If you’re creating or stocking your Prepper Pantry before the weather turns cold and disagreeable, here are the 10 Prepper Pantry items you need to buy now at Costco. I show you 10 categories of items along with some bonus ones that will help make your kitchen life easier.

These items won’t bust your grocery budget, and if you are not a Costco member, don’t worry. You can use the advice I share in this video to shop at Walmart, Aldi, Sam’s Club, or even your local grocery store.

Watch the Top 10 Prepper Pantry Items You Need to Buy NOW at Costco (Or any other store!) video

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Table of Contents

What is a Prepper Pantry?

The Prepper Pantry is part of your Four Corners Pantry System, which represents the main areas where home cooks store food. These include your:

  • Working Pantry – where you store non-perishable food and what you access every day
  • Refrigerator
  • Freezer
  • Extended or Prepper Pantry – where you store non-perishable foods to restock your working pantry

You want to make sure that you have a Prepper Pantry because you never want to run out of food. What we have been through over the last few years should be a warning to everyone as to how important it is to keep some extra food on hand. So whether it’s an illness, bad weather, job loss when money is tight, or you can’t get to the grocery store, you know that your Prepper Pantry will see you through.

But don’t worry! You don’t need to stock your Prepper Pantry in one shopping trip. Instead, you can get the products you need over time as your budget allows. In today’s video, I show you a budget-friendly way to get the 10 basic foods you need to get started. And if you already have a Prepper Pantry, you’ll find some great prices and helpful products you may not have thought about.

Mary in front of her working pantry.

How to Stock a Prepper Pantry

When you first decide that you want to stock a Prepper Pantry, the process can feel overwhelming. You’ll have lots of questions, including:

  • What food should you stock?
  • How much food should you stock?
  • Where do you store all the food?
  • How do you keep your food fresh?

These are all common questions as you begin the Prepper Pantry process. The good news is that I am here to help you on your journey by answering these questions and more.

I have a comprehensive playlist of Prepper Pantry videos that talk more about the process of getting started, along with a way to accelerate building your Prepper Pantry if you need to create one at a much faster pace. (The How to Accelerate Stocking Your Prepper Pantry video includes a free printable inventory list.)

You can watch my comprehensive Prepper Pantry playlist for additional videos that cover:

  • The best storage containers for keeping food the freshest
  • The difference between an Oxygen Absorber and a Silica Gel Pack
  • What is a Mylar Bag and how to use it
  • How to stock a Survival Pantry
  • What are Forever Foods?
  • And more!

Shopping at Costco to Stock Your Prepper Pantry

You just need 10 basic foods to get started stocking your Prepper Pantry. These foods will carry you through any situation where you may not be able to go grocery shopping. If your everyday Working Pantry begins to run low on food, you don’t need to worry. You can shop at home in your Prepper Pantry, where you store your backup food.

Arrow showing restocking from the Extended Pantry to the Main Working Pantry.

The following list gives you the 10 items or categories you want to focus on stocking first before you buy anything else. And in today’s video, I go into more detail about each category and how to use these foods:

  • Canned Good
  • Dried Beans
  • Coffee Beans
  • Honey or Maple Syrup
  • Nut Butters
  • Olive Oil or Ghee
  • Rice, Oats, and All-Purpose Flour
  • Spices, Vinegars, and related items
  • Sweets and Treats (We all need at least one of these!)
  • Water

Using Foods in the Video to Make Recipes

Costco offers a wide variety of canned goods you can store for the long term in your Prepper Pantry. You’ll find good buys on canned chicken and sardines. But no matter where you get these high-protein canned foods, I show you how to use them to make delicious recipes in the following videos.

Dried Bean Recipes

I found dried black beans during my shopping trip at Costco, but I didn’t find pinto beans, which I thought was odd since it’s commonly used in central Texas. So they may temporarily be out of them. But if you stock up on the black beans or get other beans, like pintos, from other stores, I’ll show you the best way to cook them up for maximum nutrition.

Multiple Streams of Food – Buying and Making Jams

After you get a chance to stock up on foods from Costco or your local grocery store, think about what other ways you can add food to your pantry, especially your Prepper Pantry. It’s like having multiple income streams, but in this case, you have food.

In my multiple streams of food video, I talk about different ways you can ensure you have enough food for yourself and your family.

For example, I show you some good buys on blackberry and strawberry jams and spreads at Costco, but you can also make these jams as another stream of food. Many store-bought jams have sugar high in the ingredient list, but if you make them homemade, you can control the amount of sugar that goes into them. I show you how to make low-sugar or no-sugar strawberry jams with step-by-step water bath canning instructions.

How to Store and Cook Whole Grains

I love how friendly Costco and Texas shoppers are. As I was filming a segment about flour, a lady chatted with me about her experience storing flour for the long term in her Prepper Pantry. I share those helpful tips that she discussed with me in today’s video.

Although you can store flour in your pantry, whole grains are the best for long-term storage in your Prepper Pantry. In the following videos, I show you how to store whole grain and make flour from the grain in three different ways. And if you have a selection of whole grains already stored, I show you how to cook them the right way too.

More Shopping Videos

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Download Your Free 36-Page Pantry List

For an extensive list of the traditional foods you can make and purchase to stock your pantry, be sure to download my free 36-page Traditional Foods Pantry List. This comprehensive eBook is full of links to recipe videos, helpful articles, and more!

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  1. Subscribe to My YouTube Channel for Traditional Foods Videos (Free) - When you subscribe, be sure to click on the notification bell that will let you know each time I upload a new video.
  2. Subscribe to Mary’s Traditional Foods Newsletter (Free) - Get a free 36-page eBook for signing up: How to Stock Your Essential Traditional Foods Four-Corners Pantry.
  3. Join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy (Optional Paid) - For more detailed videos and exclusive members-only perks, join my YouTube membership community.
  4. Order The Modern Pioneer Cookbook (Optional Paid) - Get a printed book of Mary's nourishing recipes from a Traditional Foods Kitchen. This bestselling cookbook is published by Penguin Random House with their DK imprint.

I look forward to having you join me in my Texas Hill Country Kitchen!

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Favorite Prepper Pantry Supplies

Favorite Kitchen Supplies

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Comments

  1. Sandra S Smith says:

    Mary.. I just started following you.. Could you tell me where I can get your favorite little whisk that you use?

    Reply

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