Other People's Pantries #27

From Jonathan (Wasted Food), in Durham, North Carolina:

My wife and I don’t keep tons of food on hand. I’ve never been much for “stocking up,” and ‘North Carolina winter’ is pretty close to an oxymoron.

The one thing we do buy in bulk is Herdez salsa (“salsa casera medium”) because we’re totally in love with it. When it’s on sale, I buy enough jars to prompt strange looks from the cashier. 

We keep our cupboard contents light for a few other reasons. As you can see, the pantry isn’t huge. Plus, we live about a quarter-mile from the supermarket. But the main reason is to avoid waste. As you might guess from my blog, not wasting food is kind of important to me. The more goods you have, the less visible items become and the more likely you are to forget and squander them.

Along those lines, we try to have just one row of items. There’s inevitably a can of soup hiding somewhere, but the wire shelves really help keep more items in sight. We store the baking stuff up top because, sadly, it’s rarely used.

On Saturdays, we peek into Other People's Pantries.

Come on -- show us your pantry.

Here's how.

The one thing we do buy in bulk is Herdez salsa (“salsa casera medium”) because we’re totally in love with it. When it’s on sale, I buy enough jars to prompt strange looks from the cashier. 

We keep our cupboard contents light for a few other reasons. As you can see, the pantry isn’t huge. Plus, we live about a quarter-mile from the supermarket. But the main reason is to avoid waste. As you might guess from my blog, not wasting food is kind of important to me. The more goods you have, the less visible items become and the more likely you are to forget and squander them.

Along those lines, we try to have just one row of items. There’s inevitably a can of soup hiding somewhere, but the wire shelves really help keep more items in sight. We store the baking stuff up top because, sadly, it’s rarely used.

On Saturdays, we peek into Other People's Pantries.

Come on -- show us your pantry.

Here's how.

Comments

I agree with the philosophy of not stocking up excessively. Also it's fun to go to the store or farmer's market, and to buy fresh stuff.

Looks like a well-stocked pantry. It's good you make the added effort not to waste food.

Paz

I totally agree with you about not wasting food and the problem of losing sight of what you already have on hand when blessed with a plentiful pantry. That said, knowing what to store on hand and what can be easily picked up on any given trip to the grocery can become quite the balancing act. Glad to hear you're keeping up with yours so well! There's a lot to be said for simplicity and the 1 row approach to stocking a pantry.

Omigod, my husband and I so agree with you about Herdez salsa (salsa casera medium)! When we first moved to VT it was hard to come by, so when we did find it we would buy 10 or 12 jars at a time. Sometimes that was the only item in our cart and we, too, received some strange looks from the check-out clerks. It's more readily available now, thank goodness.
Loved your simple organized pantry.

Sandie, you're right--it is a balancing act. And not one that I always get right. Fortunately, the pantry items usually have a long shelf life so when I duplicate my can of olives, I'm not too bummed. The fridge is more of a high-stakes game.

Deb, we should start a site devoted to all things Herdez! It's probably not a coincidence that the best-tasting salsa out there is the most natural one.

Great pantry :) I like to keep stocked up with pantry items and just buy all my fresh stuff daily.