What do you have in your pantry at any one time?

[SnoopyCool]

Just a side note - you can substitute unflavored gelating in the place of eggs in whatever you bake. Gelatin can keep for a very, very long time and goes a long way. You can order bulk gelatin many places on the Internet.

1 egg = 1 tsp gelatin, 3 Tbs cold water and 7 tsp boiling water
2 eggs= 2 tsp gelatin, 1/3 C. cold water and 1/2 C boiling Water
3 eggs= 1 Tbs gelatin, 1/2 C. cold water and 1/2 C Boiling water

[mom-from-missouri]

I think i you are trying to build up your pantry, you need to look at your eating habits. My aunt had 8 kids, worked full time nights and was soooo organized. She had 12 menus--one for each month that she used and her pantry was based on her menu. They also farmed and provided their own meats and veggies. The menu was based around the seasons and weather--for example, she had chil on the fall and winter months but not in July.
She also built it to use up leftovers. For example if one day 5 you ate chili, day 6 or day 7 had chili dogs to use the rest of it up. Nothing ever went to waste in their house.
She had one freezer for meats, one for veggies & fruits and a smaller one for grains to keep out critters as she bought her flour, sugar and oatmeal in 50 lb bags.

[wincrasher]

We used to be daily shoppers. That is expensive and there was never much food in the house.

We checked into couponmom.com which is a free site that cross references what's on sale at your local stores with what coupons are out there (from Sunday papers).

We built up quite a pantry but it was odd the items we were stocking for a while.

One week I bought 28 bottles of ketchup for $.15 each. Another week it was microwave popcorn - like 40 boxes for $.20 each. And so on.

Love the looks you get from the cashiers. "you like ketchup, sir?"

Sometimes we have to throw stuff out because things pass their expiration. Not a biggie because most stuff is bought so cheap.

Love Costco too. Buying in bulk is much cheaper than most grocery stores, but they don't take coupons.

[whitestripe]

thanks for the ideas guys!
I am going to make a list like disneysteve said for the main meals we eat and try to have a stock of those ingredients.
unfortunately we dont have costco or walmart where i live (aus) but soon I am going to look into shopping at aldis if it works out cheaper. and we dont really have a coupon culture like in the US. but i am definately going to put some great ideas into use. thanks!