There are many strategies to building up a well-stocked pantry and, perhaps, there are even different visions of what that looks like or even means.

For me, we often lose power during a storm. Sometimes, when the storm is severe, being in a rural area, we can be one of the last to get the power lines serviced and back running.

Therefore, I want to have at least a week’s worth of food sitting in a pantry area, preserved just for such an occasion. 

Budgets often predict how much extra food you can put onto the pantry shelves for times of power outages.

What is, perhaps, the least financially-straining things to do is putting an extra packet of (?) into the shopping cart whenever you get groceries

Let’s use pasta as an example. Your family enjoys pasta night. You usually buy a package of spaghetti and a can of spaghetti sauce. This time, buy two of each: one for a family meal this week and one to go into the pantry, not for next week but for an “in case” situation. 

If you do this on a regular basis, before you know it, you will have enough food to last you a couple of weeks, a month, or a winter, without having to get to a store to buy groceries. 

What else’s have you found to be helpful or worrisome about stocking up a pantry?