Do you have a storecupboard / larder / backup food?

[TheKitchenWitch]

I don't mean if you are a Prepper necessarily, just do you have deliberate extra food stored at home? And if so, what things do you have?

I set up a larder in the cellar during Covid (partly because of shortages it was good to have some backups, and partly as I had the time to do it!), and I've found it really useful since. I basically have all the regular essentials which then get replaced immediately as they get used up. I also add to it when things are on offer.

I have:
tins & jars - beans/pulses, tomatoes, veg (inc. potatoes), sauerkraut, pickles, fish, fruit
long-life milk, soy, coconut
jams, spreads, honey
teabags and coffee beans
dry baking ingredients - flour, sugar, cocoa, yeast, salt
oil, vinegar, condiments
rice, dried beans / pulses / grains
pasta and noodles
part-baked bread and rolls
savoury snacks - crisps, nuts, crackers etc
sweets snacks - biscuits, chocolates, sweets
pet food

I also have a toiletries section (def. learnt that lesson from covid!)

We buy drinks by the crate (not in UK, it's more usual to do here) so always have a lot of water/lemonade etc in.

It gives me a weird sense of pleasure to see it 😁 and obviously a certain amount of security - we can manage for a good while without needing to go shopping if necessary.

Just interested in who else does this and what sort of things you have?

Yes and no. My shopping habits changed after covid. I now mainly WFH and as I don't live particularly close to big food shops I do far less top up shopping now. Since I'm not passing a big food store daily I keep a wide range of ingredients in stock. This as been handy recently when shops seem less reliably stocked, especially since meal planning is important to me.

Where do people bulk buy cheaply? I heard Costco wasn't worth it.

I always have water in (cheap, own brand), 2 x 2litre bottles

Everyone is but we had no drinking water for 3 weeks or so a few years ago, you could only drink it if boiled (crypto in water) and I was immunocompromised so didn't even want to risk that. Water sold out everywhere. So now I keep a bit in just so if I wake up and there's no water, I've got some

@HelebethH dry fry bacon lardons, strain off fluid, add 2 cartons of low fat creme fresh, simmer on lowest gas ring, chop up a large cooked chicken breast or 2 smaller ones and add, add gorgonzola to taste. Simmer together for about 3 mins. Add half a small tin of peas. Add a splash of double cream I usually simmer for a further 2-3 mins then pour over tagliatelle. This makes 5 portions.

Don't use frozen peas as makes it watery.

You could add sweetcorn if prefer.

It only takes 15 mins using precooked chicken breast.

Yes. We live rural, and have harsh winters.
We always have 2 weeks supply of food at minimum.

I try and bulk buy 2-3 times a year, for all cupboard essentials. Then weekly we just buy fresh bits or grow our own in summer.

We make most things from scratch, so having just 1/2 bag of flour would make me panic.

We also get powercuts and water turned off several times a year. Yesterday the weather was so bad the power was off 9hrs, and water pumps locally turned off so we didn’t have mains water 3hrs.
We always have a few crates of water and juice, plus supply of uht milk.

Why?

People who always keep a back up, like I do, weren’t the ones emptying the shelves.

I always have a second pack in the cupboard. For example, one packet of pasta opened, another one in the cupboard. I’ve always lived like that and don’t buy any more food than anyone else. That way if we get snowed in/ the shops run out/ there is a lock down/ I get ill I don’t run out.

Before I was more heavily stocked coming up to Brexit and Covid (was watching reports from China from late December (post Christmas) 2019), I still had plenty of options to do a variety of meals from a variety of countries from the store cupboard with just adding some meat/veg. As often our schedules got so hectic or we had weather issues, and growing up in the 80s when we had issues - I needed to not need to run to shops on a daily basis or 3/4 times a week.

Even now, I have a couple of drawers in a wardrobe with various staples in that I use to replenish downstairs, and restock drawers when either getting very empty or when I see good deals on the items we use anyway.

When we've had bad snows in the past, I have been very thankful. And when the initial lockdowns happened, we weren't running around the supermarket for flour/toilet rolls/hand san/tinned tomatoes/pasta etc as we already had sufficient for our needs slowly gathered. So I was happy to use those up (and some other things for variety) and wait for supply chains to get reorganised.

I’ve always kept a well stocked larder but that’s because I grew up rurally where you didn’t know what the village shop might have in stock or if you might just be able to get out due to floods or snow.

When Covid happened I had fortnightly deliveries from Ocado. We didn’t run out of anything and I didn’t ever need to buy more than my share. I didn’t set foot into a supermarket for over a year.

I was amazed at the people queuing and panicking. Especially people who, for various reasons, had to have a certain brand or exact product. If you can only eat one brand of something I don’t understand why you wouldn’t have a back up supply.

We have an asian/world foods shop close by. Its amazing. You can buy in bulk there and get herbs and spices and pickled goods in large quantities. Ive had some great bargains. They have a fresh meat counter with a proper butcher. I find their beef mince less fatty and very tasty. I get about 5/6 meals for the 3 of us out of £7 worth of mince. Such as tacos, mince and onion, spag bol and chilli.

I sometimes batch cook a generic mince concoction with tinned toms, stock cubes onion and garlic and bulk it up with grated carrots and oats or lentils. I freeze it in small bags and can add things like chilli powder, cheese or curry powder for a quick dinner. Ive also used it for pie fillings.

Also check out any Polish shops nearby, especially for pickles and you have to try the polish mustards... i got a honey and beer one and a horseradish one. Both were lovely with pickles and cold meats and even thrown into mash. They were super cheap.

This sounds amazing, im going to look into this. Where do you order from please.

You’re a prepper OP whether you consider yourself to be or not.

I live 50 miles from the supermarket and the journey is weather-dependent- like fuck am I doing that just because I didn’t consider there’s only an inch of ketchup left.

I find anyone without stores to waste tremendous amounts of money + time because they seem to exist one meal at a time. My ex literally goes to Tesco twice a day because he can’t even think ahead to the next meal.

Polish food is criminally under-appreciated.

I grew up like this because we lived very rurally.

It's just normal to me to have what what amounts to about three week's worth of food in the cupboard.

I have a partially inadvertent set of stockpiles, as follows:
Left overs from my Dad's cupboards.
From when I bought my house, and working in the new one, so stocked it for meals while there, while maintaining cupboards at old home.
Brexit,
Covid.
New home in area reputed to get snowed in. (Also for period during changeover, mentioned above.
Freezer has homemade soups and casseroles, but not enough uncooked protein and veg at the moment, or space for them.

Similar lists to pp. I am part way through redoing my inventory which I had on a database on my old mobile before it died, Top up as necessary. Baked beans due for that, I think. I have to monitor empty tins for stuff I haven't cooked.
Could last three weeks for two, with weird menus towards end.

So many nice things. Ive been making the little cabbage leaves stuffed with onion rice and pork mince... in fact i want to eat that right now. The mustard goes nice with this too.
Have you tried the hazelnut vodka? It tastes like nutella, very dangerous ha ha.

I sometimes batch cook a generic mince concoction with tinned toms, stock cubes onion and garlic and bulk it up with grated carrots and oats or lentils. I freeze it in small bags and can add things like chilli powder, cheese or curry powder for a quick dinner. Ive also used it for pie fillings.

I do exactly the same thing.

I have a massive walk in larder and a cellar storeroom which are full to brimming. Mainly because I'm completely chaotic and have no idea what's there so keep buying fresh in the weekly shop rather than venturing into the chaos. If armargeddon hits we'll be good for a few years.

No, because we don't have the space.

@PriamFarrl

Because having 1 spare packet isnt Stashing

Preppers are the opposite of those clearing shelves.

When everyone started panic buying soap, we weren’t part of it as always have a few in to top up whenever needed.
I bought 12 bars of dove soap last for €6 before Christmas , it’s now €21 for 12 bars.

So we make huge savings and I don’t have to think about adding soap or other toiletries into a trip for fruit and vegetables.

But it is what people on this thread are talking about.

@PriamFarrl

Is it?

Several people including the op say they good weeks without having to go shopping.

Thats not just 1 extra packet

@Botw1 not everyone is able or wants to shop little-and-often. It's their circumstances and/or choice just as your circumstances and/or choice leads you to prefer shopping often. Neither is wrong or unreasonable.