How I Set Up and Organise my Food Stock

Last month I shared how I organise my pantry in a blog post. As part of that post I mentioned I keep back stock of items for my pantry and kitchen.

Since that post it feels like the news in the UK has been dominated by stories of supply chain issues and panic buying 😳

So I thought it’s probably time to share more about how I’ve developed a back stock of items that helps in times like these. This post covers why I keep a back stock, what items I keep in my backstock, how I store them and how I’ve built it up without breaking my food budget.

Why keep a backstock?

Over the years I’ve always tried to keep extras of items I use on a regular basis to hand. I first did this to stop having to run to the shop to pick up one of two items between larger food shops, which in turn has helped me to save money as it reduced my opportunities to buy random items on a whim. I also found by buying certain items that I use alot of in bulk from stores such as Costco or when they are on offer in my local supermarket saved me money too. So slowly over time I built up a bit of a back stock of items.

This came in incredibly useful in general life if my husband or I didn’t have time to run to the shops. Then when the pandemic hit last year it became worth its weight in gold when the shelves in our local stores emptied for weeks at a time. Instead of panicking over what we would eat we were able to live predominantly off our back stock and freezer items until stock levels started to pick back up. It solidified having a back stock was a smart thing to do.

What do I keep as a backstock?

My main rule with my back stock is to only stock items that we use on a daily or weekly basis. This includes items I would be upset if I couldn’t get hold of, for example different types of flours to bake bread or seasonal foods with long shelf lives.

In my mind it’s pretty useless buying items that we don’t use regularly. I like to rotate through my stock on a regular basis, so we don’t waste food by it reaching its expiration date before we get a chance to use it. So you won’t see lots of specialist items or ingredients that can’t be used in a variety of meals in my stock.

Examples of what I keep in my stock are dried goods such as pastas, rice and flour. I love to bake so keep in different sugars, extra chocolate, in my freezer I keep butter and ready rolled puff pastry. I’ve found it works out cheaper with the amount of rapeseed oil, nuts, dried fruit, Maldon Salt, coffee and herbs we go through over several months to buy these items in bulk, so these are all staples in our stock.

I also keep a small stock of jar and canned items such as pasta sauces, coffee syrups, tomatoes and beans. Some of these I keep because I can only find them in certain stores so when I see them I stock up to stop me having to run to stores I don’t use regularly and others I keep as they form a great base for easy and nutritious meals.

Where and how do I store these items?

The majority of my backstock is stored over 6 plastic stacking crates in the corner of my pantry shelves. With the remaining items stored in either on the floor of my pantry or in certain drawers in my freezer.

I try to stay organised with my stock so we rotate through it frequently. In my pantry I do this by splitting the contents of each crate down by the catergories kept on my pantry shelves e.g. Nuts and Dried Fruits, flours, baking items, pastas, jars.

In my freezer I split items by catergory e.g. a drawer for baking items, one for frozen vegetables etc . Then each drawer is organised with the items with the shortest expiration date at the front or top so it gets grabbed first.

How do I build my backstock?

The main message I want to share with you is you don’t need to spend a ton of money setting up a back stock. It’s not cost effective or useful to buy everything for your backstock in one go.

I’ve built mine slowly over about two or more years. I started and continue to do this by buying multiples of items when I have the budget to do so. For example, if I have an extra £2 I my food budget for the fortnight I will buy a couple of packets of pasta or tinned food. This helps to slowly grow my stock over time. When I have more in my budget and there is a good offer on items we use regularly I will use that to my advantage too.

This also help you work out what you are using regularly and is worth keeping in your stock. As I’ve mentioned previously I only stock items we use regularly so we rotate through our stock every couple of months.

I use the items in my pantry jars first, when these run out I fill them from the back stock kept in my pantry. Then to keep my stock at its current level, I restock items used from my stock during my next food shop. So month to month my food shops remain a similar size and price, as I am mostly buying items to replenish those in my back stock than those in my pantry jars.

I hope this encourages you to set up your own back stock of items you use regularly and has shown that it doesn't need to be an expensive thing to do.

Julia xx