full with meats, butter, and vegetables. It’s also the place where we keep ice cream and quick frozen meals.
Extra packaged side dish items like stuffing mix, instant potatoes, dried beans, rice, etc are stored in totes in the garage. I do bake a lot, so I buy several bags of flour at a time as well as sugar and those also get stored in the totes. We have one junk tote where candy, hot chocolate, and chips go.
Our landlord put our old kitchen cabinets out in the garage, so we took the doors off and use them for more food storage. Here we have cereal, cooking soups and broths, salsa, canned refried beans, and some misc household items like laundry stuff and kitchen wraps/foil.
We have a couple of shelving units that hold more soups, condiments, coffee, and lots of sparkling water. We also store large packages of paper items and bulky kitchen appliances out there.
Thanks so much for the opportunity to participate in this challenge! I’m having a lot of fun learning ways of storing things and seeing what other people stock.
~Krista
Are you getting your pantries camera ready? You can participate in the $20/$20 Challenge by simply sending in pictures of your pantry. Find out more about the $20/$20 Challenge: Show Your Pantry β Fill a Pantry!
Mary says
Hi Mavis,
I wanted to pass along a tip for you and the reader of this submission. My husband LOVES tea also; he likes coffee too but finds the tea to be easier on his stomach. A few years ago, I got him started on loose leaf as it made a great stocking stuffer when bought from a bulk section at Central Market (grocery store in Texas). Last year, I found some great prices on a variety of loose leaf teas on Amazon (around $15-20 for 1 lb of loose tea leaves). There are some that have great reviews! Below is the link for one of his favorites (apparently, you can get a second brew from the leaves making it even cheaper):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002MG4YQ6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I’ve even started ordering coffee beans on Amazon because I can’t usually find a light roast option at Costco. Anyways, I thought I’d pass along this tip to you in case you weren’t aware of it.
Mavis Butterfield says
Thank you Mary! π
Krista says
Thanks, Mary! I commented the day you posted, but somehow it didn’t appear. If you like loose leaf tea, check out Shen Zen @ http://shenzentea.com/ You can do mail order if you are not in their local area (they do farmer’s markets, too). We really like their masala chai and one of my sons loves their Yunnan vanilla mint pu-erh. It’s kinda pricey, but you can get several steeps out of it and the quality is top notch. They even make tea syrups that you can add to sparkling water to create tea soda. It’s amazing.
Cheryl says
Ok, it’s driving me crazy..5th pic down from the top shows several little jars stacked 3 tall….what is the name on the front? All I can see is inbr? It has nothing to do with anything except that I cannot read it and it is driving me crazy!
Krista says
Hi Cheryl! The little jars are flavoring for coffee. You can read about them by going to http://www.ibru.com . If you have questions, Rebekah Sherman would be more than happy to answer for you. I have no affiliation with the company, I just happen to love their stuff. They are also on Facebook. =)
Krista says
That should have read http://www.inbru.com
Cheryl says
Thank you Krista
Lilypad says
I am a fellow tea lover and I have to say, you’ve got some great stuff in there! Cheers!
Krista says
Thanks, Lilypad!