What became of the Kitchen Pantry?


Wish my pantry looked like this. What I have is a small closet just off the kitchen that I added shelves in for the storage of stuff. Once that stuff related to the making of masks. Part of getting out of the mask business and back into painting and building the studio was having that closet back to store necessities like light bulbs and batteries, and paper towels, and more and more canned and boxed goods.

Three winters ago we had six feet of snow in two days. The entire county was paralyzed and snowplows were used for opening up major arteries which had been closed down for three days. You have to go through a canyon or over a mountain pass to get here. And the gas tankers, food wholesalers, and tourists were either not getting out or not getting in. The tourists not getting out meant the filling stations and grocery store were soon empty.

Locals, who work in the tourist trade, were not getting out of their houses because the snowplows were too busy. So thanks to the three week supply of goods I had in my little pantry closet I survived. Last winter it was the economy. This spring it was the flu. WHO says stay home for seven days. And their advice for a pandemic in your area is avoid human contact for three weeks.

So as the White House warns us that the H1Ni virus will hit particularly hard this flu season I am looking at the depleted state of my pantry. Time to take inventory and begin building up stocks again. So many in our country shop from meal to meal. The kitchen pantry has either vanished or been turned into a broom closet. I am considering taking half a hall I don't use and turning it into an even bigger storage area.

I want to enter winter with three cords of firewood and a full pantry or two. I want propane tanks for my camp stove and fresh batteries for my lanterns, more lamp oil and candles. I want to be able to stay home for three weeks if necessary.

Comments

  1. thebutlerAugust 25, 2009 at 11:36 AM

    I used to keep my own pantry stocked ahead
    for all contingencies when the girls were
    at home; sadly nowadays, a mouse would have
    a hard time finding an entire meal in there.
    Although I haven't forgotten that great feeling
    of knowing sufficient food/supplies were only
    a closed door away.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Blog of BeeAugust 26, 2009 at 2:46 PM

    In my heady days i had a walk in cupboard and I remember one friend commenting that going in there was like going into a grocery store. For many reasons, not any more.

    ReplyDelete
  3. IntelliblogAugust 26, 2009 at 2:58 PM

    We have a sizeable kitchen pantry and it's always full. Add to that a couple of freezers where we always store seasonal produce that we buy at their peak and last us for a couple of months.
    All of this is very handy for when unexpected guests pop in or when we just couldn't be bothered to go out to the shops.
    I can imagine how much more important having a good stck of supplies and food must be to you, as you live in a fairly isolated spot, Jacqui.
    Extending the pantry sounds like a good idea.

    ReplyDelete
  4. BekkieannAugust 29, 2009 at 5:21 AM

    Like you, I have a small closet converted to a pantry. When the kids were home, I had shelves of food stocked in the utility room downstairs. But living alone, I don't even know what to stock any more. But I do think it's a good idea to have at least a modest food storage. As they says about those occasional weather disasters: It's not 'if' but 'when'.

    ReplyDelete

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