SUSTENANCE: Building a Deep Pantry
- Why do we do this and why should you?
- FIFO is LIFE-O
- You can’t prepare for EVERYTHING.
- Stocking Up is Self-Care, and Mutual Aid!
- Shop Sales, and Shop Seasonally to Build Your Deep Pantry
- Starter List of Shelf-Stable Basics for a Deep Pantry
- Eat like your grandparents and stick to seasonality (with modern variations)…
- Store your Stash Safely & Prevent Pantry Moths!
- Best Pantry Storage Containers for Bulk Goods
- Organize & Tame the Chaos
- Want More Food Storage & Preparedness Info?
Are you curious about building a deep pantry, or even what that means? Don’t know where to begin? No worries, it’s not hard, and we’ll show you The Way (and talk a bit about the why’s!).
If you didn’t know that we weren’t Mormon or “zombie preppers”, looking around in our pantry wouldn’t convince you otherwise (we’re neither, btw, and you don’t have to be either to be interested in food storage). But, like those folks, we also believe in keeping a deep working pantry whenever possible. And you should too!
Your deep pantry will look different from ours, of course, but in our house, you’d first have to figure out even WHICH pantry you’re looking in…
- The kitchen cabinets and shelves with everyday staples that we reach for daily, like baking mixes and small amounts of grains and dried vegetables, along with seasonings and spices and coffee and tea?
- The main pantry closet near the kitchen, with the everyday canned goods and jams and pasta and alllll the yummy ramen collections (and less yummy but essential buckets of dog food and treats)? Any fresh homemade kraut or other fermented foods hang out here too in all but the hottest months, when they get canned or moved to the fridge.
- The jars of home-canned venison and pickled wild mushrooms stashed under the office futon, or the bulk buckets and cases of Costco canned goods in the basement (bought seasonally when items are on sale) and the overflow of the other home canned foods like meals-in-a-jar, soups, salsas, and pasta sauces?
- Or the chest freezer filled with wild venison and fish and frozen veggies… and both homemade and commercial convenience foods like frozen pizzas, pizza dough, dumplings and pierogi, filled pasta, and pot pies?
- Oh yeah, or the freeze-dried just-add-water adventure meals and snacks that are in bins with the rest of the camping gear (mostly, those are for camping and backpacking, but it’s nice to know that they’re there… although this is a very pricey way to acquire a longer-term food storage that I don’t recommend unless you need them for backpacking or if money is no object)?
The answer is that they’re all part of our working deep pantry!
So, don’t think you need one special dedicated Pinterest-worthy place to keep everything.
A deep pantry isn’t necessarily a place, but a system for organizing and planning for your medium to long-term meal planning and needs.
I know, that probably sounds like a lot… and might be very different than what your deep pantry will look like. What, we just like food, okay?
I’m pretty sure we’re at least three months ahead in our YNAB grocery budget category if you count on-hand stuff, which is pretty much #pantrygoals. It might even last longer if we ate more boring meals or had to subsist on just rice and beans and ramen, which, while not ideal would be better than nothing!
But we didn’t get here overnight or even in a week, and neither will you. You might never keep this food much on-hand, either by preference or because of space and budget limitations, and the things you store and eat will be the things your family likes. That’s ok too.
Why do we do this and why should you?
This deep pantry gives us breathing room in our food budget and flexibility when we’re shopping. So now, we can just buy stuff when it’s on sale instead of when we run out… and I wouldn’t have it any other way if I can help it.
If you have a bigger family than ours (or a teeny tiny budget- but trust me, our budget is pretty small and this helps stretch every bit of it), you might not be able to keep this much on hand. Or you live in a small apartment and don’t have space or a big freezer. And that’s ok!
But everyone, if at all possible, should try to have at least two to three weeks worth of groceries and staples on hand, both to tide you through everyday inconveniences and even a minor emergency. They should be a mix of shelf-stable and fresh, and preferably things that are easily prepared and most importantly, that you already eat regularly.
This is a good idea whether the emergency is personal, like an illness, injury, or car trouble that keeps you from going to the store, or a job loss or missed paycheck… or larger, like a natural disaster, or a major economic recession or depression, which are unfortunately a more frequent occurrence or feeling more likely lately.
It’s also a helpful habit to get into if like us, you have a wildly variable or seasonal income, or have tenuous job security (which, really, who doesn’t these days?).
With the way grocery prices are anymore (and the way it’s looking like they might be in the near future), this particular investment has had a better return than my savings account right now. And as we all should know, you can’t eat money! Our stocked deep pantry is an essential part of our emergency fund and and edible savings account.
We don’t buy more than we can eat before it goes bad, and we eat what we buy, so this isn’t wasteful or terribly weird, as far as I am concerned, even though it might seem that way to most folks. Although, it’s certainly a lot less strange now that we’ve survived 2020 and everything after so far!
(if you’re reading this, that is. If you didn’t survive, I hope you’re not reading it or we’ve all got bigger problems than my dark humor can cope with, yeah? So if you’re a spoooooky internet ghost, please just uh, keep reading, I guess? I’m not really here to judge, unless you leave mean blog comments, then you’re dead to me. Or something.).
FIFO is LIFE-O
That said, even it the best organized and rotated pantry, mistakes will happen. In my recent rough pantry clean out and inventory (I’ll show you some of that below), I did find some very ancient oxidized mulberry-lime jelly & a jar of zucchini relish with a bad seal that should go in the compost, and some pickled eggplant and dried apples that are “use it or lose it” and might just be chicken treats or more compost at this point?
Pobody’s nerfect, but FIFO is life-o!
FIFO, if you aren’t from the restaurant or food retail world, means, “First In, First Out” and is a standard system of rotation for managing perishable stuff.
It means you put the new cans behind the old ones, eat the lettuce that’s a little less than perfect before getting into the new stuff from the garden or grocery, and check dates on things periodically. If you share a pantry with others who may not be as careful as you, make this date-rotation easy, or it won’t happen!
Mark things with sharpie and painters tape like we do in a restaurant kitchen, or use can rotator shelves that manage this for you. You can write the best-by dates or the purchase dates, whatever works for you to keep track (I like to use the best-by dates, as different stores might have different lots, and products vary in shelf-life).
I keep hoping Santa might bring me some of these can rotator shelves. This one is heavy-duty restaurant-quality, but only for larger cans like #5 & #10. But still helpful if you like to buy larger cans of whole tomatoes or other staples like we do for batch-cooking and canning recipes, or if you have a big family.
I haven’t been impressed by the reviews for most of the pre-made racks for smaller cans, and was hoping to build a wall-mounted one like this someday. We buy a lot of things in regular-sized cans by the case at Costco. It’s on the project list, but uh, the project list is loooong.
So, I took a chance and ordered a couple sets of these can rotator racks, and I’m actually pretty happy with them! I have them stacked two-racks high (though you can stack them higher than that) on shelving, and they work pretty well and look soooo neat. It’s extremely satisfying to my “sort-all-the-things” brain.
They aren’t great for smaller cans like Rotel, tomato paste, or odd-shaped ones like condensed milk or canned mushrooms, or oversized cans like pineapple, but I hadn’t expected that they would be.
They’re great for standard canned veggies, coconut milk, and evaporated milk that we like to keep around for convenience and emergencies. They look super-organized, are pretty sturdy, and stack well. They come with plastic feet and metal and plastic clips that lock together, but you might also want to zip-tie or use velcro cable ties to secure them.
You can’t prepare for EVERYTHING.
Don’t think you have to build yourself a bunker (though if that’s your thing and you have the resources, go right ahead I guess?). Don’t worry about trying to prepare for every possible scenario. You can’t. Odds are if things are that bad even your bunker full of beans isn’t going to save you!
Your pantry is for ordinary, everyday struggles. An unexpected guest joins you for dinner? Or maybe the whole scout troop, your daughter’s soccer team, or your extended family shows up at your house? And they’re hungry? No problemo.
You or a partner loses a job, is sick, another pandemic hits (less an if than a when, unfortunately), or a natural disaster… there are a million unlucky reasons where you would be well-served by having well-stocked shelves in your home larder.
Obviously not everyone has the luxury of being able to afford anything extra, but most people can find a little bit of wiggle room if they’re not already on a bare-bones budget (and believe me, I’ve been there, calculating the price of every item in the grocery basket and putting things back so I didn’t overdraft my account… it’s rough, and it’s rough out there for a lot of people, I know).
Stocking Up is Self-Care, and Mutual Aid!
If you do have stable housing with any amount of storage and even a little bit of wiggle room in your budget, it’s irresponsible to not keep at least a couple weeks of shelf-stable foods on hand, even if it means buying the cheaper brand or skipping some luxuries for a bit until you have built up your dry-goods inventory with some shelf-stable foods.
This also means that if there is an emergency, you can take better care of yourself and your loved ones and free up emergency resources for the less fortunate.
Having a well-stocked home pantry is prepping for mutual aid and community care, even if you aren’t directly feeding other people, since you’ll lessen the burden on already overwhelmed food pantry relief organizations in a disaster.
It also lets you step-up and help out your friends, family, and neighbors who didn’t have the time, space, or money to stock up on non-perishable basics. You can distribute your extras directly or through your local mutual aid or buy-nothing groups, through Little Free Pantries and Love Fridges, and through church and community aid groups.
Don’t get overwhelmed and try to do everything all at once! But it’s a really good idea to do what you can, and buy extra when you can, if you can swing it at all. Anything you can manage is good progress!
Shop Sales, and Shop Seasonally to Build Your Deep Pantry
So you’ve decided this is a good idea, and you want to start building your deep pantry stash. You don’t have to go out and buy it all at once, and probably shouldn’t! You should also be mindful of the availability of supplies for others if your community is already experience a shortage, and make sure you leave WIC and SNAP-eligible items for folks who might need them more than you.
Just get a little bit extra of some of the non-perishable things you like each time you shop until you could miss your weekly grocery trip for a couple weeks without noticing. Now, you’ve bought yourself not just peace of mind, but also are primed to save money going forwards.
How? Instead of buying things when you need them (because you ran out), you buy them when they’re less expensive.
Your favorite mayonnaise, canned soup, or pasta brand goes on sale? Buy several (or up to the purchase-limit), or at least enough to last either until it would be out-of-date or will be likely to be on-sale again (lots of things have seasonal sales and you can stock up if you have space).
This may sound obvious, but don’t buy things JUST because they’re on sale, unless you or someone in your family likes them.
I don’t care how good the sale on canned peas is, I’m not buying them because we both think they’re gross. Frozen peas? Delicious. Dehydrated frozen peas? Fine, and much better than canned (and take up less space).
If I wake up in a Fallout New Vegas scenario and canned peas are the only loot in town? Ok, fine, I’ll eat the glowing mush balls. But otherwise, blech! Maybe you love canned peas and think I’m daft, but can’t stand sauerkraut or canned mushrooms… that’s ok, more for me!
Just make sure someone in your household likes the things you are buying or have stored, otherwise, take it directly to your nearest food pantry, soup kitchen, or Love Fridge to get it to someone who will use it before the best buy date. Those dates are their own issue- most foods have a longer safe shelf life than the marked best-by or even expiration date, but if you’re going to donate it, it’s good form to make sure it’s still in-date. Many places won’t or can’t take donations that are expired or out-of-date!
Starter List of Shelf-Stable Basics for a Deep Pantry
- Grains & Starches
- White flour (longest shelf life) or whole grain flour (stored in the freezer)
- all purpose white flour (most general purpose baking & cooking)
- bread flour (higher in protein)
- pastry flour (soft wheat, lower in protein for tender pastries)
- cake flour (lowest in protein, for fine, tender cakes)
- rice flour, gluten-free baking blends, and other specialty flours
- semolina flour (for pasta and puddings)
- Whole wheat berries (soak and cook whole or sprout, or you’ll need a mill to make into flour for longer-storage)
- White rice (brown rice is best stored in freezer or short-term storage)
- Long-grain white & brown rice
- Jasmine rice
- Basmati rice
- Masoori rice
- Short-grain sushi rice & sticky rice
- Arborio & Carnaroli rice (risotto rice)
- Red or Black rice
- Instant, converted, & parboiled quick-cooking rice
- Couscous (small and large pearl/Israeli couscous)
- Bulghur wheat (for tabbouleh, kibbeh, & other dishes)
- Quinoa (white, red, or a blend)
- Amaranth or Millet (very different grains, both can be popped or made into pilaf)
- Pearled Barley
- Rolled & Instant oats
- Steel-cut or Scottish oats
- Buckwheat & Kasha
- Cornmeal, grits, and polenta
- Instant masa (fine for tortillas and coarse for tamales)
- Dried hominy & dried posole corn (nixtamalized dried corn)
- Popcorn
- Cream of Wheat, Malt o Meal, Cream of Rice, and other hot grain cereals
- Dried pasta (long and short shapes, and pastina)
- Ramen and instant noodle soup packets
- White flour (longest shelf life) or whole grain flour (stored in the freezer)
- Canned Goods (and other Shelf-stable Packaging)
- Canned tomatoes and tomato products
- Canned vegetables (corn, green beans, mushrooms, carrots, etc)
- Canned evaporated milk & condensed milk
- Canned coconut milk & cream for curries, drinks, & baking
- Shelf-stable ultra-pasteurized milk or plant-based milks
- Canned chicken, meat, and vegetable stocks & bouillon powder or cubes
- Canned meat, poultry and fish
- tinned sardines, smoked fish, and anchovies
- canned tuna, salmon, & freshwater fish
- canned turkey & chicken
- canned beef or venison
- canned pork (plain or seasoned)
- Pasta sauces and simmer sauces for quick meals (home canned or store-bought)
- Canned basil or tomato pesto & tubes of basil, garlic, & anchovy paste for easy pasta meals & pizza toppings
- Flavorful foods like capers, artichoke hearts, pickles, and hot sauces to add variety to bulk foods
- Shelf-stable Tetra-pac Tofu (for curries, stir fries, scrambles, & smoothies)
- Dried Shelf-stable Foods
- Dried soup mixes
- Instant mashed potatoes & dried potato flakes
- Dried potatoes or hash-browns (homemade or store-bought scalloped potatoes and instant hash browns)
- Dried vegetable mixes for soups and stews (dried peas, dried celery)
- Kombu, Nori, or dried seaweed for soups, salads, sushi, and snacks (rich in minerals and micronutrients)
- Dried tomatoes (and sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil)
- Dried fruits and raisins (for snacking, baking, & adding to hot cereal)
- Powdered dried milk and dried coconut milk powder
- Dried mushrooms: regular button mushrooms, shiitake, wild mushroom blend, & porcini mushrooms and mushroom powder
- Dried meat & poultry jerky (salted beef, pork floss, snack sticks)
- Dried fish (bonito, salt cod, bacalao, dried shrimp) (shelf-stable or cold storage)
- Sugars & Sweeteners
- white granulated sugar
- brown sugar
- honey
- molasses
- maple syrup
- corn syrup
- cane syrup or sorgum syrup
- Splenda and any artificial sweeteners you use (we don’t like these but many people like them for baking or coffee)
- Fats and Oils
- Olive oils (EVOO for salads & garnishing, plus blended or lesser grade oils for cooking)
- Light neutral oils like canola and vegetable oil blends for baking
- Peanut oil for frying
- Coconut oil
- Lard & tallow (refrigerate or freeze, avoid shelf-stable hydrogenate lard for flavor and health)
- A lot of people store vegetable shortening, but we don’t like to use it… if you do, it keeps for a very long time!
- Specialty oils like avocado oil, nut oils (store in fridge), sesame oil
- Nuts and Seeds for baking & snacking
- Vinegar & Acids
- Distilled white vinegar (5% acidity for pickling, cooking & cleaning, higher proof for cleaning and to dilute for cooking)
- Apple cider vinegar (pickling, cooking, cleaning, drinks)
- Red and white wine vinegar (pickling, cooking)
- Specialty vinegar for dipping sauces, cooking, salads & drinks
- malt vinegar
- fruit and herb-infused vinegar
- Umeboshi plum vinegar
- Black vinegar
- Lemon, lime, & other citrus juices & concentrates (yuzu, bitter orange)
- Dried beans, peas & legumes
- Bean soup mix (pre-bagged dried bean mix, with or without ham flavor packet)
- Pinto beans
- Black beans
- Mayacoba beans
- Cranberry or Roman beans
- Lima & baby lima beans
- Navy beans
- Great Northern & Cannelloni beans
- Black-eyed peas & Cowpeas
- Green & brown lentils
- Black lentils
- Red & pink lentils
- Yellow lentils & dal
- Green split peas
- Chickpeas/Garbanzo beans
- Soybeans (for homemade soy milk, tofu, tempeh, etc)
- Mung beans (for sprouting or dal)
- Salt, spices, & seasonings
- Kosher, sea salt, pickling & canning salt, table salt
- Dried herbs & spices
- Whole spices & herbs will stay fresh longer than ground
- Curry pastes & powders
- Soy sauce, tamari, miso, fermented black beans (soy)
- Oyster sauce, stir-fry sauces, teriyaki sauce
- Vanilla and other baking extracts & flavorings
- Hot sauces, dried chiles, salsas, enchilada sauce
- Chutneys & pickled vegetables
- Worcestershire sauce
- Steak sauces, dipping sauces, salad dressings
- Mustard (prepared and dry seeds/powder)
- Olives, pickled peppers, giardiniera, muffaletta
- Cocoa powder, baking chocolate, chocolate chips
- Baking powder, baking soda, & other leavening
- Bulk dried instant yeast (store in freezer)
- Nutritional yeast powder (“nooch”)
- Shelf-stable Parmesan or Romano cheese
- Dried cheese powder (for cooking & popcorn)
- Beverages & Drinks
- Whole coffee beans and instant coffee
- Dried tea (loose-leaf, tea bags, instant tea, chai mix)
- black tea
- green tea
- white tea
- herbal & fruit teas
- Canned & bottled juices
- Soda & sparkling water
- Vegetable juice, bloody mary mix, Clamato juice
- Alcoholic beverages (if your household drinks these, or uses them for tinctures)
- Powdered drink mixes (fruit drinks, hot cocoa, chocolate or strawberry milk, Ovaltine & malt powder, lemonade mix, etc)
Eat like your grandparents and stick to seasonality (with modern variations)…
I come by this way of shopping and stocking a pantry pretty naturally. I grew up on a small family farm in the Ozarks, with my depression-era grandparents “next door” (across the holler and a couple hills?). My parents had a lot of kids and not a lot of money (and often uncertain self-employment income) so they had to plan ahead, make do, and grow a big garden to supplement our food budget.
Most folks who have a rural background and who grew up on farms or with elders who lived through uncertainty are probably pretty familiar with this way of shopping & cooking, but this post is even more for those who have grown up without scarcity and food insecurity.
My Granny and Poppy lived through a lot of hardscrabble hard times (including traveling to California with their extended family during the Great Depression to work as migrant laborers before coming back to their Ozark farm). After living through that, they always had a LOT of food around “just in case”, and so that they could be generous with their loved ones. You couldn’t walk in my Granny’s house without her trying to feed you something, or send you home with some goodies for later.
They also had a huge garden (though smaller than when they were truck-farming on a small-commercial scale), a winter shed full of dug potatoes from their huge garden laid out on wire shelving, a shelf in their laundry room stacked high with home canned and store-bought staples, and a couple of chest freezers for meat from the farm or bought on sale, wild venison & catfish, bags of blanched sweet corn and quarts of sugared sliced strawberries from their garden. When I was really little, they raised their own chickens for eggs and sometimes meat, though that stopped making economic sense (and they got tired of fighting the coyotes and the hawks and gave up).
I don’t have room on our little city lot to raise my own beef cows or pork, or to have an acre+ of tilled garden, but we do have room for a few laying hens, and I do try to grow what I can, stock up when things are in season or on sale, and put them up in various ways to enjoy later… and you can probably do some or all of these things too!
Some seasonal stocking-up and budget shopping tips:
- Make a big batch of homemade kraut in the fall when the cabbage harvest comes in, or when it’s on sale again around St. Paddy’s day (although cabbage is usually pretty cheap year round). You can also slice and dehydrate it to add nutrition to soups and ramen.
- Can or freeze a batch of turkey soup and stock at Thanksgiving when turkeys are on sale.
- Buy as many baking supplies as you have room to suitably store and use during the holidays when nuts, chocolate chips, and other baking staples are often discounted (store nuts in the freezer and they’ll last all year).
- Carrots last FOREVER in the fridge, so I never buy less than a five lb bag as they’re cheaper that way, and if they start to get wonky, I make a big batch of carrot soup, carrot slaw or kraut, or grate them and put them in the dehydrator for shelf-stable soup fixin’s.
- Buy pumpkins and winter squash in the fall and put them somewhere cool and dark and you can enjoy them months later (or roast a giant batch, cube or puree them, and freeze or dehydrate them for easy soups and baking, or pressure can peeled cubed pumpkin in water or broth to puree later). Right after Halloween is a perfect time to pick them up for a song!
- Buy extra apples in the fall when they’re freshly picked and inexpensive, and can apple sauce and apple pie filling to enjoy later, instead of buying cold-storage or imported apples in the spring and summer.
Store your Stash Safely & Prevent Pantry Moths!
All that said, it’s a false economy if you buy all this food and let it go bad. I’ve battled pantry moths in the past, and it’s NO FUN… and they or other insect pests can come in on any packaging from the store, bag of grain or rice or pasta or cereal.
This is a big reason why I’m a fan of decanting stuff into glass or plastic storage containers, and using mylar bags and bulk buckets (with Gamma Seal lids for easy access). Plus, you’ll look and feel so organized, and have that farmhouse vibe everyone loves if you use pretty containers!
Pantry moth eggs are almost impossible to see, but removing the outer layer of packaging (especially cardboard boxes) is the first layer of defense.
Pantry moth larvae can chew right through ziplock and other plastic bags, but glass, hard plastic (with an airtight seal), and mylar bags will keep them out.
Vacuum sealing or using oxygen absorbent packets is another layer of protection to keep your food safe from these pests… and to isolate them if any are present.
Another great strategy is to freeze-treat things like flour, rice, bulk grains, and spices before storing them. This can be hard if you are buying in bulk and don’t have a large freezer… but it’s especially helpful if you are doing the “slow and steady” approach to building up a pantry surplus. Most people can make room for a couple bags of rice or a regular bag of flour in their freezer temporarily.
Leave it in there for two weeks if you want to make sure that all pest eggs are killed. After you freeze your dry goods, let them come up to room temperature first and make sure they are free from condensation moisture before storing them in an air-tight container, like one of the ones in the next section.
I know, this sounds gross but trust me, all grain products whether from the bakery or homemade might have bug eggs hiding somewhere in the grain itself or on the packaging. They mostly won’t hurt you but they are gross and will spoil a lot of food in a hurry if you let them loose in a pantry with open packages. Once the pantry moths or weevils are in your house, it’s really hard to get rid of them if you haven’t stored things properly to prevent them from getting into everything.
Best Pantry Storage Containers for Bulk Goods
Bail-Top Canisters and Jars with Gaskets:
For dry storage the generic ones are also useful, since you don’t need tempered, heat-treated glass for dry goods that won’t be heated.
You can buy replacement rubber or silicone seals for these online or at some kitchen supply stores, so don’t pass on that cheap thrift store jar set just because the rubber seals are missing or dried out! I’ve gotten a lot of these jars this way cheaply.
They’re inert glass (won’t leach anything into your food) and will last forever… as long as you don’t drop them. Don’t drop them… so if you have lots of kids in the house this might not be the way you want to go, at least not with anything they might want to use or can reach.
Recycled Packaging Containers:
This is the greenest and most budget-friendly option. Save bulk plastic wide mouth screw-top containers (like the ones from mixed nuts, snack mix, some rice and couscous, etc) and reuse them for storing your bulk goods.
A lot of the bulk goods we used to buy in screw-top plastic canisters (like nuts and snack mixes) are switching to resealable plastic bags. This is good news for reducing single-use plastic waste, but not so great for pantry storage… save those containers now if you still have them, and then refill them going forwards!
Pasta sauce and other glass jars with resealable lids, or instant coffee or drink mix jars and popcorn or cookie tins with tightly fitting lids are also great.
Remove labels by soaking in hot soapy water, hot water and OxiClean or P.B.W. (Powdered Brewery Wash, a stronger unscented cousin of OxiClean that homebrewers use for cleaning equipment and bottles and is also fantastic for cutting grime and removing labels). Goo Gone followed by strong dish detergent is good for very sticky labels that even those first two treatments can’t remove.
Then label your recycled containers with painter’s tape and sharpies, or stick-on chalkboard labels and chalk markers, or a label maker for a polished look. You can even spray paint the metal lids of glass jars with chalkboard paint or a matching color to your kitchen decor!
Cambro Containers:
- Pros: they’re modular, stackable, sturdy as heck, and the square ones make efficient use of shelf space.
- Cons: They’re expensive if you buy them new, and may or may not be air-tight and pest-proof (depends on who you ask and also which kind you buy).
Plastic Pantry Canisters:
These are pretty ubiquitous, and come in big matching sets with cute chalkboard labels. The lids are airtight and snap closed, and some have pourable easy-access tops (especially the cereal containers) and easy to hold shapes.
The downside? Even though they won’t shatter like a glass jar, these have not been super durable in my experience. I bought some of these in the last two years, and some already have lids that have broken or are showing wear (where they snap closed).
The other consideration for using plastic pantry containers is that they’re bug-proof, but not necessarily rodent proof. They’ll keep mice out but larger rodents will get in if they want to… hopefully this isn’t an issue for you, but if you have things stored in a garage or live somewhere where this can be a problem (an old farmhouse, a rustic cabin, etc), it’s worth considering.
I lost a couple of my favorite bulk storage containers several years ago when a rat got into the pantry at the old rowhouse I was renting and tried to chew in (aaaaaaa gross).
I hope none of you need that advice but you never know? If that’s something you need to worry about, sticking with glass and metal containers is a better option (and a roll of hardware cloth or an exterminator to solve the problem by sealing gaps at the source)… or do what I did – MOVE, lol.
Food-grade buckets and Gamma-Seal lids:
You can buy new food-grade HDPE plastic buckets (Home Depot, Amazon, and home brewing stores often have these) or you can source them second-hand from a commercial bakery or deli (they may smell like pickles or be coated in frosting, but they’ll be free or very cheap).
The screw-top gamma seal lids are expensive but sturdy and last forever, and you can buy them separately or in a bundle with the buckets if you’re getting new ones. You can even get different colors if you want a pretty pantry and price isn’t an issue (or want to color-code your storage). I got ours from Costco, that occasionally has bundles of them for sale online, but I have also seen them at home-improvement stores.
I put the screw-top lids on any bulk bucket we access often (with separate buckets for all-purpose flour, sugar, pasta, rice, and dog food and treats).
You can mix categories of foods in the buckets too as long as there’s nothing strong smelling in the mix. You can get away with regular heavy duty lids with gaskets, but they’re hard to open, so better for deeper pantry storage items you don’t need to access often than for things that you use daily or weekly.
Pick up a bucket opener tool like this one if you’re using the regular lids:
Organize & Tame the Chaos
And because who doesn’t love a good before and after picture… this is what our walk-in main pantry looked like during the early days of the 2020 chaos, when we had bought and shoved a bunch of extra stuff in there and it was just a complete disaster.
Bags and boxes of bulk goods, cans stacked on the floor, the dog food bin underneath cases of ramen and canned goods, and things just piled up in the corner making the wire shelving impossible to access… what a mess.
The picture on the left is obviously the before, and the second one is an after photo. I got a bunch of less-than-perfect but good-enough lumber seconds for free, and used them to make build-in shelving in this closet. That wall on the left is brick, so this was harder than it looks (had to use tapcons and a hammer drill to set the screws) but do-able in a weekend.
This is one of those “it gets worse before it gets better” projects, since I had to take almost EVERYTHING out of the closet to build the shelves… but that was a good time for deep cleaning, organizing items by category, and tossing anything that we were never going to eat.
Then, I bought some inexpensive clear plastic bins to organize things like the cases of ramen and noodles, and some smaller wire shelving to maximize the storage space for mason jars and other things that can’t or don’t stack well. They’re not moth-proof, but they work for now, and can eventually be repurposed for closet or craft organization if and when we get a better system for the pantry.
The gamma seal buckets now hold the dog food and treats (in the foreground) and bulk dry goods like beans, cornmeal, and grains. The top shelf is for items we use less often, like the food dehydrator, candle-making supplies for crafts, and light-weight aluminum pans & plastic party-servingware. I added hooks, and some string-mesh bags from Ikea for pantry produce like onions, potatoes, and winter squash, and to hang my travel knife roll, lunch boxes, and extra shopping bags.
I still need to take everything out at least one more time to caulk the gaps and paint the shelving, and have some more small shelves in mind to optimize the space a little better, but this is so much better, and holds a lot more food than it did before.
I’ll update this post with more photos once I finally paint and make it pretty, but hopefully this serves as inspiration that you don’t have to have that perfect, Pinterest-worthy pantry to get started with food storage and building out your deep pantry!
Want More Food Storage & Preparedness Info?
CANNING: Equipment Guide- What Do I Need to Start Canning at Home?
CANNING: Organizing & Managing Your Mason Jar Inventory
ADVENTURE: Everyday Preparedness, Summer Storm Shakedown-Edition & Go-Bag Basics
CANNING: How to Can Dried Beans
PRESERVE: How to Dehydrate Peas
PRESERVE: How to Dehydrate Celery & Make Homemade Celery Salt