THE WELL STOCKED PANTRY  

		by  Gail Damerow  

(Mother Earth News  /  August/September 1993)  


  A properly designed and stocked pantry is not as big an undertaking as
it might seem.  If you do some gardening and put up any of your produce by
canning or drying, you already have a good start.  Although the price may
seem somewhat costly at a little over $900, you can cut costs up to
one-third by either fitting an existing closet with shelving or by
building a pantry into a corner of your basement (you'll have to build
only two walls instead of four).  Note: Building your pantry into a corner
without insulation should be done only with basements that are submerged
in soil; the soil will insulate your pantry, keeping stored food cool.
Building a pantry in an above-ground basement requires extra insulation,
adding to the cost.    
  Last, remember that this is one project you don't want to skimp on.
After all, a solid, well-stocked pantry is insurance that your family will
have food and drink throughout any emergency.    

  BUILDING THE PANTRY   

  The size of your pantry will depend pretty much on your reasons for
building it.  When we took stock of our own reasons, we decided that we
wanted a place to store our annual supply of home-canned vegetables and
fruit, and we wanted to be able to save money by buying food in bulk.  Our
survival instincts also told us we would be wise to have sufficient
supplies on hand to feed the two of us for six months in an emergency
(such as an illness or injury that keeps us from going out or a natural
disaster that closes the highway interstate so stores don't get restocked).
  We haven't yet experienced an emergency lasting six days, let alone six
months, but that hasn't stopped us from digging into our supplies on
occasion.  We generally shop every six to eight weeks, but we sometimes
skip a trip in winter when roads are icy or in summer when farm chores and
marathon canning sessions don't give us time for a serious shopping trip.
  To hold everything we wanted to put into it, our pantry had to be 15'
long and 4 1/2' wide.  We used 11 1/2"-deep shelving along three walls.
On one of the short walls, we put up 4 1/2" shelving to hold flavorings,
spices, and seeds for sprouting.  We were left with a 31" aisle.  Now,
we're sorry we didn't make the aisle six inches wider.  As it is, space is
a little tight and I'm always afraid I'll knock a jar off a shelf trying
to turn around with my arms full.     
  We put the pantry in the northwest corner of our basement, which has a
concrete floor and therefore stays dry.  We would have preferred the
cooler northeast corner, but that space was already claimed by our water
system.  Relocating the pressure tank, pump, and water heater would have
made the project prohibitively expensive.   
  Although the existing basement provided two walls, we framed all four
pantry walls with 2x4s, added insulation all around -- including in the
ceiling -- and sealed the walls with a moisture barrier.  We covered the
inside walls with 1/2" drywall, taped and painted them with primer, then
applied two coats of semigloss paint.   
  For shelving, we used 1"x12" pine.  The second shelf is 14 1/2" above
the first shelf, which rests on a 3 1/2"-high baseboard -- perfect for
holding gallon and half-gallon jars.  The next three shelves are 9 1/4"
apart (good for quart canning jars) and the upper shelves are 6 1/4" apart
(for pint jars and standard cans).   
  To keep the shelves from sagging under the weight of our heavy canned
goods, we made them no more than 52" long between uprights, and then added
PVC pipe supports every 26".  In one area we left out the baseboard to
provide room for bulk items such as buckets of sugar or flour and
jerricans of water.   
  For easy cleaning, we made all of the shelves removable and painted them
with primer and two coats of oil-based paint, sanding lightly between each
coat.  If we were building the pantry today, we would use vinyl-coated
wire shelves, now available at building-supply stores for the same cost as
lumber.   
  To ensure an even year-around temperature, our pantry has no windows.
It does have a bathroom-type exhaust fan, though, to circulate the air and
help keep things cool during the summer.  A timer switches the fan on at
2:00 AM and off again at 6:00 AM to bring in cool air during the summer.
(It doesn't run in the winter because the canned goods would freeze.)  A
light fixture and an entry door in one corner complete the setup.   

  STOCKING THE PANTRY    

  When we were ready to stock our pantry, we made a list of all the things
we thought we should store.  Instead of running up a huge grocery bill by
buying everything at once, we picked up a few items each time we shopped.
It took us about two years to get the pantry fully stocked and another
year to fine-tune our inventory.  Initially, we had too many of some
things and too few of others, and in our zeal we had stocked up on some
stuff we really didn't care for.  Remember, if you have to weather an
emergency, your stress level will be much lower if you at least like what
you're eating.   
  As it turns out, over the years we've adjusted our pantry inventory so it
reflects our normal eating patterns.  For example, we eat tuna once a week
and sardines once a week, so our six-month supply includes 24 cans of tuna
and 24 cans of sardines.  An important benefit of having your pantry
inventory closely reflect your normal eating habits is that everything
gets periodically rotated.  Using and replacing food on a regular basis
ensures that nothing gets so old as to lose its palatability or
nutritional value and that cans and jar lids don't sit around long enough
to rust through.   
  The produce that we can and dry ourselves is put up in any quantity we
can get our hands on, up to about two year's worth.  The first year's
supply carries us through to the next harvest season.  The second year's
supply is our hedge against a bad harvest year.  (We seem to have a lot of
these lately, thanks to drought and unseasonal frost.  Happily, though,
the same kind of fruits and vegetables are rarely involved three years in
a row).    
  Things we consider to be pantry staples are beans (dried and canned),
rice, cereal, flour, cornmeal, crackers, sugar (including molasses and
honey), jam, pickles, pasta, tomato paste, soups (a big variety),
flavorings, and spices (to keep things from getting monotonous), canned
fruit and vegetables (homegrown and store-bought), meats (canned fish,
home-canned chicken, etc..), dried vegetables (home-dried or purchased
from a camping supply store), nuts and dried fruit, oil, and vinegar.  For
drinks we have tomato juice, fruit juices, milk (canned and powdered),
coffee, tea, and potable water in sealed jerricans (changed frequently to
keep it fresh).  For our mouser we keep a supply of low-ash cat food.
Because we never know what an emergency might bring, one shelf is
dedicated to basic medical supplies -- bandages, Band-Aids, Neosporin,
hydrogen peroxide, and analgesics.  To make sure all the basics are
covered, we include a variety of vitamins.   
  A few tips we've learned over the years are:  Include some foods that
don't have to be cooked and/or keep a camp stove handy in case the
electricity goes out for an extended period (who wants to stoke the wood
stove in the middle of summer!?!); make a point of including lots of
variety -- it doesn't take long to get tired of tuna casserole with
noodles; pack dry foods (beans, pasta, rice, etc.) in gallon and
half-gallon jars to keep out bugs and moisture; [see VACPAC.ZIP]; seal
boxes and bags (crackers, cereal, flour, etc.) in strong plastic bags or
empty them, too, into jars with tight fitting lids; keep bulk items like
flour and sugar from getting lumpy by storing them in food-grade plastic
buckets with tight fitting lids.   
  Whenever you use something from your pantry, write it down on your
shopping list so you won't forget to replace it.  Keep a record of
home-canned foods that need to be replaced next harvest season.  As your
cache of food and supplies grows, you'll rest easier knowing that, come
what may -- natural disaster, riot, or strike -- your well-stocked pantry
will see you and your family through.  As a side benefit, you'll always be
prepared for unexpected company.  :+}   


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
		SIDEBAR   
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  

	BILL OF MATERIALS   

QTY.		SIZE		DESCRIPTION			COST   
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  
40 ea		2x4x8'		Studs 				127.60  
1  ea		26"		Door with frame 		 62.50  
17 ea		1/2"x8'		Sheetrock drywall		 70.04  
1  ea		4' 2-tube	Flourescent light fixture	 12.00  
300'		1x12		Pine shelving			255.00
110'		1x4		Base and narrow shelving	182.60  
400 sq ft 	3 1/2"		Fiberglass Insulation		 66.18  
2  ea				Off/On switch			  5.00   
1  ea				Duplex outlet 			  1.25  
1  ea		Double		Electrical box with cover	  1.25  
1  ea 		Single		Electrical box with cover  	  1.00  
1  ea 		Round 		Electrical box with cover	  1.10  
1  ea				Exhaust fan with duct		 45.00   
1  gal				White primer			 12.00  
1  gal 				White gloss or semigloss paint	 14.00   
1  ea				Lock set (in knob)  		  8.09  
1  ea				Timer (24 hour)			 18.00  

				Miscellaneous			 50.00  

				Grand Total 			932.61  

  Miscellaneous items include: duplex wire with ground; joint compound and
tape; drywall nails or screws; brushes and sandpaper; nails for 2x4s; and
other trim items as desired (or as the pocket book allows).   

    Source: geocities.com/tominelpaso