End Of The Year HOMESTEAD PANTRY Inventory - What We Have IN The PANTRY!
2018 OFF GRID HOMESTEAD PANTRY INVENTORY
So with the exception of a bit of animal butchering and meat preservation, our pantry stocking is about over and we can take a look at all the wonderful contents inside. It's nice to look back on the work of your hands and see all that you have made in the months prior to a long winter. Like the ant that works all summer long in preparation for a cold winter ahead, we have our food stored up that will feed our family.
So here is an inventory of our current pantry as it stands today.
CONTENTS:
Green Beans
Pickles - Spicy/Dill
Pickled Jalepeno
Carrots
Black Beans
Red Kidney Beans
Venison Meat
Chicken Meat
Chicken Stock
Lamb Stock
Beef Stock
Peaches
Blackberry Jam
Peach Jam
Sorghum Syrup
Spicy Salsa/Mild Salsa
Tomato Juice
Dried Meats and Hard Salami
First up is our canned meats. We have a good amount of Venison meat from 3 deer harvested this year. We also have a good amount of chicken meat canned up. We use this meat for a variety of meals including tacos, chilli, and soups during the winter!
Next up is Zac's favorite spicy salsa. We have these in pint and quart jars because we usually bring these out for big meals and they don't last long. Salsa is so versatile. Any meal you would add tomatoes to, you can just add salsa with its spices including its mixed in garlic, onions and herbs, it makes a perfect add on.
Tomato juice comes in handy in a number of ways. Storing this in large amounts will allow you many meal options in the winter months when the wood stove is always going and you can render the juice down further if desired. We have a lot of this stocked up! Also, tomato soup always hits the spot!
Carrots! Easy ingredient to eat as is with a meal or added to a quick soup recipe.
BEANS! This is and has been a main food source for our homestead since we started. Truth be told, we don't grow a lot of beans just to cut down on the work load of harvesting them. We have found some really good and cheap sources to buy organic beans in bulk. So we order the beans and can them throughout the year. Right now our pantry is stocked full of black bean and red kidney beans.
PEACHES! Lots of peaches are in our pantry. This year we canned our peaches with no added sugar. They turned out great and very delicious! We can use these for all kinds of treats like pies or mixed with yogurt that we get from a local family that has a milk cow. Or you can simply eat them out of the jar for a treat. We love peaches and we get them every year from a local orchard. Our own peach trees get closer and closer to maturity with each passing year and before we know it, we will be harvesting our own peaches!
Not only is the pantry stocked up on peaches, we have a good amount of blackberry preserves and peach jam stocked up. We often give these out as gifts to visitors of the homestead or to family and neighbors.
We have an abundance of both spicy and dill pickled cucumbers from the garden. These are great for snacking. The spicy variety is using a ghost pepper mix to add heat! WOW! Pictured also is pickled jalapenos from the garden and other local gardens in the area this year. It seems there was a bumper crop of jalapenos this year and so we have taken advantage and pickled bunch for later use. We love these!
We're not finished yet. Also among the pantry items we have a variety of dried spices in jars. This is one of about 5 jars of dried basil that we love using on different meals throughout the year. We may do a whole blog post on all the spices we keep on hand.
You will also find things like homemade medicines in our pantry. That is not whiskey. It's a used whiskey bottle that is full of jewelweed tincture that is great for when Zac or one of the kids gets into poison ivy in the summer. Jewelweed is great for treating poison ivy! And it usually grows right along side of it.
The last thing I will show you from our pantry is one of our dried pieces of meat. We dry some of our meat every year that will keep indefinitely until we decide to use it. We have done videos on this in the past to show how we preserve our harvested meat by smoking and salting it. We have about 7 sticks of hard salami and meat left over from last year still hanging in the pantry. To use this, you would need to soak it in hot water and then cut it up and add it to soups. It's heavily salted so the initial soaking would draw out much of the salt before adding it to the soup.
So this is the status of the homestead pantry as it stands on January 1st. Next summer, Zac wants more pickled Okra.
What do you want for your pantry next year?
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Pickled Okra is always a good one to have.
Next year we would love to add Sauerkraut to our list of pantry items.
Its something we have never made before. One reason is that I've never been able to grow cabbage. That'll change next year Yah willing.
Oh yeah, we have some saurkraut in the pantry from like 2 years ago. It's still good.
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You make it look easy. But this post and photos looks like a lot really hard dedicated work and commitment. As a gardener and homesteader that doesn't come close to your output, I appreciate and respect what you are doing. Thank you and bless you for sharing and encouraging. Be safe, be well.
You guys need some South African biltong in your pantry. Sure Zak tasted some when he visited South Africa!!!!
Next time try canning "V8" juice. We love this! Just add the small left over veggies to your tomatoes.
Y'all are my Homesteading super hero's! I have learned so much and continue to learn so much from your family. My home for my pantry next year is to have at least 50% of our canned goods be from our own garden this year. I hate going to the grocery store to purchase produce I know I am capable of growing on our own property. We had a very small garden last year and plan to expand it this year to hopefully accomplish our goal of preserving as much of our own food to sustain us over the winter. Again, thank you for sharing such wonderful and inspirational information!
Nice self sufficiency done right and yes please a video/blog on all the dried spices/herbs you store! Sharing to twitter!
That is one very full pantry! And has a wonderful variety of things that are essential to meal planning. Thanks Jamie for showing us your bountiful pantry!
The Big Man would agree with the salsa statement. He puts his on his eggs.
i am in love with your pantry! ours is missing applesauce, as the source i had last year for 35+ lbs had some trouble with her tree. i will try harder in 2018 to get new sources & monitor our trees for maximum fruiting.