Stockpiling a pantry is a huge blessing when adversity of any kind hits your family. It’s also a blessing to have on hand a supply of items your family regularly uses that you can quickly grab when needed and not have to make a special trip to the store. As we have all experienced over the past year, making multiple trips to the store isn’t always in our best interest.

The idea of stockpiling isn’t new. Even before the pandemic hit, the Federal Government’s Homeland Security office strongly suggested that Americans stock up on food, water, medicine, and household necessities. They advised a stockpile of 3 days worth of provisions as a minimum.

A few weeks ago, I read a report that said over half of all Americans began stockpiling food in one way or another since the beginning of 2020. On the one hand, I’m glad that people began to stock up. But then again, I am sure that many did it without a systematic method and in major panic-mode. We’ve all seen the results (hello, bare store shelves!).

In this post, I would like to share the steps my family used to plan out and begin our 3-month pantry stockpile so that if you feel led of the Lord to begin such a system, you will have the tools you need to make it happen while avoiding costly mistakes.

WHAT IS A 3-MONTH FAMILY PANTRY STOCKPILE?

A 3-month pantry stockpile is a system you customize and implement by purchasing items your family regularly consumes in a week and multiplying them by 12 so that your family’s storehouse is always full. The items you gather are rotated regularly into your menu by shopping in your pantry before heading to the store.

I think of having a pantry stockpile as a form of homeowners insurance. Calamity and hardships (birth, death, illness, job layoff, or natural disaster) happen all the time. It is such a blessing to know that should a hardship happen, your family will be provided for in this area for at least 3 months. And as an added bonus, a well-stocked pantry allows us to be a blessing to those around us who need help.

I wrote about this in our last post, Start A Pantry Stockpile. In that post, I share some of the basic answers to arguments that might act as roadblocks to beginning your own pantry stockpile.

IS A FAMILY PANTRY STOCKPILE THE SAME THING AS PREPPING OR LONG-TERM STORAGE?

I guess you could call this prepping, but in my mind, prepping is more than just stockpiling food and household consumables. A prepper prepares for the worst-case by focusing on survival in all areas of life. They learn how to live off the land and use what God has provided in nature for medicine, shelter, defense, and sometimes even food.

Long-term food storage is the food you stockpile for longer than 3 months; think of tubs of rice, wheat, and corn. Many with long-term storage began with a 3-month stockpile and build upon that.

My family has implemented a hybrid system for our stockpile. In addition to the 3-months supply of food, we gather about a year’s worth of personal items (deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste) as well as household consumables (cleaners, light bulbs, coffee filters) as I find them on sale. I have not felt the need to become a prepper or stockpile long-term so this article will not address either of those areas.

HOW TO PLAN A 3-MONTH FAMILY PANTRY STOCKPILE

First things first, I would suggest you pray for wisdom and discernment. Is this a wise way God would have you steward your finances? If so, take the next step by grabbing a pencil and notebook for the planning stages. If this is not the area God wants you to focus on right now, shrug this concept off and move on to whatever area God directs you to instead.

Then decide how much of a working pantry stockpile you want to store: 2 weeks worth, a month, 3 months? Every family’s needs are different so just because a 3-month supply works for us doesn’t mean it will work for you. That said, you can easily take the instructions here and adjust them to suit the amount of food storage you would like to implement.

Next, how much money will you realistically be able to devote to your stockpile? It is amazing how much $15.00 a week will get you. Don’t fret that what you have to put forth isn’t enough. God knows your situation and He will give you wisdom.

You should gently ease into this sort of lifestyle. There is no need to rush out and begin buying in a panic. Take these steps one-by-one so that when you are done with your planning, you will have a well-thought-out area set up to house your stockpile and the confidence to fill and maintain it.

Practical Tip: As you are in the planning stages, begin to collect spare cash. It could be the spare change your accumulate each day or (as mentioned above) a specific amount set aside from your paycheck.

PICK THE LOCATION FOR YOUR STOCK

Next, you will need to scope out your house for a cool, dry place to put your stockpile. Ideally, this spot should be large enough to house all your goods. Keep in mind temperature fluctuations will impact your stockpile. Consider a closet, basement, utility room, spare room, garage…anywhere you can safely place shelves.

You don’t have a space you can dedicate to your stock? Be creative! If need be, you can find many little spots that you can utilize instead. Think of a little here and a little there (behind the couch with a nice sheet draped over it so it looks like a sofa table, in a corner of the room, under the beds). Make use of what you have.

Practical Tip: You need to be aware that your supply will attract small children, pets, bugs, curious visitors of the human variety, and rodents so be careful how and where you store your stock.

IS SPECIAL EQUIPMENT NEEDED?

You can make this as expensive (mylar bags, oxygen packets, sealing bag machines, fancy shelving units, and matching containers) or as cheap as you are comfortable with. Again, I don’t believe there is one right way to do this so I will share with you what I use.

I have found the following helpful:

Shelves:

It won’t do you much good to rush out and buy a cart full of stock if you have no place to put it when you get home.

You can buy them or build shelves out of boards and gallon containers (which you can store food in!). Cinder blocks and scrap lumber work too. It doesn’t have to be pretty; it has to be accommodating. Just keep in mind that you need something pretty sturdy because your stockpile will be heavy. You sure don’t want to load up your shelves only to have them collapse and possibly break open or destroy your stock.

Practical Tip: The shelves I found at Sam’s Club (under $65.00 each) are great. I prefer flat shelves over those with ventilated shelves or wire racks. I’ve heard of people using old bookshelves, sturdy boxes, storage cube shelves, crates, etc. Use what works for your needs.

Containers:

I use storage tubs with tight-fitting lids for some of my stock. I prefer clear tubs so I can see at a glance what is in them. We live in the country surrounded by farm fields which means we do get visits from mice. So for me, having sealed containers isn’t optional; for you, it might be. Things like canned goods I do not put in tubs but boxes and bags of nuts, dried fruit, cereal, baking supplies, etc. all go into tubs separated by category where possible (baking in this tub, breakfast food in that tub).

Miscellaneous Handy Items:

various sizes freezer baggies (once opened some things, like brown sugar, may keep better transferred into another container)
freezer paper for separating and freezing meat
permanent marker to record what is inside the freezer paper
masking tape to hold the freezer paper closed and to label the shelves
A printed Pantry Inventory printable (available through our next post)

Practical Tip: Scope out garage sales, thrift stores, and even the dollar store for reusable containers (glass or plastic) to hold your stock. If you are more comfortable, purchase all your items new.

PREPARE YOUR LISTS

Now it is time to put pencil to paper. This last part of your planning stage will be the most time-consuming. Our intent is to make note of what we currently have on hand, so we know where to go from here. In our next post, we will take the lists we create here and prepare shopping lists.

Go through your current inventory and create 3 separate lists. Because this can be very overwhelming, it helps to start with one area (one drawer, one cabinet) at a time before moving on to record the next area.

Make a list of:

1. Edible food your family uses (including perishable foods like ketchup, apples, and potatoes).

2. Household consumables your family uses (lightbulbs, dish soap, laundry detergent).

3. Personal hygiene supplies your family uses.

Practical Tip: If you come across something that your family didn’t really enjoy, don’t bother recording it because you don’t want to spend money on that item again.

MARK EACH LIST

Needs: Take each list and in some way mark the items your family needs; as in, if you couldn’t shop for the next 60 days, what would your family go crazy without. This could include water, toothpaste, deodorant, baby formula, prescription medication, pasta noodles, etc. Everyone’s list will look different. I mark each of these items with a pink N.

Wants: Now take each list and mark (with a different color maybe) what your family wants to have on hand but is not critical to your survival (makings for pizza, hair care products, chips, cookies, etc…). I mark mine with a blue W.

As you will see in our next post, the reason for this is so that as we prepare our stockpile shopping list, we will focus on the needed items first with the money we have set aside. As we fill our 3-month stockpile with needed items we can begin to include desired or wanted items. This will round out our pantry in a practical way.

HOW MUCH WILL YOU NEED?

The answer to this varies widely depending on who you ask and what your goals are. For the most part, I think it makes sense to decide how much your family realistically consumes in a week and times it by 4. This would be the amount of food you would need to purchase for a month’s supply. If your goal is to have a 3-month pantry stockpile, you would times it by 12. There is no right or wrong answer here. Whatever you purchase will be fine because something is better than nothing.

Next to each item, jot down the number of items you will need to purchase to meet your stockpile goal.

Practical Tip: For about a month I kept my grocery lists and receipts and kept track of what we consumed. I may have purchased 10 pounds of chicken breast during that time but if we only ate half of that, I needed to be aware of it. Or say I purchased a box of granola bars but we always seemed to run out midweek. I might plan for two boxes of granola bars per week for the month (or 24 boxes for a 3 month supply).

IN CONCLUSION

I realize we are right in the middle of this little adventure but there is so much information here I thought I would break it up into another post. As you walk out the steps above, I will be preparing our next post in this series with information on how to purchase, organize, and use your stockpile.

YOUR TURN

Have you implemented a family pantry stockpile? What part of the process was the most overwhelming for you? Have you maintained your stockpile or let it go by the wayside? Comment below and let us know!