Pandemic Pantry Progress

Our pantry order arrived! Not a bit of plastic.
Everything is packaged in heavy paper sacks.

We have been working on our pantry since we moved to Nova Scotia in 2014, but didn't really maximize on the space, having never had a real pantry before. We needed to get motivated.

The pandemic provided us with a good kick in the butt, and this year we finally got down to business. 

When we were researching our new home area, we discovered an agri-business in the Maritimes that specializes in locally grown organic staple foods. We also found a food buying group in our community.

But we had not yet connected the two.

Enter The Virus and we had that extra bit of motivation we needed. 

We tried to order directly from the wholesaler, but were told because of the pandemic they were very busy and had to enforce a minimum order of several hundred dollars or 600 pounds of delivered weight. 

We couldn't do that. We are building a pantry, not a bunker.

Therefore, we contacted the local food buying group, and found that they deal with the supplier! We could order whatever we wanted, in any quantity.

They took our order by email, we paid by e-transfer, and when it came in a couple of weeks later, it was delivered right to our front door free of charge.

As much as possible, the products are from local organic farms. All their flour is stone ground, a process which retains more fibre and nutrients than steel roller milling which causes the loss of anywhere from 20 - 30% of the good stuff.

This is what was in our order. All of it is organic.

- 2.27 kg sesame seeds

- 2.27 kg soybeans

- 2 X 2.27 kg cornmeal

- 2.27 kg sunflower seeds

- 20 kg oatmeal

- 10 kg whole wheat flour

I have never seen a 20 kilogram bag of rolled oats before. What a beautiful thing, if you love oats, and we do. We were buying non-organic large oats (for the same price) in 1 kg plastic bags from the store previously. 

That's 20 plastic bags we will not be using!

Over the next few weeks we will be augmenting our progressing pantry with food from the garden. We have already made strawberry jam, and we are looking forward to drying herbs, making pesto, canning pickled beets and cucumbers, as well as tomatoes and/or salsa.

We are also freezing things like bush and pole beans, peas, and kale.

We have also increased some amounts of pantry items. For many things, we try to always keep 2 in stock. Now we are keeping 3 of certain items, like peanut butter. The less we have to shop, the better, and this allows us to take advantage of sales when they come up.

Our food storage has never been this prepared before, and the timing couldn't be better. It all fits with giving up our vehicle, the pandemic, and an impending Greatest Depression. 

And who knows what else?