I use a spreadsheet to keep track of foods in my pantries/freezers; that helps a bit.
My big pantry is actually a closet - it has deep (3') shelves on one side, and shallow (12-18") shelves on the other side. The deep shelves hold mostly home canned foods and my bulk food jars - oatmeal, beans, pastas, flour, tinned milk (used in cooking), gallons of vinegar, etc... The shallow shelves are all purchased items; and they are arranged on the shelves by type of product - salmon and tuna are side by side, fruits have one shelf, condiments another, canned veggies on those two, toiletries and soaps, etc...
I rarely buy one of anything - it's more like 8 cans of salmon, 24 cans of tuna, 4 bottles vanilla extract, 5 cases tinned milk - I catch a good sale, I stock up. When I bring groceries home, only the perishable items get put away right away. The others get carried to the pantries, and are put on the shelves and added to the inventory sheets as I get time.
As far as living for a month on the pantry; yes, easily; especially now that the garden is starting to come in for fresh foods.
Last edited by Pollyanna : 04-12-2008 at 10:48 PM.
Reason: I didn't answer the question :)
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