Taking Inventory and Stocking Up

This post is linked-up with Hearts for Home Blog Hop

There have been some points within the last 5 or so years that we have gone out of our way to make an effort to stockpile nonperishable items. We have done it twice since living where we do now. But that's all gone. It was so nice to have that reserve downstairs to fall back on. 

This month I have begun to stock up again. The shelves in the photo below were empty but for the big bag of rice on the bottom shelf.

What isn't in the photo: two bags of white flour, three bags of brown rice flour, 3 bags of buckwheat flour, 1 bag of white rye flour, 1 bag of dark rye flour, four bags of brown rice, a 50 lb bag of rolled oats, and a jug of laundry soap. All but the soap is in the freezer right now. I always freeze my flours, rice and oats for a long time before using it.

Things I still plan on adding include canned vegetables, bottled water and juices. Actually more of all of what is there. And more peanut butter. Definitely. Right now it seems that the majority of the items are tomato based, so I'll need to balance that out. 

I, once upon a time, had an inventory sheet that could be reproduced. I've since lost it and I was too unimaginative to make my own so I went to Pinterest to find one that was simple. For some reason I only downloaded the files and did not pin them so I can't link to any but the original board I started at. 

The one I decided to use, first because it had the least amount of color and second because of its wonderful simplicity, comes from Organized Home {Pantry Inventory}. It's hanging up in the photo. Eventually I will print off the Freezer Inventory one and work on that as well. We have some meat in the freezer right now but that's about it. 

One thing that needs to be considered when stocking up is the end purpose. I don't think I need to stock up for an end of the world scenario. Honestly, other than to have the extras so I wouldn't have to go to the store to get it {because I simply don't wish to drive there or because we don't have the money to buy the item, let alone the gas to drive!}, I haven't really thought of the long-term benefit of a pantry. I definitely should have. There have been times when I had to go without food at a meal so that the kids could get enough. I really don't think there's any need for that {granted it has been quite a few years since that, but still...}.

My husband thinks about it more than I do. He occasionally mentions that we need to get our pantry filled back up. When he was growing up his mom grew just about all their food, preserved it and stock piled {and he and his siblings helped I'm sure}. He is very conscious also about rotating the stock. We have only had to do that once in our pantry stocking experience since we've been married. It usually gets emptied long before anything gets too close to the expiration date. 

But this time we are going to fill it better and keep it longer. The way I started this time was to look at sales in the area and take advantage of those. With the exception of a few things, all of the items in the pantry were on sale. I will do that every so often and soon our pantry will be quite full, I'm sure. 

Do you stock up? 

What's your favorite method? 

What are some must include items that you would recommend?