The Pantry

With 7 dogs, 4 of which are over 100lbs, we use lots of dog food! Having been in the dog business since the 70’s, both Border Collies and guardians, we sought out the best deal for dog food - palatability, nutrition and moderate price being our criteria. We had a bulk deal from the local feed mill but the dogs stopped eating it after a while. We partnered up with another dog owner and trucked a large quantity from southern Alberta but storage began to cause problems. We gave most of the moderately priced name brands a doggy taste test. In the end Kirkland’s (Costco) lamb and rice won out. So at least once a month and often twice we head out on a dog food run to the city. Two hours there, two hours back, time to shop, and storing away purchases makes it a long and tiring day. 

Costco knows how to attract buyers, I’ve made many spur of the moment purchases there. All the stuff you simply must have is right at the door as you come in, next comes the electronics, followed by candy. They have quality meats, gifts, clothing, books, cheaper gas... Needless to say we load up on lots more than dog food on our city trips.

When we get home the work begins. Those large quantities must be broken up into smaller ones for freezing, room must be found in the fridge, and cupboard space for the rest. I believe in having a spare of nearly everything and a whole flat of things like mushroom soup, so when I start using the spare its replacement goes onto my grocery list. Between my stocked root cellar and my spare keeping habit we could probably eat well for a month or two and never leave home. But product back-up requires storage space and I was running out!

“I need another pantry,” I announced to my unresponsive-connected-by-bluetooth- deep-into-the-news on his iPad husband.

“Hmmm,” he mumbled.

That sounded like ‘yes, good idea’ to me. 

We have a small room we’ve called Grandma’s room ever since it was my mom-in-law’s bedroom when she stayed with us 6 months at a stretch many years ago. Grandma’s room has gradually become a storage/utility room, a catch-all for everything we couldn’t find a spot for. I moved a bookshelf upstairs, wiggled a few things around and made a place for a pantry about two feet wide. I was ready! I delved into some of the big box store’s websites on the Internet to see what I could find - size and price being my search parameters. I placed my order on a pantry cupboard 24”x11”x 60” from Home Depot - reasonable price, free delivery. Two days later I received an email saying my pantry had been shipped. For my shipping address I used the street address of a small business in the village as per usual, because there are no trucking outfits that bring goods out to the farms.

I phoned to check on my parcel several days later - not there yet. A week later, still not there. “This makes no sense!” I said, “UPS sent an email and it should be here by now.”

“Oh, it was shipped by UPS! Don’t you know they don’t deliver out here anymore, haven’t for quite a while.” Time to get serious about tracking down my pantry. I found a phone number for UPS, patiently listened to a recorded voice giving me many options to solve my problem, and finally found a human to tell me my pantry was in their warehouse and that they were looking for a trucking outfit to bring it out. Right. Suspecting they would not find anyone I suggested we re-route the package to the northwest side Home Depot. They and Home Depot agreed. But the pantry never got there.

On contacting UPS again I discovered it was still in their warehouse. “Okay, we’ll come and get it,” I said. “Where are you?” Their location on 28th Ave.N.W. turned out to be on the SE side of the city...?? (Am I the only one who finds that odd?) Off we went, clocking the distance at 192km from home! Free delivery, yep. Oh well, the south side Costco was a hop and skip away from UPS, so we picked up dog food too.

After a couple of days sitting in the shop in its box, my husband put my new pantry together and I filled it up with my spares and some less frequently used kitchen appliances. And I’ve learned my lesson about buying large items on the Internet when you live in the disconnected boonies - ship to the store for pick-up or shop the old fashioned way.