9 Pantry Staples Tejano Families Buy Before Winter (And 3 They Never Touch)

The wind turns, the lights go out at suppertime, and four people are looking at you in front of a full pantry that can’t make one hot dinner. Sound familiar? Every November, before the first norther came down across the brush country, my mother filled one shelf in our kitchen. That one shelf could feed nine people for three days with the lights off. Not a basement full of cans. Just the right things, bought a little at a time. In this video I walk you through that shelf the way she stocked it in the seventies: 🌾 The 9 pantry staples Tejano families buy before winter, and how to cook each one 🚫 The 3 things on the same aisle I walk right past, including the can on the clearance cart you should never bring home 🫘 The one bag at the back of your cupboard that turns into five dinners in one week ✨ And two more that aren’t on anybody’s list but ours You don’t have to be Mexican to keep a shelf like this. You just have to start before the first norther. Tell me in the comments what part of the country you’re cooking in, and which one gives you the most trouble: the pantry that’s full and still can’t make a dinner, the beans that have been sitting in the back since last winter, or the groceries that end up in the trash. I read every single one. Miguel grows the anchos we hang on the porch every October. You’ll find how he does it over on Miguel’s Garden. A note on safety: if a can is dented at the seam, bulging, or rusted, don’t open it and don’t taste it. Throw it out. This shelf is one part of getting ready for the cold, so keep warm clothes, blankets, drinking water, and everybody’s medicines on hand too. Waste nothing. Feed everybody. Buen provecho.