In this article, Mary Kochan explains how to incorporate your freezer into the pantry system. Mary’s system will help you stock up and save money by not having to go shopping as often as you do now. My Mother-In-Law has an upright freezer in her garage which she uses in this way, and her system works well.
At this point, our family is able to go shopping once a week. I do have some non-perishables stored and we could probably survive in our house for a month or so, if we lost power and were snowed in, as long as I start storing water. Mary says I can store enough to only have to go shopping once every 3 to six months and beyond! I am intrigued by this concept and will try it.
Right now we have our kitchen refrigerator and a medium-sized chest freezer. In a few weeks we will be receiving another, larger chest freezer. I am hoping that this summer we can grow a lot of food and freeze or dry the bulk of it. I would love to be able to go “shopping” in my own pantry all winter, and maybe save up for an upright freezer to replace the chest freezers eventually.
The fourth and final part to Mary’s pantry article will be coming out next week. I will be out of town until the end of the week, so I won’t blog about it until I get back. You can read the article when it comes out at Today’s Catholic Woman.
