The canning is done and the growing season is coming to a close. What’s next?

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

It’s not like the pioneer days, I know, where once you’re snowed in you won’t get to a store until spring. However, it does just make sense to stock up a bit, so if you can’t get to the store because of weather or perhaps sickness, you’re not left in a tight spot. I also look at my food storage as a type of savings account. When possible it’s nice to lock in cheaper pricing and take advantage of sales or discounts. Every where you turn someone seems to be complaining about the cost of food and

Over the months of October and November I will be working on my “stocking up list” The reason I’m spacing it out is mostly driven by finances. As a one income family, I find preplanning bigger ticket purchases or bigger amounts helps not put as much strain on the bank account. For example, we have been fortunate to be able to buy a whole cows worth of beef every autumn for a number of years now. However, to be able to do that it takes careful planning and saving over the whole year to be able to facilitate that. That being said, apparently I need to do that just to buy chocolate chips now. Has anyone seen how much a bag is at Costco? Diabolical!

What I’m stocking up on…

We are an ingredients household. We can make just about anything but it’s absolute misery if you run out of an ingredient mid recipe. We do have a corner store near by for such emergencies but it can sometimes be hard to swallow the higher price tags.

This is my list of pantry goods staples.

• Flour
• Sugar
• Oats
• Spices
• Salt
• Molasses
• Cornstarch
• Baking Powder/ Soda
• Yeast
• Cocoa Powder
• Chocolate chips
• Coconut oil
• Nut Butters
• Honey
• Rice

I’m sure you’ve heard all about Azure Standard from our southern friends. If you’re wondering if there is a Canadian equivalent, the closest I’ve found is Organic Matters who are based out of B.C. They have a huge selection of things. However, be sure to do a bit of math and shop around your own small shops to be sure you’re getting the best pricing. I enjoy getting certain things from Organic Matters but not everything. For myself, I’ve found a combination of different sources to supply our pantry works best. Whether it’s online, big retailors, or small shops they all have their benefits. It’s up to the homemaker to decide what best suits their home and family lifestyle.

Medicines and vitamins are also a good thing to make sure you have a good supply. It never fails for us, sickness always hits in the middle of the night or on a weekend when it’s harder to go get things. My short list for my first aid supplies:

• Cough medicine
• Pain/fever medicine
• Benadryl
• Band-Aids of various sizes
• Gauze
• Hydrogen peroxide
• Rubbing Alcohol

Shop the Sales – Like I said earlier, we get a whole cows worth of beef. That pretty much stocks our freezer. As we have room in the freezer, I watch for meat sales. I never buy grocery store meat, unless it’s on sale. You’ll begin to notice trends of when certain types of meat go on sale. Example: Thanksgiving and Christmas you can usually count on ham and turkey going on sale. Each season seems to have specific things that go on sale more.

I also very rarely buy produce at full price. The app Flipp is extremely handy for checking out your local grocery store flyers. It helps me plan where and if I need to go to certain stores. Finding other apps such as Flashfood for discount foods can be a big money saving tool. During the winter especially I get a lot of produce this way for much cheaper than I would otherwise. Use my referral code, ADYCYCPR, to get $5 off your first order with Flashfood.

The last thing, I like to make sure I have sorted before any snow actually flies, is winter clothes. Every spring I pack everything away and think “I’ll definitely remember what we have”. Spoiler – I don’t. For the kids, I can usually always find the three main staples; coats, snow pants, and boats, all thrifted. The trick though is to start look for what you need in the warm months. If you wait until it’s cold everyone is already snatching everything up. Keeping a list of what we need on my phone has helped me avoid doubling up on something we already have. I just have to be good at keeping the list updated lol.

I always love seeing what others stock in their pantries and how they do things in their spaces. It’s great inspiration and encouragement. Homemaking doesn’t have to be lonely. It can be a community of like minded women all working together to help each other improve what they can, where they can, when they can for their families and homes. I’d love to hear your pantry stocking methods and all other things homemaking! Comment below or come find me on Instagram.