What's in my stockpile

I must confess, I'm a bit of a hoarder when it comes to food. Only when it comes to food. ;) 

I've always been like this, and so is my mum, it must be something genetic. Lol. 

It's just that I don't like running out of things. Nothing annoys me more than having to buy certain items last minute because you ran out of item XYZ and you must use that ingredient for supper. (Well, there are still some things that annoy me even more- but this is quite high on my list!) 

Even though we do have small shops all over in our neighbourhood and we don't necessarily have to go to a supermarket, I still find it a comfortable thought that we already have certain items in our house. In fact, there's one small shop right in front of our house. So that's a good thing when it comes to emergencies. 

What probably also contributes to me preferring a big stockpile is my past. It may sounds strange to some people and I can defenitely understand that. But we had a very difficult situation, financially, for years. Most of the time we did manage to make ends meet, but that was mainly due to my very frugal ways. Some periods of time, though, our finances were that tight that we really struggled to have food on our plates. So whenever the budget allowed we began to stockpile on non perishable foods, especially when they were on sale. That allowed us to have a bit more breathing room so that whenever we really didnt have any money to spend on groceries, we still had our stockpile. And even though our finances have improved tremendously over the years, I still like the reassurance of having enough food in our house. Maybe it's just me but I really cant understand how people just buy only the bare minimum of what they'll need that week.

We live in a country where there is a lot of poverty (compared to the west), and it's not uncommon for people to go and beg for food. I can't count how many times people came and asked for food; and I'm so grateful to be able to help them out. Usually they ask for just one item; some oil, or a packet of pasta or even some cold water during the summer. I like to then just give a bag with a variety of products, because I know what's it like to be in a financial difficult situation (even though our poverty was nothing compared to most poor people here). I believe in doing good and that the good will eventually always come back to us. That are the main reasons for us to have a stockpile.

Anyway, back to the practical side of having a stockpile. 

Building a stockpile isn't always easy when on a strict budget, and it's not something that you can do in a few days. For us, we just bought a few extras everytime we went shopping- especially when on sale, but some products we buy aren't on sale anyway. For example, here some products are subsidized by the government and those products are always the same price- no matter the brand or the store. Because these products are very cheap, it's easy to buy a few extra of those when shopping. I realise that in most countries products can be a lot more expensive so that's why I mentioned the products that are on sale- or just buy generic brand instead of name brands. They are as good and it'll save you a lot of money in the long run! 

So what exactly is in our stockpile? As I already mentioned, I make a lot from scratch so it's really the basic ingredients that I have on hand in bigger quantity. This is what we always try to have in our kitchen cabinets. 

Starches: 

Oatmeal- about 3 kg. 

Rice- the cheapest plain rice usually 1 kg and jasmine rice usually 3 kg.

Pastas- it's a bit embarrassing but about 10 to 15 kg. We go through a lot and pastas are the cheapest staple here! We have many different kinds and shapes. In our north African country, pasta is eaten almost as much as in Italy. 

Couscous- another very cheap staple that is eaten a lot here. Between 8 and 10 kg. 

Pearl barley- between 2 and 3 kg. 

Semolina- fine semolina for baking bread, 5 kg. Course semolina for porridge, sweets etc, 3 kg. 

White flour- 8 kg.

Sorghum flour- 2 kg.

Whole wheat flour- 3 kg. 

Corn starch- 1 kg.

Canned goods: 

This is kind of minimal, as canned veg are outrageously expensive here, as are canned legumes. So our vegetables are bought freshly and are legumes are dried, then soaked and cooked.

The main thing we always have on hand is cans of double concentrated tomato paste. We have about 6-8 cans of 800 grams and we go through this A LOT. 

And then we have some cans of jam (jams usually come here canned, not in jars), though I make most jam from scratch. And some cans of fish- sardines and tuna, about 3 or 4 cans each. 

Protein: 

We go through a lot of legumes. These, along with eggs, are our main protein. We do eat meat, but not as often. 

Chickpeas, white beans, and lentils of different kinds is what we use most. While lentils and chickpeas are cheap, white beans are quite expensive lately, so we do eat more of the aforementioned. We have about 2 kgs lentils of each variety and 2 kgs of chickpeas. 

We also buy chicken in large quantities, the other day we bought 8 chickens and cut it up. That was about 10 kg. Usually those 10 kg last us a long time, as we don't eat a lot of meat. Red meat is an exceptional treat at our house- for both financial reasons and for the environment. We have one baggie of goat meat in our freezer currently. 

We also have about 10 litres of shelf stable milk. 

Fats: 

Lots and lots olive oil, which we keep in Jerry cans. I haven't counted but at least about 40 litres. Probably more. 

Then about 3 litres of vegetable oil.

And then we buy buckets of plant based margarine in bulk, 4.5 kg per bucket. 

Baking supplies: 

Sugar- about 5 kg, which we buy in bulk. 

Cocoa powder: about half a kg.

Chocolate: dark and white, both 3 kg (note that this chocolate is used for baking only. It's not really suitable for eating plainly, thus its also a lot cheaper than "snacking chocolate"). 

Vanilla sugar and baking powder- bought in bulk. 

Desiccated coconut- about half a kg. 

Whipping cream- 2 packets (here it's only available powdered) 

Some packets to make vanilla pudding (basically just corn starch, flavour and colour. When I make chocolate pudding I use cornstarch, sugar and cocoa and make it from scratch). 

Spices, seasonings etc

The spices I use most are cumin, ginger, cinnamon (ground and sticks), cardamom pods, cloves (whole and ground), fennel (ground and seeds), black pepper (ground and peppercorn), sweet and hot ground pepper, dried basil, dried oregano, dried rosemary, dried mint, dried parsley, dried dill, turmeric, hot pepper flakes, and two different kinds of ras al hanout (northern African spice mixtures). Most of these spices and herbs are bought in large quantities so I never run out of these. There are other herbs and spices that I use, but not as much. 

Soy sauce- Before we moved here I always had this on hand. Unfortunately, here I'm yet to find soy sauce at the supermarket. I do have an alternative that I make from scratch, it's not 100% identical though, but it's a decent replacement. I don't always have this on hand but I try to always keep some in the freezer, as it's not shelf stable. 

Garlic- both fresh and pureed garlic which I keep in the freezer. 

Salt- but that is an obvious in my opinion :)

Vinegar- about 3 bottles each of 1 litre. 

Miscellaneous 

I have some packs of instant ramen (just in case), we have almonds and peanuts, homemade peanut butter, flax seeds and sesame seeds, dried jasmine, tea and coffee.

Though there are some changes every now and then, this is what our stockpile usually looks like. I'm very content to have a stockpile like this.