Building and stocking your pantry
Just had to comment on this article in the September/October 2010 issue: it is not really necessary to use two-by-x lumber; one-by-x will do nicely if it’s braced properly and there is no more than a four-foot span between supports. I always add at lest a 1″ x 2″ support edge at the front and back of each pantry shelf. I have also built shelves using front-to-back bracing but I have to admit that doesn’t seem as good.
The author experienced a collapse of a set of metal shelving. I have to wonder what gage the metal happened to be. I have had great success with the heavier-duty metal shelf units, and with office-type storage cabinets. The light-duty metal shelving sold in many hardware and discount stores is weak and flimsy; as a 67-year-young disabled veteran I do not have much strength in my hands, but even I can bend one of those 18-gage shelves!
Currently, our “pantry” consists of a built-in closet-style shelf set about 28 inches wide by 24 inches deep, where we keep the canned meats and sauces; a nice tan steel office cabinet with a locking door where I keep boxes of cereal, pasta, and other goods (I cover the bottom of this one and the backs of each shelf with fresh bay leaves each spring), and a nice 24″ x 36″ Edsal industrial shelving unit that holds canned goods, jellies, jams, and jugs and bottles of water and juices. The metal units have flanged shelves and are 12-gage steel. Over the years I have collected gallon jars and popcorn tins to hold wheat, barley, millet, whole oats, tapioca — and of course sugar. We do not store flour; in our climate even with the best of care it tends to turn rancid. We swap for or buy honey at the farmers markets as we need it. We have two chest-style deep freezers: an 18-cubic-foot in the barn and a smaller five-cube here in the house. Excess non-perishable foods that won’t be affected by heat and cold are stored outside in an old mobile home in four more office cabinets and two sets of shelves built of 1″ x 6″ and 1″ x 10″ lumber. We use the deep-mulch method to preserve cabbage, potatoes, rutabagas, and turnips over the winter, and simply rake back the straw covering or the snow when we need a root vegetable or a head of cabbage for a meal. We have a cold frame for spinach, chard, and other hardy, leafy greens.
All that works for us. We’ve been here for 22 years, most of those as subscribers to Backwoods Home. We appreciate the articles and the letters from readers, and always get a chuckle out of the Irreverent Jokes page.
Your faithful subscriber,
Joyce Eikenberry
Ohio
