Well here's a good reason to always be prepared,

So it doesn't have to be an end of the world scenario in order to justify keeping a pantry.  Saw something interesting yesterday.  I went last night to pick up the odds and ends of groceries I still needed at Aldi last night.  Upon arrival I saw a sign posted on the door saying the EBT system was down.  We don't get food stamps, but we wanted to make sure our debit card would work.   Dh and I went on in and asked if the regular debit cards still worked and the cashier said they were fine, just the EBT(Snap, Food stamps) were down; IN 17 STATES!  She said she had been putting groceries back all day because people would come in, fill their carts, only to realize the EBT cards wouldn't work.  They would just leave their cart where it was.  I came home and looked up the story online and found it was a glitch in the system that should be resolved by now (I hope).  The stories I read online were amazing stories of people going nuts at Walmart  because their EBT cards wouldn't work.  Many were angry or were panicked.  My point in this story is that, while this was (hopefully) a one day glitch, what if this had lasted longer?  What if Food Stamps had been affected by the Govt Shut down?  What if the glitch lasted a week?  For those people who only use their food stamps (or grocery money) to buy only enough to last until the next trip, something keeping you from purchasing your groceries would be a reason to panic.  I am not just picking on Food Stamp folks,  What would have happened if I needed to get groceries and the Debit card system was down.  I have seen that happen as well.  I have gone to stores that said all they could take was cash.  In my case, because I had a pantry at home I was A) only buying things to  replace items used in storage, B)  buying what was a good deal, C) and could easily adjust my grocery shopping plans because I still had things at home.  I would have just been minorly inconvenienced in making a fruitless trip.   SO here we have another reason to keep a pantry at home. 

Sort of on the subject but a little off to the side, a worth while thing to know is that in between now and Christmas, stores will be having staple items on sale: flour, sugar, oils, butter, spices, cocoa, choc chips, etc.  Now would be the time to stock up on these items to have in your pantry.  Watch for the sales.  I added oil, brown sugar, and cocoa to my pantry yesterday.  So worth it.