What’s in your winter pantry?

I’m curious to as what everyone stocks up for the winter months and what kind of local commodities or goods you keep. Growing up my mother always had a pantry full of pickled and canned goods for the winter months. I have a feeling we will be in for another surprise lockdown this year. I have been purchasing meat from the local Hutterite colony all summer as well as pickled goods and vegetables. I’ve always been buying and dehydrating peppers and garlic quite often. My freezer is currently full of flathead cherries and local grapes as I plan to make mead.
I’ve recently made a purchase from Patagonia Provisions or smoked mussels and sardines as well as Alaskan salmon. I’m making a purchase from a small fish cannery in Alaska today for canned smoked salmon. Things I am short on or haven’t purchased yet are rice and beans. I’m originally from Upper Michigan and I am missing out on all the smoked lake trout and salmon
I’m curious if any one else packs their pantry and freezer up for the harsher months. I’m sadly very low on jelly and jam and wish I purchased more this summer.
What do you stuff your pantry with and what kind of local goods do you keep? I’m always looking for new things that keep well. Any advice on how you prep for the winter? I’m hoping to shoot a mule deer this year and Elk since it’s my first year hunting as a resident in Montana

a reply to: Liquidiron

Rice in mylar bags / oxy absorber

Pasta in mylar bags / oxy absorber

Oats in mylar bags / oxy absorber

Grits in mylar bags / oxy absorber

Flour in mylar bags / oxy absorber

Dry beans in mylar bags / oxy absorber

Cases of canned meat, tuna, etc.

Cases of baked beans, Corn, green beans

Cases of Soup and Beef stew

a reply to: Liquidiron

Oooh. Canned smoked salmon from a company in Alaska. I am interested in learning how to get some of that. Got a company name or link? I could make it and bottle it myself from local fish, but I have never canned anything, we make lots of freezer jam every year though and blanch veggies for freezing too.

We buy a half a cow every year, and have food in stock to live for six months as long as we can keep the freezers electrofied. In winter, it isn't bad, I can move the freezer into the garage and open the windows leaving only screens there to drop the temp below freezer. Plus I know how to salt meats. We have about forty pounds of salt in stock at all times minimum. Plus two operating generators and a third one that I haven't started for maybe six years now, I should try starting that one too and get it working. Usually I have four five gallon cans full of gas in rotation..no corn gas. Our food pantry is shelving units, we have about twenty six feet of shelving full of stock and only things we use on a regular basis. lots of butter and chocolate chips and sugar and flour to make cookies.

We stock about three months worth of food for us, my two daughters family, and my granddaughters families plus some for my brother. We cannot rotate more than that without things getting too old. We are getting low on Hills Bros coffee though, down to twelve cans in stock now. Usually we do not like to go lower than that, but there have not been any good sales in a few months now. When there are good sales we stock up.

If things do go sour, I will divide up the stocks and bring them to the kids so nobody starts breaking in when people get hungry and the kids brag about how they are getting it from us.

a reply to: rickymouse


That’s a solid pantry right there bud. It’s just me but I like to have a surplus and I like to keep comfort foods if I can they go a long ways in the dark months when the vitamin D levels get low. If you go on eBay and type in smoked Alaska salmon there’s a company that sells them in cases of 12. For around 8.40$ a can it’s pretty cheap compared to some options. Now I realize some people don’t want to justify spending that kind of money on that, for me it’s not a issue. Something I grew up on.
As far as sales going on for coffee etc I haven’t seen any either. It’s almost like they don’t want people stocking up on things. I have a ton of bags of freeze dried food as well. This year I’m planning on purchasing a quarter of beef on top of the hunting tags I plan to fill.
I’m expecting the typical answers of rice and beans etc I was curious to see what other people kept on the year shelves. I think it would still be important for us to have nutritious foods in a rough situation. Iodine deficiency and vitamin c are still a very real thing.

a reply to: infolurker

We just rotate our stock so we can only stock enough of those things to keep the dates pretty much not too old. Twenty pounds of noodles and ten pounds of rice is about all we stock. We have the dry beans in big cans. I don't really like storing stuff in plastic because it does give it a taste if it is in there for too long. Even the food grade storage containers give off some plastic taste.

a reply to: Liquidiron

Mostly canned goods, meat, fish, and some dried things, beans, berries, all sorts of oils.

Can not rely on frozen stuff because the power is out lots in the winter, no generators, just piles and piles of firewood.

Oh, and dried hops, it really has a kick when you drink it as a tea, also medicinal i believe, sometimes i crush a sticky one in my pipe and take some puffs in the evening, it makes you very sleepy.


Not too worried about food shortages because i feed white tails in my backyard, if no food was available, would only need to set a snare and check it in the morning.

I've been doing an insane amount of canning this fall. Combine that with the 30 to 40lbs of dry goods that I have can probably last my family a few months. I also stock up on raw materials and seasonings. As a long time chef I can turn flour into bread, tomatoes and other veggies into sauces/soups. Plus, raw dry foods usually can sit for a looong time in proper conditions.

Super spicy Mi Goreng.. and heart burn tablets.

Tons of booze lots and lots of booze and canned chili and corned beef hash. My deep freezer is a different story, if y’all knew what’s in there you’ll be knocking on my door everyday.

Cases of canned goods, fruit, soups, pasta sauces, tins of stew, tuna, beef, chicken, meat in the freeze, coffee, pasta and other dry goods, olive oil. A 6 months supply, by summer it will be time to resupply. Also a couple of gallons booze, vodka, rum, gin, tequila, several bottles of wine. Both to cook with and to drink. We would need fresh vegetables, but we could get by if need be.

This was the year to replace my MRE’s. I keep 10 cases in the storm shelter. If we were to loose the house to a storm, we could get by for a month or so.
Oh and a couple of cases of ammo.

Hundreds of pounds of assorted legumes, rice, pastas, canned goods, and hundreds of pounds of assorted frozen vac locked fish ( King salmon, Sockeye salmon, cod, mahi mahi, steelhead, calamari, ahi tuna, Halibut, etc) and shell fish( scallops, King crab, lobster, abalone etc)

Pork- ribs, baby back, and thick cut new york, and thick bacon.

Beef- Tbones, New Yorks, ribeyes, Skirt, flanks, chuck, ground grass fed I pressed into burgers and vac locked.

Lamb- shoulder cuts, tiny T-bones.

Chicken breasts, and thighs.

Trays of raviolis, home made frozen in deli cups- Marinara from fresh vine ripe tomatoes, Minestrone, Roman bean soup, Italian beef soups. 3 different types of lasagnas vac locked and portion frozen.

Large sacks of frozen organic grains- assorted wheats, oats, barley, amaranth etc.

Bulk frozen blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, peaches, nectarines, blackberries, etc.

All types of pickeled and frozen vegetables. Canned too.

25-35 lbs of green unroasted assorted coffee beans from around the world. Multiple pounds of assorted imported black teas, and some white and green.

Pof butter, assorted cheeses, freeze dried whole milk, and eggs.


Gallons of olive, avacado, sesame corn, organic canola oils.

Gallons of assorted vinegars.

And a whole bunch more stuff.

Solar/ battery bank to keep the freezers going, and 2 generator back ups with 45 gallons of fuel on hand

And a full safe of ammo, in order of calibur, speed loaders, and clips, filled to the top to protect the food/ home with.

a reply to: Liquidiron
Rather than make another list of crap to read, here are 2 items I highly recommend:

1. Bear grease/fat
2. Pasture raised lard

So much to write on each, but I’m beat from chores. If you are unwilling to render, deoderize, and store properly forget about it. I may come back and add more on both, bear fat is a miracle, and good lard is a lordly pleasure.

a reply to: Liquidiron

What's in your winter pantry?

Tins, tins, tins. So many tins.

a reply to: visitedbythem

That’s definitely a respectable pantry right there. I need to add some vinegar and lard as well. I was curious as to what people packed away for winter and what they enjoyed when things were out of season or hard to come by. I also have a few bottles of talisker storm as it’s my favorite scotch. A few bottles of Susucaru wine by Frank cornelissen not too big of a wine-o. Winters here are long, dark and cold and it’s nice to have things packed away while eating give you comfort. After last winter I’m gonna squirrel away a few extra things as a lot of things became harder to get since a lot of places were closed.

a reply to: Liquidiron

I make mead, no grapes or cherries anywhere near it, just honey and yeast and water.

a reply to: SprocketUK

I’ve been making mead for a few years now and have used just about every type of honey that’s available in the states. I do enjoy just honey but I like using local berries wherever I’m located at the time. Choke cherries, thimble berries and sugar plums and apples make great cysers and mead. I think having mead whether it’s tradition or spiced or a cyser is a great comfort thing to have during winter months it’s something I try to have atleast 5-10 gallons of going into the cold months.

a reply to: Liquidiron

Whatever you like, stock up plenty now, because I suspect this winter may be seriously bad when it comes to illness. Stores may have shortages, or could even close if things become grave.

a reply to: Liquidiron

Well, one of the things we do over here (mostly in Wales if I am honest) is hop the mead, get yoursef a big bunch of hops in there to finish it off, it helps it keep better and depending on the sort you use can add a lovely finish to it,

That said, the best mead I make I use concentrate, makes about 5 gallons a time and it is a lovely drink, about 15 per cent when done.

a reply to: SprocketUK
I’ve been looking for a local supply of hops to do exactly that and try it out. I order scotch from your neck of the pond quite a bit. Great for colds and keeping you warm in the cold months!

a reply to: Liquidiron

Oh yes, my favourite is the stuff from Jura, it's often on offer at about 28 quid a bottle, I reckon that stuff could cure covid by itself haha