How I Plan A Year of Food - January Pantry Challenge 

I’d love to insert something here: Stock what you eat. If you haven’t eaten canned corn in a year, don’t buy it. If you don’t eat those noodle sides that are on sale 2/$1, don’t buy them. It takes up space in your pantry better used for things you DO eat. In other words: Don’t be me. (Unless you also have a very large dog who happily eats your mistakes).

This past year was my first year canning anything, My first year gardening and planning a seasonal garden to sustain my family and canning habbit and my first year trying to put together 1 years worth of food. To say I was overwhelmed was an understatement! I felt like I was thrown into the deep end and was drowning. To be honest I hadn't ever been interested in these things until miss 11 ( at the time) told me all she wanted for her birthday was to learn how to "keep food the grandparents way." Hmmmm well we salt and dry meats to preserve them in Australia and I wasn't about to eat a years worth of that so the research began and we found canning. Then it was budgeting a new way, shopping for bargains to can bulk amounts and so shopping a new way and storing food on a much bigger scale...but my lord was it all worth it! Through the whole of last year I had acute bilateral pulmonary embolism and was revived 51 times , supermarkets wouldn't let me into them and they wouldn't deliver to my home because I had a respiratory illness :-( Tough year to say the least....But every time I came home to soups and stews and meals in jars, ingredients in jars that just needed heating and it was such a blessing! So as overwhelming as it was to buy the books, the jars, the equipment and all the things, I can honestly say that canning made my life easier when I didn't even know I would survive and it brought my daughter and I together in a way we couldn't ever anticipate...we are both 100% addicted to this new way of living and togetherness.

We just moved my 94 year old grandmother into assisted living and she isn't able to care for her little dog anymore. So I now have her fur baby and decided to make his food instead of buying kibble. So I now have a new pantry goal to have a years worth of food items to make his vet approved recipes.

I get excited too! And then I’m disappointed when no one understands my excitement or why I’m so proud. But I’m proud of all my hard work anyway!

I love that you are a fellow pantry geek!!! I find such joy in food preservation through canning, freeze drying, dehydrating and shopping smart through local farms and yes the box stores when necessary. As someone who suffers with anxiety and severe OCD controlling my families food gives me such comfort. Showing others how to do it is even better. Loving your videos Leisa….thanks for allowing us into your home!!!!!

When I was young, my dad worked construction. So we had to shop and plan all summer to stock our pantry so we could make it through the winter. But I also remember buying cases of vegetables at that time because we could buy them for about 29 cents a can. And we grew our own beef and did have a good garden. I'm grateful for those lessons because it taught me to always be ready and I have always kept a pantry. But I had slacked off a little. I'm so grateful for the encouragement and push from everyone that I watch to get it built back up. We can't afford to be slackers like my chickens are right now!

Fridays should be CORD day. Clean Out Refrigerator Dinner that's the day to eat up leftovers.

A master pantry plan here, then every 3 months I move items forward. Rotation keeps things sane.

First of all, "less peoply" 🙌, and my animals are my favorite people, too!! When I was growing up, hamburger buns were a luxury. To this day, if we are having burgers on a bun instead of light bread, it makes me feel like I'm doing ok!

whats not to enjoy?! i'm getting a little push to actually write everything down, and organizing the little stashes of cans, etc. now i know what not to buy, and what i could get a little more of. thanks!

I absolutely love when you sit down and explain the things you have since the new year. It's like you are talking to each of us individually. Thank you for your time and experience. I have learned a great deal because of your videos. Happy canuary

I took a regular 8.5 x 11 piece of paper, drew 14 rectangles on it with a space for the date at the top of each and laminated it (I actually have 2, so I could plan for a month if needed and did during the pandemic). I use wet-erase markers to plan out 2 weeks of dinner meals(taking into account that week's activities) and shop from that every 2 weeks. I go around the kitchen, laundry, pantries and freezers figuring out what I have and what I need to cook those dinners, add the staples and make a shopping list. This way when I shop, I buy what I need and a couple of extra for the pantry/freezer shelves. I HATE, HATE, HATE running out!!!

At 59 I've always stocked to the raftersbfor any "just in case" scenarios, and this has saved my bacon more times than I can count in my lifetime, most recently 3 major surgeries in the past year. Pre-planning definitely takes the weight off the shoulders if/when any unforseen event occurs . . . AND THEY MOST DEFINITELY WILL!! 😁

Thank you for breaking it down. I’m not even a total newbie, but as I organize my pantry I’m thinking, “What MEALS will I make with this?” We are a family of 11 so stocked shelves can feel full…but we’ll go through it in no time, so I’ve been more intentional with meal creation rather than random food storage. Thank you for breaking it down!

I don’t can meats or anything really but I have months of store canned things that I am comfortable with and recently started doing bone broth for my freezer I am 66 and do the cooking here so I appreciate your channel

I'm actually watching this video now on my tv , but I still have the puter on so I schooched over to say Hi. This is the way I plan my garden for any avid gardeners out there. Years ago now I wrote down everything I purchased for a full year I then figured out what I could grow and put up myself. I have a big garden , but its still limited space. Strawberries as an example I thought we ate tons of strawberries , but we don't . We eat them is season and I usually just buy them once a month. I had three strawberry beds and a freezer full and 50 jars of jam. A waste of space. Now I have one and never have to purchase strawberries and two free beds. Same with blueberries I initially had 8 bushes , not quite all you can eat and put up a dozen bags. I purchased three more blues. Now I never buy blues. I only had room for 7 fruit trees. one peach gives me 14 pints and a few bags in the freezer. I only need one. Three apples , two pears and a plum. I'm set. 6 concord grapes, raspberries and blackberries, 2 rhubarb and two northern kiwis that have still not produced. Hopefully this year. Its the same way I approach the veggies. The only veggies and fruit I purchase are bananas , avocados, mushrooms , citrus and some greens in the winter and I grow those in the house . I save seeds too. I'm just obsessed with the seed so them there catalogs still get me, but in reality I never need to buy them either. ( if you need any seed give me a hollar . ) Maybe this will get the gardeners thinking. If funds are limited there are many ways to get started with the garden there are free resources everywhere. Mine was built on a very limited budget. Whatever it takes fill those pantry's.

Wednesday was prince spaghetti day when I grew up! No one else seems to get it when I say it so I was thrilled to hear you say wednesdays were spaghetti days… bummed out that apparently I am old enough to know it!

I have a blue book from 1974 and had everything in it experimented seeds rows jars of each produce that is need for years worth of food 1-4 persons. So handy and I love the chicken sandwich spread recipe. My mother and aunt worked together canning the years food pantry. And they were used for extended families too throughout the lean times. Mother was one 10 females and one male out 17 children. My dad and uncle hunted off the family farm.

Great job Leisa!! A pantry geek too... But I have no pantry! I have a tiny kitchen and a tiny dining room. The bigger dry goods are in 5 gallon tubs with the twist on lids. Smaller batches are done in the food saver. And then there's the canning jars... Good God they're all over the place. In book shelves, under the dining table in boxes, above the washing machine... There's really no place for my canned jars that would stay cold but I do what I can. Thank you for your advice and support. You are appreciated more than you know.

Much like @kimberlyscrivner, my husband worked construction and was self employed. Quite a few years, no income coming in for 4+ months out of the year. Having 4 stairstep children, (3 in diapers at same time), we learned to buy and stock up on sales and to buy as much as we could. Plus, I'm thankful to come from a family of country folk who knew how to cook from scratch, garden and 'put up' as much as possible. Now that we're empty nesters, we adhere to the same principles. Thanks for such a logical and practical approach. I definitely have some work to do with organization and inventory. Keep up the great work!

I have been inspired by ya'll.. been eating out of our pantry.. tonight my hubby asked for homemade bread for sandwiches for the week.. I couldn't have been happier..tomorrow bread baking day!!!

I cut off an amount of banana that I'd like before it gets peeled and put the rest of it in the frig. I also put the bunch of bananas in the frig. When I want to slow down the ripening process. The peel may turn brown, but usually the banana is still perfect inside. The outside just looks bad .

Ok, it's official, you are my new friend. Your passion is absolutely beautiful, and can see myself learning so much from you.

I´ve had to change what I keep because of health. I love knowing I don ´t have to worry about basic groceries

Thank you for bringing clarity to a situation that seemed overwhelming at the beginning.

I'm watching everyone in your canning videos as I cook in my kitchen and can because the more I watch the more I learn in the last questions I have to ask you it's so much fun I'm so excited every day to get up just to do caning thank you!

Lots of inventorying, shifting things around, especially in the big freezer, and eating from pantry. Life went upside down with family moving away etc. So what I was used to is different now. My grocery shopping has been limited to snack foods which I did not have at all. They are purely recreational and fun.

Rice and eggs, biscuits, empanadas, hamburger (turkey) beans and molasses, roast chicken, chicken dressing, etc. I also make stuff from leftovers. Nothing gets wasted.

I'm a wreck in the pantry lol love this because I've been very unorganized this year and felt lost til this video. Thanks

As always - you broke it down logically and systemically. This is why I adore you, your channel and your continued willingness to share your knowledge with us. January has been a dumpster fire for me, but I will get my pantry/freezers inventoried. The other week we had to do some creative meal planning with the pantry - even told the young adult kid you’re going to eat things I know you don’t care for - rice/beans because that’s what we had. Again thank you!

Another method that works well for some people...is immediately focusing on a 3 month..but at one per week. So doing your normal shopping...look at sales and buy 12 of those favorites. Spaghetti...buy noodles, can beef, and sauces. There is one. Each week do one more meal...then in 12 weeks you will have all of your basics. Week 13 buy baking soda, flour, yeast, salt, and spices. This is slow and steady but easier to organize for some people. Love your content and thank you for encouraging families to build a safety net.

Building my pantry. Now I need to make meal plans. I forgot to build up the fruits. Thanks for sharing.

Great video. This is how I do it too. I started by printing and making a pantry notebook. If shtf there will be no internet. You’ll need paper recipes and want variety in how you use bulk raw ingredients - shelf stable things. I tried to find lots of different ways to prepare beans and made sure I stocked the spices, minced garlic and dried onions. Seems like everything good needs onions and garlic. Dried substitutes in a pinch. Things in my bean rotation (I also store flour and rice and pasta) include Bean burritos (black and pinto), Mexican rice and tortillas Chipotle bowls - black beans, corn, rotel and rice Red beans and rice (Cajun) Lentil soup 5 bean soup Lots of Indian dishes - great for adding variety. Think red lentil Dahl and flat bread and rice. Red kidney bean chili (w beef if you’ve got). Corn bread White chicken chili & corn bread Ham & bean soup Pasta salad- can chicken, black beans, corn, Italian dressing I also stock 12 each Spaghetti, meat, sauce Tuna noodle casserole - cream soups, pasta, mixed veggies, etc Pizza sauce and frozen mozzarella Broccoli rice chicken casserole Tuna Mac (can tuna and boxed) Chicken and beef broth to do soups & boullion. Can do dumplings w flour. Beef and chicken gravy - a little protein, adds variety to pasta and rice in shtf scenario Tomato soup cans to go w homemade bread Stuffing, chicken, gravy Canned side veggies. Frozen veggies Fruit - canned and frozen Baking stuff - flour, sugar, yeast, etc. note not to forget oils & fats Also I keep powdered eggs. Not my fav as a stand-alone but let’s you do cakes, brownies, pasta and dumplings, etc. dried instant mashed potatoes I also keep oats on hand, great for making granola, cookies, breakfast bars, oatmeal. Bulk food that’s cheap to store. I keep jelly, jams, syrup for pancakes. Breakfast is good for dinner too! Popcorn stores forever. Is filling. Great snack. Inexpensive stockpile. I also keep “fresh” meats in freezer but like canned stuff as back up and roll it in Sauces - bbq, Alfredo, marinara, salad dressings, Mayo, soy sauce, Asian / Indian jar sauces. Cream soups. These are all ways you can change up that canned meat. You don’t want to get bored if you truly are stuck on only your pantry. These are all 100% pantry stable recipes. It’s amazing when you go thru a hardship how nice it is to be able to say, we’re not grocery shopping this week. Love your content!

Thank you Lisa. It’s been fun watching the canuary videos. Some I been following and some I started following. And will continue to follow. Giveaways or not, it’s been great. 🙂😃💕

I agree on the eating out. Years ago while Christmas shopping, we regrettably stopped at a fast food place. The kid that came in with us had just took the trash out. He went behind the counter and took our order without washing his hands. He also had a stringy, dirty bandage on his hand. I was concerned but thought he just took money and orders. Boy, was I wrong! He was also fixing our fries and then wrapped our sandwiches. The manager was to busy to see me, so we left our food on the counter and walked out. I call the health department with no result, the manager said he didn't have an employee by that description. So, we maybe go out 3-4 times a year, usually with our family.

Let's face it Leisa, we're all pantry geeks here. lol

I have learned SO much from this video!

We don’t go out to eat very little unless friends want us to go out. Food in restaurants are not as good as what I cook

Planning a year of food sounds astronomical to me in some respects. I need to make better lists of what to buy in bulk & what to plan to can. Thanks for helping us figure out the nitty gritty! Many Blessings from Deborah in West Virginia!

New t-shirt, “Pantry Geek!”.

In 2022 I remodeled my kitchen so now I have more room for my stocked food

My sister and I gauge our financial health off of grapes and/or raspberries 😅

Thank you for all the helpful information. The way you explained it puts everything in perspective, more obtainable. And, I want to let you know I am really enjoying Canuary. It has gone by too fast. I have really been enjoying watching everyone's videos who have helped make it happen.

Sugestión it may already said . If things are close to expiration . Freeze dry it. U don’t have to trash it .

Sales, sales, sales!!! Grab and can turkey and potatoes around Thanksgiving. Get a load of salsa at Cinco De May. Find the best price and then grab a bundle of it.

Thank you Leisa for another great lesson on pantry "can do's"!!! Developing a good working pantry isn't just convenient... it is food security and being responsible providers for our families. We are just blessed to have Leisa and so many others in Canuary sharing great ideas for us to fill our pantries with! Blessings on your day Kiddos!🥰🌻🐛💕

You are superb! What an asset to the entire world! That is not an exaggeration, we live in the world, largely a result of the lives we live the good we do in the harm we fail to fix. Most fundamental to humanity and almost every creature is food they mate, and they place all to safely exist. It has been true since the beginning of time that remains true, and is a focus of the day. Money is an invention is a substitute for time and effort. All the focus that you have for money in this world, which is immense, immense immense is to help ensure those fundamentals are secure and of course more you help secure the most fundamental need we have predictable food availability. You do that by active participation planning fall through and procedures. You are an asset to the world and I thank you for me allowing to be a witness to it here Suttons days rocks I hate my spellchecker. Thank you again.

Good talk Leisa. I am widowed and alone. I tried buying some mixtures and it did not suit me. I have single items, such as chicken, or carrots, potatoes, etc. The one mixture I do have is some soup recipes with Lentils and a freeze dried can of stew veggies - but not what the picture looks like. It is the little cubes. Who little cubes their veggies for a stew - so, they are just to add to some kind of mixed up left over kind of dish. My fav is chicken and I do put up some freeze dried - but mostly frozen whole chickens or already cooked to make up a quick chicken soup or some kind of chicken dish. I don't appreciate the dark meat (but my G.S. sure does) so I separate the white and dark meats and make bone broth in the instapot with the carcass and left over cutting from fresh veggies. I am a horrible picky and allergy person when it comes to food, so keeping the things that I know I can eat by themselves such as a can of freeze dried chicken, or carrots, beets, potatoes, etc. makes better sense. If I am very tired, for supper, I like spaghetti squash that is dried. Just put your favorite sauce on it and toppings and wallah supper. Add a salad or bowl of fruit and you are good to go. You are so right. I can't eat a whole banana or apple, etc etc either - so when the kids got older, I had nobody to clean them up for me. Now that I am alone, I try not to buy things to use whole. I get apples, but the G.S. loves apples too, so we can both have 1/2. Bananas you can put into the freezer and use for baked goods later. When they went above 10cents a pound, I mostly gave them up - I can hear the young people say 10 cents/pound - when was that the 1800s- NO about 15 or 20 years ago. All of my life, bananas have been a big filler when there was a family to feed - banana bread/pudding, etc. If you go to a market and it is near the end of the day, offer to buy the ones with little black spots for 5 cents/lb - you might have to go up a bit, but if you get it, go home and make banana bread and freeze the extra. I saved my family's life many decades ago when jobless and 2 babies to feed. I think we made banana bread for 3 straight days as long as the day went. It is now called family time. We are going back to supporting and depending on family much more in these economic times and may end up with multiple generations in one home - really it is good to learn to share - 🙂Hey, I need the bathroom is a common thing to hear.

Those that are new if in a house, be prepared for Mice, have traps, glue traps etc. I didn't HV a problem till I did food Storage.

Btw...absolutely LOVE the headbands! Lookin good girl!!

You're right diversified is the way to go. Long term short term & rotate.

Your Knowledge, an teaching that you so willingly share is just so open & honest, you are as real as it gets . The information you share is amazing. Thank you for taking the time to help us that are just starting out.

“What’s-Her-Face Sauce.” 🤣🤣🤣

Oh my. We use one pint of meat easily for one meal. Just me and my husband, but my husband eats a lot of meat. One pint = about 3/4 lb of meat prepared. Btw I buy flour from the LDS store in #10 cans. It stores for 10 years. ✨👍🏻

I had to explain to hubby why we needed so many of one item. We eat this twice a week so we need 104 of them. When he started looking at it that way he understood what I was doing with the pantry. I'm so glad to hear how you stock your pantry. I finally got enough for a year and I'm starting on my 2 year plan. Thank you for your help on our pantries.

I have a different situation than most. I live on a mostly self sufficient homestead. It is not quite fully self sufficient as there are no livestock. Because of trespassing poachers that hunt deer out of season and fire guns at everything that moves, I cannot have livestock as the trespassing poachers would just kill them all. This homestead has 2 houses and multiple outbuildings. There are 2 wells. Each well has 2 different water filtration systems. There is a 40 gallon backup holding tanks for each well. There is a cistern where I can removed the cap and fetch 500 gallons of water which is an option if either of the wells run dry. There is also a 1000 gallon water collection pit system that is used mostly in times of drought. Both the cistern and the water collection pit system replenish themselves when the rains come. There are water treatment tablets to make sure the water is safe for drinking. And I can hike to the River to go fishing and fetch several gallons of river water if I really need it. I also have a supply of bottled water. I am good on water. I improved those water systems in the early days of the pandemic. Because of limited space at the house I chose to live in here, I had to go compact with my preps. So I menu plan and calculate meals. I intermittent fast but I planned on 3 meals and snacks for every day to give myself some cushion. I have levels of food storage based on the situation. I have decent menus using want I have on hand. I rotateand have 3 set dinners that need to be prepared every 2 weeks. This 2 week cycle is going to finish next week and I have just one dinner to prepare on Wednesday which is a beef stir fry with rice. My snacks are set after my cookies are gone, I have to take a pizza crust mix and make cheesy garlic bread. It is as simple as preparing pizza crust mix according to package directions and topping it with garlic, butter, parsley and powdered cheese. Then baking it in the oven. My fridge has the ranch chicken dinners that should last until Wednesday. If I do not use them then I will freeze them. I know my menus and how many I have of each menu as well as the best by dates of the ingredients for each meal. I plan it out so I do not have that much food waste. For example, I could not store bulky cartons of soup stock or hundreds of cans of soup. I have a bin of bouillon that has a total of 1485 cubes. Each cube makes a 2 cup batch of soup. I have a small bookcase with the additional ingredients for those 1485 batches of soup. I can mix and match ingredients for a variety of soups. Each soup takes 1/8 cup of dehydrated ingredients and I have 12 different dehydrated vegetables to make over 100 batches of soup. I also have additional dry ingredients to make over 150 for Cream of Chicken and Cream of Potato soup batches. I can use the cream soup that I make to turn it into stews and casseroles. That is just one part of my food storage. I tried to be compact with mostly dried foods. My pasta meal section is based on 150 pounds of dried pasta. I use about 7 to 8 ounces of dried pasta to meal prep every Saturday. Think about it. If I cook noodles, I can mix and match more than 12 sauce options for different meals. Examples for spaghetti noodles Spaghetti noodles with Teriyaki sauce, canned chicken, dehydrated minced onion and freeze dried bell pepper makes a lot mein dinner. Spaghetti noodles with garlic parmesan sauce, canned tuna, peas and bread crumbs makes a Tetrazzini like I had in grade school. Spaghetti noodles with tomato sauce, canned Ground beef and dehydrated minced onions makes spaghetti dinner. Spaghetti noodles with Alfredo sauce, canned chicken and dehydrated spinach makes a spinach Alfredo meal. I can do the same with rice using sauces, seasonings, canned meat and dehydrated vegetables. I have enough to last more than 3 years if I can replace certain foods through dehydration from what already grown on the homestead, which I have worked toward being able to do that.

I so look forward to seeing your videos every day. Thank you for providing us with such great info and making it so much less daunting to build a well-stocked pantry. I've been following your advice for a while. At first, my family thought I was nuts for stocking so much, but they are on board now. They love the convenience of having everything they need right here when they decide to make a favorite dish rather than having to make a list and go purchase everything. It really hit home with them when we had a snowstorm a while back and we weren't out scrambling for food and supplies like everyone else. It was comforting to all of us to already have all that we needed. Thanks so much for all your hard work and all the great info you bring to us.

Parmesan cheese. I felt like we had money when I could buy parmesan cheese.

I really enjoy your videos and the sensibility you communicate. You should be very proud of the impact you have had in so many people’s food security. Thank you so much!

No, zi have no idea how much I need. Time to put pen to paper. Thank you for sharing. Blessed be!🙏🏿

I live 1.5 hours from the grocery store so I have to keep an eye on my pantry because I only go to town once per month. In the winter I can't get out sometime because of the mud so I had to figure out 4 months of food quickly. What I did was i dated the product when I opened it, whether it was oil or coffee or dog food, etc. Everything I had to buy i dated and kept a record of how long the package lasted. I found out my mom's oatmeal lasts 16 days and my coffee last 22 days. From there I could figure out how much I need on hand to get through the winter in case I can't get to the store. Now I have at least a year put back of store bought items and I'm working to get my pantry and freezer stocked with proteins. Unfortunately we don't have a freeze-dried option here and very few canned goods.

It changes but doing inventory I noticed a whole. Yup had been having trouble finding it then when I saw it didn’t buy thought enough😮😂. So on to my list. I also made a list of things that we no longer like for one reason or another. Learning to make biscuits. Don’t always want them but need to know how to make so there eatable. Pantry inventory is done now to see what the totals really are. Wish I could have everything in one place but I can’t so. Work with what I have and watch the dates to make sure it’s rotated. You are the best organizer

I finished organizing my pantry!! I made my menu for next month already. I'm loving this pantry challenge. I'm trying new recipes, using up older can goods, etc. I even started a Canuary wish list, to can up food next month. Love it!

The 300 lbs a rice for a year supply makes sense to me cuz my Dad is from Spain and I grew up eating rice every day 😋 like she said, buy and store what YOU eat! That would let me make 2 cups of rice a day! My philipino daughter in law LOVES 🍚 🌾 too! TTFN 🌻 love your pantry workbook! Excited I filled out a whole page of stuff I canned myself this past 2 years! Thanks for inspiration. 🥳

A single person household here. I eat a lot, and I mean a LOT, of rice. Calculated for one year, it comes to about 61 pounds of rice. 😊

I love the way you explained how to determine the amount of food to store. Great guide. Will come in useful.

I have always bought for a month at a time because it's how I was paid and still with Social security. To do this, I always made a menu. What I did find by doing this there were always left overs. I started adding them to the monthly list and still had meals I didn't cook. Mt pantry gradualy was built this way. The only food purchases I made were fresh veggies and fruit

Antony! IWednesday its prince spaghetti day!! 😂😂😂 love it!

I have truly enjoyed Canuary! With being new to canning, I can't fully participate but it has made me clear out my freezers and can some produce from my garden I was waiting for winter. (I don't have ac so canning in summer is too hot). Thank you for putting this event together! I wish I had found this years ago when prices were better so we'd be more prepared for these crazy times. Although I'm late to the party, I'm still hopeful with all these different videos that it can be done. Thanks again for sharing!

I appreciate your insight on Food Security and our personal dietary needs/guidelines. We usually get unused food produce donated to me by our local school kitchen and from our church we get frozen meats & can goods etc. So I always do my best to preserve them. Thank you. ALL AMERICAN PRESSURE CANNER 🤩

This is super helpful! I bought a book on Amazon that has an inventory checklist for freezers, refrigerators, and pantry. My pantry storage is a mess and I am trying to get it under control and take inventory of everything! We live in a small apartment, so we are trying to get creative with storage. We have a small chest freezer, but I think we are going to look for a small upright one! I’m trying to use up everything in the freezer right now, so that I can start buying some beef, pork and lamb from a local farm, so we can eat healthier meat!

Gee will you come to Tennessee and organize me? Joseph has done a wonderful job Carrington them down stairs and organizing for the most part .and I'm truly surprised that when I finally was able to go down the steps after surgery how beautiful it all looked. And I was able to make some great tasting meals ..so thank you for this challenge..it really worked. So now to figure out how long it will last...lol

I've been busy cleaning out my freezer making single serve meals and dehydrating things like potatoes and rice as quick sides. As a single person I don't need a 3lb pack of chicken frozen when I can make 9+ servings or 3 different recipes. Love that you break it down to useable information that's easy to manage. Thank you

I really feel better since watching this video. I worked very hard this past year to find the best bargains and preserve enough food to sustain us for at least two years. Like you I am now constantly looking for ways to expand my pantry and extend my storage. In doing so we have lost the desire for take out thank you for reinforcing this way of life and making it easier. Keep it up I need all the help I can get !

This is the best pantry breakdown I’ve heard. Thanks so much.

Girl, you plan like I do and eat a lot like I do...including the coffee darling.

As a new subscriber I learn so much from you. Thank you from South Africa

Just starting my "pantry building" journey. Thanks for the information!!!!!!!

👍 pacific coast time is 4:08 and I’m pretty sure I’ve got my pantry overstocked in home canned goods but it was an unfortunate year for me last year because I planted a market garden, and then a long term family illness occurred and I couldn’t make it to market because I was off the farm 3 days a week and it spun out for me. Actually life was so insane I can’t hardly share that 5 days in May without laugh crying. I’m following along with this and the Canuary challenge to both salvage out the stuff that needs to move along out of the freezer, and to use up to much home canned food. Already I’m feeling more in control, even though it’s overwhelming still. I can’t even get to calculate anything yet. 😂 Doesn’t mean it won’t happen. Just need some more time to get it all done. See ya in February for the second half of this challenge. Whew!

I look forward to your videos every day because I learn something, and feel more confident with each one. I hope you know that what you are doing is having such a positive impact in people's every day lives. Thank you so much!

I built and built and built for four years to a shelf collapse yep. Never ever use plastic. I could of lost food's big the collapse all the way but wow food falling and it was a mess. So good on hold to buy heavy shelf's what a bank buster on my getting my new twist five gallon bucket lids.

I'm really thankful. This is my first Canuary. I really appreciate learning so much.

We eat it straight the way it comes ! Or in a cake type breakfast bar ! Yummy

We figure a pint of meat is 3 dinners (with veggies and pasta or rice) for 2 adults. 2 nights with meat, one using the broth to make gravy for biscuits. We don't usually use sauces so dinners are easy. I can make a quick salsa from diced tomatoes if needed.

Instead of eating out, we buy ourselves a few convenience meals (specifically Costco frozen lasagna 🤤) so we get a few kitchen-free evenings a week.

Growing up in a large family of 9, my Mom always said we needed 1000 qts of veggies for the year. I still can but only for 2, and then anything extra goes to kids for their family

I've never thought of doing it this way. 😳 my brain just flat lined lol. Thank you

You’ve helped us so much! There’s just two of us and we share with our kids…taking inventory next week but probably only have 6-7 months of favorite foods but…could totally live for more than a year on what we currently have stored and canned.

Loving the Canuary. Thanks to you and Forjars.

Just write it down, you will discover all the things you totally forgot to add to the list! Great advice

I think I have become obsessed with my pantry! I'm always thinking about what to stock next. 🤔 I'm still building the pantry but I'm getting there. Life has been a bit crazy as of late but I'm going to start tracking what is made for dinner for the next two weeks and make sure the pantry is stocked along the same lines. Thanks as always for the helpful information ❣️

I’m not doing the pantry challenge this year because I just learned about it this past fall. I’m trying to learn as much as I can to get prepared for next year. Thanks for all of the great videos and advice 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

We have limited space but I think we have at least 5-6 months food available )I’m still stocking up and watching sales). I like having food in jars in case we lose power or the freezer breaks,

The grocery store outside in summer is a bonus and covers most the sides and some fruit all summer. Planting more winter squash to last longer without canning or dehydrating. Need to start seed saving. Seed prices I've seen as high as 10 dollars. Seriously? I really need to stick with reliables. I like to try unique things and experiment.

The hardest thing I deal with is rotating. I want to build canned food dispensers

Your videos are always so informative. I feel like I’ve overstocked some things and not sticking enough of others. Your approach makes so much more sense than what I’ve been doing. Thanks!

great suggestion for pantry foods. I heard things I've never heard before.

Thanks Leisa for laying out a simple strategy that breaks it all down for a years worth of food It can feel swimmingly overwhelming but your break down makes perfect sense

I have been doing the challenge in Jan. but I am doing the exercise over a longer period. I have been storing for some years, buying on offer, bulk buying etc. So starting Jan 1 I thought I would have sufficient for 2 years. Certain things I knew I did not have enough of, such as vegetables but I have a garden. So I divided everything by 24, mixing and matching singles, and put the produce for 1 month on the main shelves. Now nearly through the month I think that 1 shelf will last for 2 months and I have sown some seeds and intend to continue. I live in the tropics so storage is difficult. I love vegetables and eat at least 3 veg. per day. Some things I am not using so need to look out some recipes and be more adventurous. I need more wine and milk...the latter for my new pregnant street cst who loves it. Yes, i have about 6 months of cat and dog food, need more and more chicken feed but I intend to try growing that along with rice.

Because I started listening to you a year ago, I didn't mean to do pantry challenge but, thank God I did. Someone hacked our bank account and didn't have my card for almost a month. Can't really write checks everywhere. Have ate good. And only had to get milk and dog food basically and head of lettuce here and there. Cuz I brought my tomatoes in containers before it froze. Still getting some.