Food For Six Months

When we lived in the cabin it was located an hour from town and even farther to get to the the cheapest grocery store. There were also many times in the winter when the 2 miles of gravel road between us and the highway were nearly impassible with snow or ice.

It was while we lived there that we began doing six month grocery trips – stocking the pantry with all non perishable items and trying to get enough for six months. It cost a lot up front, but helped our budget in the long run, because we only needed to go to the grocery store every 2-3 weeks for a few fresh items. For myself, shopping frequently is hard on the budget because I often get an extra item or three when I’m in the store, so if I go weekly that starts to add up.

Six month shopping isn’t a perfect system by any means, because it’s impossible to fully estimate how much food you’ll consume, or what will change in your life in that amount of time. But I made a master shopping list, and knowing approximately what we use in a month, I can just multiply that by six and get pretty close. And this method certainly takes the stress out of grocery shopping. One big trip and it makes any monthly trips very simple and easy!

So even when we moved away from the cabin we kept doing the six month stock up trips simply because of how nice it is to have a fully stocked pantry. It’s only in the last hundred fifty years or so that even people living in rural areas like us have become so dependent on the grocery store. Not that long ago most would store food to last from harvest to harvest in their home.

We have gone for a year without stocking up. Normally we do it in the spring and fall, but spring of 2022 was busy with a new baby, and moving into our basement house, and traveling to Ohio for a wedding in the family. Basically time got away from us, and over the summer we had garden produce to use anyway.

But now, even with the vegetables I canned and froze from the garden, our pantry supply is getting lower and lower, and my normal grocery list longer and longer, so we decided to go ahead and spend the money to get six months worth of groceries again. Food is something we know we’ll use, and with all the inflation happening in Alaska, money is almost better put into something of value than sitting in the bank anyway.

Below is the master food list I use to check my pantry supply and make a shopping list.

I don’t stock everything on this list, but it is a really helpful tool in making a grocery list, to check your supply and see which categories you are getting low in. I get large cans of fruits and vegetables to cut down some on the need for fresh stuff, and stock things that I have room for in the freezer or have a good shelf life.

One time Andy got about twice as much mayonnaise as we used in 6 months, but we did finish it before a year passed, and it hadn’t reached its expiration date yet!

In a place where icy roads or big snowfalls can interfere with getting to the grocery store it sure is nice to always have a full pantry to cook from.