My extras, I've stocked up on: I have a cubby shelf on the wall in my walk-in closet. I filled it with "extra" socks, for DH & myself. Maybe....12 pairs for each of us. In my pantry: 6 -1lb bags of brown rice, 24 mega rolls of toilet paper, #25 bag of white sugar(for the hummingbirds). Several cases of Sheba cuts cat food. 6 - 20lb boxes of kitty litter.

I don't keep a large amount of anything that I can think of, but I do keep one extra of most things, mayo, soy sauce, sugar, flour, a case of bottled water etc. The one thing I make sure I have is some little boxes of shelf stable milk. I don't drink much milk, but buy it for my grandson, so usually have it on hand and use it in my coffee. If I'm not expecting him to be here, I might run out of milk, but can use one of the small boxes in my coffee....I can't drink coffee black.

I do have an inordinate amount of TP right now...I order bamboo TP from Who Gives a *rap (a great product and company, by the way). I ordered a case not long ago and a month later a 2nd case I didn't order showed up. I wrote them and they said I'd signed up for auto ship. Well, I didn't, because there is no way I would go through a case in the 6 weeks between shipments I'd supposedly signed up for. So they said to just keep it and they refunded my money. So I probably have a lifetime supply.

I don’t purposely keep a lot of extras but find I sometimes inadvertently buy something because it’s on sale and then realize I already had an unopened one at home. Did this a couple of weeks ago with a jar of my favorite Duke’s mayo. This is why I try to have a list with me.

I do make sure I have toilet paper, sugar (esp during hummingbird season), toothpaste & toothbrushes (usually bought in a multi-pack), pasta, canned tomatoes, tomato paste (for making a quick sauce), peanut butter. Non human food items include bird seed (stored in a large metal can). potting soil, and fertilizers or treatments (e.g., fungicides) for my gardens which may or may not be extras but i don’t like to run out when i need them.

I try to keep 4 cans of tuna on-hand because I love tuna salad and it's my go-to meal when I have nothing planned.

I have way too many jugs of laundry detergent (on sale--cannot resist). When I see that something I like is being discontinued, I buy it up.

Contact lens solutions (cleaner and saline) - I always have at least 1 if not 2 extra (in addition to the open bottles). If there's a sale on a product that stores well, like dryer sheets or soap, I'll stock up with at least a few - fortunately I have enough storage for that. When Kimberly Clark said they would not longer sell Kleenex tissues in Canada, I really stocked up, and I have about 20 boxes of Kleenex Ultra stashed around the house. As it turns out, Amazon still sells it in Canada - maybe they stock it from Amazon US.

Well, toilet paper from Costco, because 5 years ago I learned how fast things can disappear. I buy tomato paste and canned diced tomatoes and tuna in 8-packs from Costco. (See a pattern here?) If mayo is on sale, I'll buy a couple of extra jars, As a rule, I'll usually have an extra whatever on the shelf, and buy another as soon as my back-up is opened. And again, if I see a good sale, I'll buy a couple of extra.

I absolutely hate shopping, even on line, so I only do it every couple of months and do keep a lot of anything storable. Anything perishable like fruit, fish and unfreezable dairy is bought weekly. I have multiple cans of things like tomatoes, tinned fish, or pulses. A dozen packs of pasta. Always an unopened bag of any dry goods like flours, rices, sugars, pulses. Shelves of homemade jams and pickles. Lots of herbs and spices, passata, vinegars, soy sauce, etc. A freezer full of meat, milk, butter and bread. At least two of any toiletries and cleaning products. On the other hand I have very few clothes or shoes. I loath shopping for them too. What we don't keep is biscuits (cookies) or candy (sweets).

Since the TP shortage from the pandemic, I installed bidets so don’t have to stock up too much. The pantry usually has extra pasta, rice, oatmeal, soy sauce and honey. If I know there is an ice/snow storm or a hurricane coming our way, I would fill up extra gas cans for the generators.

My rule is when you open something new you replace it in the pantry. If it is on sale you get two, I get extra sugar for hummingbird season and am now keeping extra cartons of canned cat food ever since the shortage a few years back. We live a fair ways out from stores. I buy multi cartons of staples like tomato sauce from Costco and canned beans and rotate through them. I watch dates and will donate to the food bank when any that are languishing get close. I dont like wasting gas and my time to run to the store all the time.

Oh, and I have a huge thing of TP that I bought just before covid that I still have because we put in bidet attachments on the toilets and use very little tp.

patriciae

I generally will buy a new container of whatever when the current one gets to the half-used point. However, I am on auto-delivery for a few items so my inventory of those items will be some quantity based my auto-delivery schedule. I'd rather have one delivery every 6 months than a smaller delivery monthly for those items.

I always have a few cans of tuna in the pantry and some shelf-stable riced cauliflower and riced broccoli. I know I should keep more shelf-stable water for earthquake preparedness, but I don't.

" I generally will buy a new container of whatever when the current one gets to the half-used point. "

This is a good description of what we seem to do. Otherwise, a topic that has been discussed before, we have few and mostly no "extras on hand" of anything.

I have a collection of Thai chili paste in small cans. I used to make my own when I had a kaffir lime tree and lemongrass in my backyard, and so I am just now getting around to using the cans. I also have a collection of hot sauces, some of which I bought when I was traveling, and I bought them because I thought they looked interesting, but I still also have hot sauce that I have made myself, plus I have two chocolate Habanero chili plants that are producing chilies, and these are so hot that I cannot use that many of them. One of the plants is in the ground, and I am hoping that it will produce chilies for a long time. The other one is in a very large pot, but I know from experience that it will eventually become root bound and stop producing.

I also have extra soy sauce and fish sauce, since I am no longer close to a Japanese market 😞

“My rule is when you open something new you replace it in the pantry.”

Same and often when the old item is half gone. Gotta have backups. I also keep a big supply of paper towels and tp.

Condiments, canned, frozen vegetables, flours, beans, etc.

I do the one in use one in the pantry thing. Same for personal care products like soap and toothpaste. Also keep a good supply of paper products.

I have two riding helmets. Used to have one but it's nice to have a back-up in case of a fall and nice to change them from day to day in hot weather. We don't talk about the back up horse tack and grooming supplies I own for someone who doesn't own a horse. LOL

I always have a good supply of hearing aid batteries. When I am down to half a large box,I order new one.

I'm not into fashion, so if something fits well or is comfortable, I will buy a backup pair if it's something like boots or several tees in different colors. I have far more socks than I need for this reason, separated by season. :-)

Red Relish (used to be called hamburger relish ) isn't sold here so I order it online by the case.

We are charged 10 cents a bag here so I buy t-shirt bags by the case and most often bring my own.

Toilet paper, paper towels, cat food, and cat litter. I keep track of what's low, and I can say we have never run out of anything we use on a regular basis.

I keep a lot of foods, as we live outside a mountain village, and my grocery stores are about 25 and 40 minutes away. I have a non-walk-in pantry in our kitchen, another one in my laundry room. I also have an upright freezer and a fridge right outside our laundry room in a special area we had built in an our attached garage.
To keep me from forgetting about which extras I do have, I have my own system to keep track. I use these small stickers. I put on items that I have in my fridge, freezer and kitchen pantry that tells me I have another in the laundry room pantry or garage fridge or freezer.

I have an absolute favorite shoe, and a runner-up by the same maker in a slightly different style. Since I am never sure when they will be discontinued (because of course they will be), I always have a back-up pair in black and in brown at the ready for when the current pair wears out. I wear them from time to time to keep them supple but they are really there at the ready. (also for, if I get caught in the rain in my current pair, I can wear the successors while the first ones dry.)

Coffee.

@LynnNM..THAT'S a great idea! I'm going to copy you. Good for putting a date on items too.

Toilet paper, paper towels, paper plates, tin foil pans for grilling, toothpaste, tooth brushes, deodorant. I think that's about it.

When I worked, I bought multiple articles of clothing that I liked, that were similar. I'm not a big shopper, so if something caught my eye and I bought it and liked it, I bought another right away. I wish I'd bought more bras after my double mastectomy, as I have a bazillion now that aren't as good as the two I bought post surgery.

Around the house, I'm not a true "prepper," but I believe in being prepared. Especially in winter, you never know when the weather's going to change and I can't get out to shop. So, I have multiples of danged near everything that I use on a regular basis. 40 miles round trip to the grocery, 90 minutes to Sam's. I get antsy if I only have a week's worth of cat food left. LOL

Lynn, great idea! We do have a small walk-in pantry but also store bulky items like paper products in our walkup attic, and some items in a refrigerator in our garage storage room. This would be a good reminder.

For some things like baking soda or spices I often write the date purchased on the box. I hate trying to decode the use by or expiration date although most have finally started putting the actual dates on there. Great if you can read some of them.

Does having canned & packaged goods in the pantry really count? Toiletries like toothpaste, toothbrushes, facial and body care items are things I tend to keep a few extras of in the cupboard.

And I'm not going to go and buy a single roll of paper towels when I run out - same for TP.

How about batteries? I feel like those are a given.

Not much, but a few things come to mind:

I don’t get to Costco too often, but when I do I think bacl to the last trip and if I bought PT and TP. If not, or if I can’t remember, I’ll buy. So we always have more than we need. It’s a covid thing.

Also from Costco, Rao’s sauce. We use it often for quick meals. And I give it to my mom. So if I’m down to a half dozen jars or so, I start to feel low and put it on my list to replenish.

Barilla Tri Color Rotini. The only pasta my daughter will accept in a particular quick dish. For some reasons some of my local supermarkets stopped carrying it so whenever I’m low I take note ans buy a bunch at a less preferred store.

When our kids were, well, kids, we had backups on everything, from reeds and drumsticks to frozen lasagna. Now, Dh and I keep ”the next one”. Bottle in the fridge, bottle in the pantry. When you take out of the pantry, write it on the shopping list. Two of every pasta (because it never fails, otherwise at some point you have an ounce of vermicelli and an ounce of mostaccioli, and while I often mix pasta shapes, that one is too wide a degree of separation.) Made tuna salad? one can now in the pantry? get another (actually we order by the dozen). That kind of thing.

A quote from a homemaking source I used to frequent: ”Nothing says I Love You like having plenty of toilet paper on hand.”

I keep a few extra pairs of handbell gloves on hand. And a couple of springs for repair.

In the 1950's my DM would have hand soap and toilet paper delivered when Marshall Field's had bulk sales, mostly to get the quality she wanted and to avoid lugging these staples home 'as needed'.

I will never have a 'Costco Closet' with a year's supply of anything, but I have some quantities of TP, Kleenex, and paper plates, just for convenience. IDK if there's much savings; depends on inflation, eh?

I don't need to stock at home what I can buy in a ten-minute drive to a reasonably priced local grocery. I'll let 'the store' do the 'storing'. That's a different matter if someone is unable to access a decent store. I'm not physically disabled. I have a car to drive. I expect to be able to pay for goods in the future without having to barter with TP.

I don't have a pantry. I do have a grocery store just two minutes away. I don't have room in my house to store anything that I can get in two minutes.

We are a 20 - 30 minute drive to a store. We get snow and ice in winter. We keep a few things and have a freezer.

Tuna, sardines, canned baked beans, tomatoes, olive oil, flour sugar salt pepper, baking things. Eggs, maybe sausage or bacon (only eat infrequently). Pasta, oatmeal, frozen veggies, cheese, onions, potatoes, garlic, Asian food ingredients and condiments.

I just discovered a container of plain tofu, best eaten by a month ago. Hmm.

Two weeks ago I got curious about making tofu (bean curd). Apparently it’s pretty easy. Someone here used to make it. Olychick? plllog?

I live in NYC. Don't have room for multiples and can get to the store by walking out my door, and bam, I'm there in four minutes.

BUT, my hair dye is not sold in stores so I purchase 3 boxes at once. And since COVID, I have two large boxes of N-95s on hand. When one runs out, I purchase a replacement.

I like to be able to assume certain things are in the pantry. So I also replace any item removed from the pantry to the fridge. This is only for high rotation items like mayo, ketchup, cocktail sauce, etc.

With the current prices I also stock up when a heavily used item is on sale. I usually buy double when on sale. DH likes the frozen keto egg/sausage/cheese sandwiches. On sale at Costco = buy 4 boxes.

@petalique not me!

Maybe alisande.

@Lars....Have you ever made Tofu?

Perhaps one of the regulars on the cooking forum?

I have an old Farm cookbook that has detailed instructions for making tofu - it seems a bit involved to me - soaking, grinding, straining then curdling - it's basically cheesemaking with soybeans, IMO.

Here's a link @ the Internet Archive to The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook - which has a recipe for making tofu from soy flour - seems like that might be much easier...

https://archive.org/details/newfarmvegetaria00hagl/page/n9/mode/2up

You can borrow the book and read it online, or purchase @ the link.

And I also keep extra KN95s on hand, along with extra COVID tests - and thankful I ordered the free ones before that was discontinued.

Extra truck, gas, canning jars and lids, butter, socks, food staples, tools.....etc. I have extra of everything.

I have a tiny apartment kitchen with very limited storage, but there are two groceries and a produce stand all within a block. I keep a back-up quart of maple syrup because my husband puts it in everything, even his coffee. I like to buy it at Trader Joe's where it's much cheaper, but that's a 10 block walk plus waiting in line, which is not something I'm willing to do first thing in the morning. I also make sure never to run out of frozen edamame, because that's my favorite lazy-gotta-eat-something meal. And I make sure never to run out of toilet paper, although I'll sometimes get down to just one extra roll.

Regarding COVID tests, which I also have from when they were free, just be aware that they do go out of date.

I just discovered Churu makes "Chowder" in cups for cats. It's something new to stock up on. The cats wake me up @ 4am...I put out a cup of Churu and I can go back to sleep. 💤

In addition to many of the food items and necessities mentioned above, I keep an extra gallon of washer fluid in the garage and several bags of walnuts in the pantry. I have batteries in several sizes, and paper in several weights from 20-lb. to 28-lb. (I like paper.) Knowing how quick makeup manufacturers are to discontinue items, if I buy something I particularly like I'll sometimes pick up another while it's still available. This turned out to be profitable recently when I bought an extra $7 eyeliner and later learned it had been discontinued and was in demand. When I saw how much it was selling for on eBay I decided I didn't like it that much. I listed it and sold it for over $50.

I guess my biggest extra is the brand new sump pump that resides in its box in my basement. We bought it to prevent a situation where a pump failed and the basement flooded while we drove to town to buy another.

How many Cars? I have two trucks, two cars two tractors (farm and industrial) One 52" zero turn and another 1980's john Deere 265. My total cylinder count for all combustible engines is 34.

JIC = “Just In Case”

I had a thought last night as I was wheeling my backup A/C unit from the garage to house. I passed two generators, a battery system, solar panels, etc. And I realized that I under-answered and I am probably more like Kevin in real life 😂

I rolled my backup a/c thru the path of my two purple cars while laughing about it. I would not have to leave this house for at least 2-3 months if we ever had a zombie apocolyspe. They make very high quality dehydrated camping food that is easy to store and DH uses it while camping. And before Elmer chimes in. My choices have nothing to do with fear. Just a fierce desire for autonomy and easy living. I can call the A/C company on monday, easy peasy.

Sorry, I didn't see the tofu post until now. Yes, making it at home isn't difficult, but it's time-consuming and labor-intensive. Carol's right--the process is very similar to cheese-making. I missed tofu when we moved away from NYC in the 1970s, so I bought myself a little pressing box and followed directions to make a pound of it. The result wasn't bad, but the fact that it took two hours led to our going into the business of making tofu commercially.

I haven't thought about this in a while, and a don't remember what coagulating agent the directions called for. But I'm sure it wasn't nearly as good as the nigari we ordered from Japan when my husband made it in his tofu shop. We also used organic soybeans from Iowa. We eventually added several kinds of tempeh to our product list, along with "eggless salad," tofu dessert pies, and other treats.

" And before Elmer chimes in. "

Dehydrated food and a closet of cans give you "autonomy"? Autonomy of what kind? Is it something that your friends and neighbors without food stocks don't have?

^^^ Too funny.

Alisande, thanks. About 8 weeks ago, there was some tofu dish that set me reviewing blogs and YT videos. My brain is a sieve. Maybe it eas some crispy Chinese tofu dish like Salt and Pepper Tofu. ?? I looked ar recipes, tofu presses, molds, nut bags, cheesecloth, jelly bags.

I never did get around to making any (yet?).

Sometimes, when lolling around in my jammies (think George Booth cartoons), I tell myself that I’m an idea person.

LOL, Petalique. I may adopt that reminder to myself.

I call it the curse of having a good imagination 😄