Interactive lesson

The pantry calendar, step by step

Interactive lesson: the four waves of putting up through the year, what to do in winter, spring, summer and autumn, how to lighten September and which deadlines you mustn't miss.

Free sample Chapters 1 and 2 (8 steps) are free. The full lesson comes with the What to put up each month module. Already bought? Unlock

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The whole lesson as text

1. A year in four waves

A pantry isn't filled in one go but in waves, as the garden, orchard, barn and field give food.

Four waves — Winter: pig, smoke, salt. Spring: eggs, cheese. Summer: preserves, fruit, grain. Autumn: cellar, crock, maize, butter and lard.
Read with a pencil — Cross out what you don't do: no goats, no pig, no cider. Only then look at how much work is left.
Count between the waves — Count the stores on 1 March (what is left from winter), in June (how many jars before the new preserves) and on 1 November (is the pantry full).
A calendar for your area — Months are for lowland UK and Ireland. On mild coasts harvests come 2–4 weeks earlier, in the uplands and Scotland 2–4 weeks later. In the US and Canada, go by your USDA zone.

Why: Every pantry series has its own calendar. Lay them one on top of another and you see that in September almost everything falls together, while in March there is nothing but a cellar check. If you don't see it in advance, in September you end up choosing what to let go to waste.

For a family of 3.1 AE the pantry takes roughly 40–50 working days or afternoons a year, spread over 9 months.
For a backyard plot without animals, the pantry is half this calendar.

2. Winter: December, January, February

Cold weather is the only right time for meat.

Pig killing in the cold — Pork only after a negative Trichinella test, and only once the meat deep in the ham is below 7 °C (45 °F).
Curing salt on the scales — Curing salt (nitrite curing salt or Cure #1) is weighed and kept labelled, never measured "by eye". Check nitrite limits with the competent authority (FSA, FSAI, USDA FSIS, CFIA) before the season.
Smoke only outdoors — Smoke in a smokehouse away from the house, with an extinguisher or a bucket of sand beside it. Smoke indoors means carbon monoxide, and a smokehouse next to the woodshed means fire.
January is for planning — The pantry is full and the garden is resting. Sit down with the inventory and make the pantry plan and the sowing plan: whatever you need to harvest in September has to be sown in February and March.

Why: At low temperatures meat chills, salts, dries and smokes safely. At the same time the pantry is used the most: cellar, crock, jars and cheese. British and Irish winters are often too mild for curing in an outbuilding, so plan a fridge or cold room.

Empty the freezer and let it cool a day before the pig killing.
Decide what goes into ham, what into sausages and what into the freezer before the first cut.