Insights from the Modern Homesteading Conference: Stocking Your Pantry and Surviving Today

I share my experiences and the two traditional foods pantry presentations I gave at this year’s Modern Homesteading Conference, held in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, from June 28 to 29, 2024.

Arriving at the Modern Homesteading Conference

When we arrived Thursday evening before the start of the event, dark clouds had been crisscrossing the northwest part of the state. They brought some rain showers, temporarily halting the vendors setting up their booths in preparation for the two days of festivities.

There were many more vendors at this year’s conference, and their booths filled the available space inside and outside many of the permanent structures on the Kootenai County Fairgrounds.

Presentation 1: Top 10 Foods to Stock in Your Pantry

After the rains passed on Thursday, we had good weather for the conference events on Friday and Saturday. I gave my first presentation, “Top 10 Foods to Stock in Your Pantry,” to a packed building on Friday morning. Rachel Costenbader introduced me to the packed conference room, and my son, Benjamin, took a picture of us on stage before my talk.

My presentation expanded on two of my videos:

• Prep Like a Pro With the Ultimate Four Corners Pantry System
• 10 Essential Prepper Pantry Items to Stock Up On Now

Everyone has heard about stocking rice and beans, so I only mentioned those staples in passing. Instead, I focused on the top 10 foods that, as traditional food cooks, we want to stock in our pantries.

After discussing the first five foods, I introduced the Four Corners Pantry system:

• Main pantry
• Refrigerator
• Freezer
• Extended or Prepper Pantry and its subpantries.

This practical and organized approach will help you manage your pantry effectively and be prepared for any situation.

Along the way, I provided tips, such as how to store your ferments on the top shelf or the door of your refrigerator. I also talked about foods you can store in your Survival Pantry that will last indefinitely. (You don’t need to buy fancy dehydrated or freeze-dried foods.)

After reviewing the different pantries, I returned to discuss the remaining top 10 foods, which included Iodized Salt. (Did you know that if we couldn’t get a good supply of foods containing iodine, such as fish, we could avoid goiter by simply adding a bit of iodized salt to our diet? And don’t worry if you don’t use it right away. It’s one of those forever foods!)

Modern Pioneer Cookbook Book Signing

Many current and new sweet friends approached me after my presentation to tell me where they were from and the traditional food recipes they enjoyed. We took pictures together, and I tried to answer as many questions as I could before heading over to the Homestead Living tent, where I would be signing copies of my bestselling book, The Modern Pioneer Cookbook.

At the tent, I continued chatting with my sweet friends as I personalized copies of my cookbook for them and their family members.

Vendors at the Modern Homesteading Conference

On the second day of the conference, we were blessed with wonderful weather. My presentation was scheduled to start Saturday afternoon, so beforehand, I had a chance to talk with some of the vendors that set up stalls inside and tents outside the permanent structures on the fairground.

You may already be familiar with two vendors I’ve recommended in past videos: Farmhouse Teas and Survival Garden Seeds. I love CeAnne and the wide selection of high-quality herbs she offers on her Farmhouse Teas website and has customized for my herbal medicine videos.

I also met Jason and his amazing family at their Survival Garden Seeds booth, which was very popular since they were giving away samples of their non-GMO, heirloom seed packets to everyone who stopped by. (Both vendors have kindly offered my sweet friends special discounts on their products.)

I also stopped by the Homestead Living tent to see the latest publications for sale. That morning, they sold out of The Modern Pioneer Cookbook, leaving me with mixed feelings. Of course, I was ecstatic that they were able to sell all their copies and that I was able to personalize many of them during my book signing the day before.

But I was sad that other attendees wouldn’t have the chance to get a copy of my book for the remainder of the conference. (My cookbook is available in bookstores and online, but I enjoyed talking with attendees who picked up my book for the first time. It was a delight to experience their enthusiasm for traditional foods in person.)

Presentation #2: Tips from the Great Depression for Your Homestead

Saturday afternoon, I gave my “Tips from The Great Depression for Your Homestead” presentation to a packed building that was even larger than my first presentation on Friday.

I started my presentation by introducing myself to my new sweet friends and briefly reviewing highlights of my YouTube channel, cookbook, and The Modern Pioneering Cookbook Curriculum. Next, I talked about how my parents lived through the hard times of the Great Depression and the rationing of WWII. They survived, thrived, and passed their skills on to me growing up in New York State on a small homestead.

I recalled my dad’s fondness of the old Yankee adage:

Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.

And how they reused or repurposed everything, from the rubber bands from old newspapers to picking up items from the ground, such as a nail or screw, and adding them to saved coffee tins. (Do you remember when newspaper boys would bike around the neighborhood delivering folded newspapers held together with a rubber band? Or how about when coffee was packaged in metal tins, and you had to use a can opener to get to the grounds?)

My Mom’s Essential Vegetable Garden

My mom always had a garden to supplement the foods she got from the farmer’s market and grocery store. (Her family’s vegetable garden played an essential role in putting food on the table during the difficult times of the 1930s.) She would plant green onions on her windowsill, cherry tomatoes in old tomato cans, and a variety of vegetables and herbs inside and outside of our home.

She used kitchen scraps in her garden for cold composting, which involved digging a small hole in the backyard and burying scraps that would decompose and add to the soil over time while being deep enough to discourage critters from unearthing the scraps. She also added banana peel powder and tea to the soil to provide potassium and magnesium, egg shells for calcium, and coffee grounds for nitrogen.

After using (and reusing) beef bones to make bone broth until all the cartilage had dissolved, she ground up the leftover bones and sprinkled them in her garden to add phosphorus. (Isn’t it amazing how a traditional foods kitchen can help you grow a traditional foods garden without needing to add a lot of extra chemicals or fertilizer?)

Building Your Four Corners Great Depression Pantry

Next, I explained how and why you would want to build a Great Depression Pantry. (This pantry will help you get through tough times, including job loss, bad weather, illness, limited quantities, supply chain shortages, and more!)

You can build your Four Corners Great Depression Pantry by:

1. Inventorying your non-perishable food.
2. Using my Great Depression Pantry Shopping Guide to create a grocery list of the Depression Era Foods you don’t have and need to buy. (Don’t be brand loyal!)
3. Purchasing or making those missing foods to stock your Great Depression Pantry over time and within your budget.
4. Stocking “multiple streams” of food.

Typical Foods During the Great Depression

As for the typical Great Depression Foods, there were a variety, but home cooks with limited funds turned to those that were least expensive, such as:

• Molasses for sweetening instead of sugar
• Cornmeal in place of other more costly flours
• Peanut butter in place of other forms of fats, including butter
• Spaghetti dinners using inexpensive pasta
• Casseroles using canned fish or chicken in place of costly cuts of meat

I talked about how some foods that were cheap to get or make back then are not always the least expensive nowadays, such as the ingredients for making bone broth. And what is affordable and plentiful today might not be tomorrow, so stocking and trying unfamiliar foods will give you resiliency in case of hard times in the future.

For more information on the depression era foods that I covered and to download my free Great Depression Pantry Shopping Guide, visit my How To Build Your Great Depression Pantry blog post.

Meeting New and Old Sweet Friends

I enjoyed spending time with many other presenters and creators during the conference, including Josh and Carolyn Thomas with Homesteading Family and the School of Traditional Skills. I previously filmed a water bath canning class for the School of Traditional Skills, and they featured that class at the conference. I also met other creators who developed courses for the school, including Joel Salatin and Sally Fallon Morell.

I was also grateful to spend time with my wonderful friend Michele Pryse, who also works with Josh and Carolyn. Since Michele lives in Oregon, it was a treat to see her in person. Michele also has the delightful YouTube channel Chocolate Box Cottage and a corresponding website by the same name.

I also talked with Sophia Eng, author of The Nourished Asian Kitchen, during the conference. We had an opportunity to spend time with her at the County Line BBQ restaurant when she visited Austin, Texas. Sophie was at the conference with her husband, Tim, and both of them will be presenting at next year’s Modern Homesteading Conference.

Best Modern Homesteading Conference

My thanks to Melissa K. Norris and her team for putting together such an educational and fun conference for the second year in a row. I know it was a lot of work, but the Modern Homesteading Conference was the perfect way to share her love and passion for homesteading at an in-person event.

What I loved most about the conference was the opportunity to meet many of my sweet friends. I loved chatting with you and giving you big hugs. It warms my heart that you’ve invited me to be part of your family by watching my YouTube videos and making the recipes on my website and in my cookbook. I’m happy to be part of your traditional foods kitchen and to be on this traditional foods journey with you! 😊

The Modern Pioneer Cookbook

If you’re looking for a printed book full of my traditional foods recipes that shows you how to create a traditional foods kitchen, be sure to order your copy of my new bestselling book, The Modern Pioneer Cookbook.

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!

Join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy

Are you looking for more traditional foods videos? If so, I invite you to join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy. Members of this optional paid YouTube community get access to exclusive videos and other members-only perks. Plus, your YouTube comments include a special members-only badge.

Kitchen Academy Videos

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Stay in Touch with Mary’s Nest

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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Shop for items used in this blog post or video

Favorite Kitchen Supplies

• Favorite Aprons
• Spice Grinder
• Countertop Burner (On my kitchen island in many recipe videos.)
• Handheld Vacuum Sealing System
• Vacuum Lids
• Whisk
• Silica Gel Packets (Helps keep moisture from building up in your mix)
• Cast Iron Dutch Oven
• 8-Quart Slow-Cooker
• Fat Separator (Clever kitchen device to help you decant bone broth)
• Flour Sack Towels
• pH Strips (Helps you check on the acidity of your vinegar)

Amazon Shop and Shopping Guide

• Visit Mary’s Nest Amazon Shop
• Visit my Shopping Guide page
  Get up to 15% off for stocking your Traditional Foods Pantry and equipping your Modern Pioneer Kitchen, including discounts from US Wellness Meats, Farmhouse Teas, Lehman's, Masontops, Cultures for Health, Survival Garden Seeds, Redmond Real Salt, Plan to Eat, and More!

Recommended Reading

• The Modern Pioneer Cookbook
• Nourishing Traditions
• Spontaneous Healing
• Books by Rosemary Gladstar:
  • Medicinal Herbs – A Beginner’s Guide
  • Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health
  • Family Herbal
  • Herbal Healing for Women