How to Build a Working Pantry That Lasts All Year

Inside: How to stock a pantry that saves you money, gives you breathing room in your shopping list, and can literally save your life in an emergency. We’ll do it one step at a time.

If you’re used to buying bread, cereal, milk, and dinner ingredients as you run out, the idea of stocking your pantry for a year can feel ridiculous. Where would you put it? How would you know what to buy? And how could you possibly afford to do it all at once?

But this doesn’t mean buying 300 pounds of flour, hiding it in the basement, and hoping for the best. It means building a working supply of everyday ingredients you can cook from, rotate, and replace as you go.

Step one: make a plan

Before you buy anything, take a little time to make a plan.

Start with the way your family already eats. What do you make every week? What do your kids ask for? What do you always run out of? Do you bake from scratch and go through a ton of flour? Do you love making a certain dish that uses up lots of soy sauce? Everyone’s pantry will look different!

Decide How Much time You are Planning For

I know this article is about stocking up for a year, and that’s a great goal. But you don’t have to start there.

Goal	What It Means
2 weeks
1 month	You have a real cushion for busy seasons, illness, storms, or high grocery prices.
3 months	You can buy more in bulk and rely on your pantry for many meals.
6 months	You are maintaining a serious backstock and rotating it regularly.
1 year	You are building a working pantry that can support your household long term.

Calculate Your Real Needs

There is no perfect formula because every family eats differently. A teenage boy, a toddler, and a grandmother do not eat the same amount of food. A family that bakes bread will need more flour than a family that buys sandwich bread. A family that eats rice every day will need more rice than a family that prefers pasta.

But a rough formula is still helpful. It gives you somewhere to start.

For each person, per month, plan for approximately:

Category	Per Person, Per Month	Examples
Grains and starches	8 to 12 pounds	rice, oats, pasta, flour, cornmeal
Dry beans and lentils	3 to 5 pounds	black beans, pinto beans, lentils, split peas
Canned vegetables	12 to 15 cans	corn, green beans, peas, carrots
Canned fruit or applesauce	6 to 8 cans or jars	peaches, pears, pineapple, applesauce
Shelf-stable protein	6 to 10 cans or packages	tuna, salmon, chicken, beans, peanut butter
Fats and oils	about 1 quart	olive oil, vegetable oil, shortening, coconut oil
Sweeteners	3 to 5 pounds	sugar, honey, maple syrup, molasses
Shelf-stable dairy	2 to 4 items	evaporated milk, powdered milk, shelf-stable milk

For example, if you want a three-month supply of canned vegetables for four people:

12 to 15 cans x 4 people x 3 months = 144 to 180 cans

That sounds like a lot, but remember, you are not buying it all at once. You are slowly building a reserve.

Find Your Space

A beautiful pantry is one of the joys of life, and if you have a dedicated spot, you’re lucky. I don’t have one, though, and it’s okay. I just use shelves in the basement and “restock” my cabinets from there. Don’t get caught upin making it beautiful. It just needs to be dry, relatively cool, easy to access, and pest-proof.

A super important consideration: you’ll be taking things from the front of the shelf and stocking from the bag so you’re always using your oldest item first. Don’t cram things in so tightly that you can’t stock from the back.

Step Two: Start Stocking the Basics

Okay. Here’s where we really get going. Whatever your goal was for stocking up (6 months, a year, etc.), buy your most frequently used items and get them stored away. It’s honestly a weight off your shoulders when you know you won’t be running out of the stuff you use all the time.

Please remember that you don’t have to store all this in your kitchen. In fact, you shouldn’t! I recommend setting up a baking corner where everything is handy in small amounts and then restocking from your bulk storage area as you run out

The first things I stock up on, and what I always have a years supply of, are the following (but yours will be different!)

• white sugar
• brown sugar
• white rice
• crushed tomatoes
• dried pinto beans
• bread flour
• all-purpose flour
• shortening
• vegetable oil
• olive oil
• chocolate chips
• applesauce
• salt
• coffee
• yeast
• mayo

This is cheaper and simpler if you’re a scratch cook. But it’s still important to be realistic. If you always use pancake mix, store pancake mix. The point is not to impress anyone. The point is to make your home easier to feed from.

Step Three: Add in Full Meals

Being able to make cookies in a snowstorm is nice, but being able to make dinner during a quarantine is much better. It’s time to add things that can really and truly feed you, long term.

• Pasta sauce and boxed pasta
• Canned tuna + ingredients for tuna salad
• Rice + canned chicken for a casserole
• Beans + tomatoes + cornmeal for chili and cornbread

This all becomes much easier with some freezer storage, but of course you have to consider electricity costs, power outages. Being able to store many pounds of ground beef, chicken brease, berries, and dairy opens up a lot of possibilities.

If you have a generator or a reliable backup plan, you may feel comfortable storing more in the freezer. If not, keep your deepest pantry goals focused on shelf-stable food.

Step Four: Comfort Foods and Extras

Comfort foods matter. They are easy to dismiss when you are making a practical list, but they are often the very things people want during a storm, a hard week, a sick day, or a time when grocery shopping is inconvenient.

This does not mean you need a shelf full of candy. It means your pantry should include small things that make your family happy.

Also consider whether you’d like to store a years supply of toiletries. I personally choose to, but it can be expensive to stock up. A good middle ground here is buying a lot when your favorite’s go on sale and keeping a smaller stockpile.

Don’t forget things like candles, matches, lighters, batteries, and the over the counter medications that can be the difference between being comfortable and being miserable.

Step Five: Adding Preserved and Seasonal Foods

There’s no use buying 12 jars of strawberry jam in November if you can make it yourself in June. And that’s why seasonal foods will be added throughout the year, with the goal of having it last until the next season comes around. I caution you here toot go crazy trying artisanal jams. Make what you use. If your kids like strawberry jam and you make 24 half-pints and no other jams, that’s fine. Make what you’ll use!

Spring: prepare before the busy season

Spring is a good time to clean shelves, check dates, use up older jars and cans, and make room before the busiest preserving season begins. Always pay special attention to what is still on your shelves and what you ran out of, and adjust accordingly!

Summer: preserve what is fresh and plentiful

Summer is the time for berries, pickles, jams, peaches, relish, frozen vegetables, pesto, and early tomatoes. A few batches of jam, some pickles, and a freezer full of berries you will actually use are better than dozens of jars no one wants to open.

Most of my canning is actually done in the fall and summer is for yummy extras.

Fall: build the hearty part of the pantry

It’s for applesauce, apple butter, tomatoes, salsa, broth, soup ingredients, and beans (starting with dry beans and canning as ready-to-eat).

Step Six: Remember to Use, Replace, and Evaluate

The only pantry worth having is one you actually use.

Food that sits untouched for years is not a pantry. It is clutter. A working pantry is different. You pull from it every week, cook with it, and replace what you use.

Shop from your pantry first

If you have rice, beans, canned tomatoes, and broth, maybe this week’s menu includes soup. If you have oats, flour, and canned fruit, maybe breakfast is already covered. If you have pasta and sauce, you have an emergency dinner.

This habit does two things. It keeps food from going to waste, and it teaches you what your family actually uses.

Over time, your pantry list will become more personal. You may discover that you need twice as much oatmeal and half as much rice. You may learn that no one wants canned peas, but everyone eats canned corn. You may find that baking staples matter more in your house than canned soup.

That is good. A pantry should become more accurate the longer you use it.

What I Personally Store

Of course you’ll need to figure out what you store but I know examples are helpful. So here’s what I have on hand and am always working towards restocking. It’s my baseline goal.

Canned food I make in season, but the others I am continually restocking as I see sales or if I just dip below where I want to be.

Canned Food:

• 24 cans tomato soup
• 12 cans beef stew
• 25 quarts chicken stock
• 24 cans corn
• 24 cans green beans
• 12 quarts potatoes
• 24 quarts crushed tomatoes
• 50 pints diced tomatoes
• 24 half-pints tomato paste
• 50 pints tomato sauce
• 48 small cans pineapple juice
• 12 quarts apple sauce
• 12 quarts apple juice
• 50 cans tuna
• 24 canned chicken

Essentials:

• granulated sugar: 100 pounds
• all-purpose flour: 100 pounds
• brown sugar: 50 pounds
• bread flour: 100 pounds
• honey: 4 quarts
• evaporated milk: 12 cans
• salt: 25 pounds
• white rice: 50 pounds
• jasmati rice: 25 pounds
• cornmeal: 20 pounds
• oats: 30 pounds
• pepper: 2 pounds
• baking powder: 6 cans
• baking soda 6 large boxes
• white vinegar: 3 gallons
• corn starch: 2 pounds
• shortening: 10 pounds

Sauces, condiments, etc

• 4 quarts barbecue sauce
• jams, jellies, preserves, fruit butters (just however much I make)
• 6 quarts hot sauce
• 4 quarts chow chow
• 6 large jars mayo (Costco sized)
• 4 bottles mustard
• 6 quarts watermelon rind pickles
• 24 pints salsa
• 6 pints corn salsa
• 12 pints pickled jalapenos
• 24 cans black olives
• 6 pints sweet relish
• 6 pints dill relish

other staples:

• dried beans: 25 pounds, mostly pinto and navy
• popcorn (old fashioned kind): 5 pounds
• pasta: 24 boxes, mixed shapes
• olive oil: 3 gallons
• peanut oil: 5 gallons
• vegetable oil: 6 gallons

Household and Personal:

• 2 large multipacks of tissues
• 24 rolls paper towels
• soap making supplies (25+ pound sof oils, plenty of lye, etc)
• lots of batteries
• tea lights (4 large packs)
• 3 lighters
• 2 large boxes of matches
• 6 large bottles shampoo and conditioner

Frozen Foods:

• ground beef (we order annually and don’t really restock as we run low, just eat then reorder)
• 25 pounds chicken breast
• 25 pounds chicken thighs
• 25 pounds chicken drumsticks
• 20 pounds butter (quartered, salted)
• 5-10 pounds berries
• 15 pounds bacon