What’s in the Buckets?

The staple foods of my dry goods pantry

Photo by Sam Harrons on Unsplash

I have a room filled with canned goods that I canned in my kitchen (other English-speaking countries call this process “bottling”). Most of these were foods that I obtained locally, or we grew ourselves. In another location in the house, however, I have buckets of staple foods purchased from the grocery store, most of which will last me many months. Here is what I store in my stable dry food bucket pantry.

Oatmeal- There’s nothing like a bowl of hot oatmeal in the morning so I store a lot of it. Oatmeal is versatile. It can be used to make oatmeal cookies. It can be used in making toppings for fruit pies and crisps. It is one of the main ingredients in granola.

Cornmeal also makes a great breakfast food. It can also be used in making cornbread and hushpuppies. It can also be used when making crunchy toppings for various deep-fried vegetables.

Rice is a staple that is used as the main ingredient in numerous cultural meals. Purchase brown rice if you plan to use it within the next year. If you want to purchase rice for long-term storage, use white rice. Brown rice will likely turn rancid if not used within a year.

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