The Castle Pantry

Would you like a peek inside our Castle Pantry?

First, I need to express how thankful I am that God gave us this house, our “Coppinger Castle.” For less than the cost of a much smaller, less functional (for our needs) house, God gave us this place.

It features over 9,000 square feet of usable living and storage space for us, which is fantastic to help us stay as organized as possible as we strive to love people in and out of our home.

Who lives at the Coppinger Castle?

Here’s the latest photo of our family, taken at an apple orchard Fall, 2023. There are 15 of us altogether. Our two oldest sons are married and live with their wives in Lincoln – so we are blessed to see them often. Our other nine kids live at the Castle with Matt and me. Plus we rent out our third story suites to some lovely people. So currently, 14 people live at the Coppinger Castle. It is amazing and yes, a bit crazy. ;)

Beyond our family and our housemates, we often have guests. You can see samples of what this looks like here and here.

Our Castle Pantry is a beautiful example of a space God gave us to help us to be as functional as possible while feeding many people every day. Ready to take a look?

Our “pantry” is an entire room just off the kitchen. (You can see photos of our Castle Kitchen here.) It features two walls of shelves, plus a full sink, additional refrigerator, upright freezer, and an extra stove/oven.

I have yet to use the stove/oven because I haven’t needed it thanks to having this beast of a stove/oven in our Castle Kitchen. Come Thanksgiving, I’m guessing this extra oven will come in handy. ;)

The extra fridge and freezer in the pantry though? They are 100% helpful and necessary. They are full all the time with much of the overflow that doesn’t fit in our kitchen fridge. (We have a third fridge/freezer in our basement that is almost always full too.)

Why so many refrigerators and freezers?

Well, as I said above, there are currently 14 people living at our house. Even when there were “only” eleven of us, we found that we needed this much fridge/freezer space. Buying in bulk, stocking up when items are on sale, and keeping a large supply of basic food on hand is extremely helpful and saves a lot of money.

So all of our refrigerators and freezers are full most of the time, and I find that I run to all of them frequently while feeding this many people every day. I am so thankful for God’s provision.

What’s on the pantry shelves?

So much food. And also kleenex and ziplock. ;) Here’s a boring, ugly picture of one wall of shelves. This one is a catch-all shelf and it isn’t fun to look at. There’s a counter there full of easy-to-grab items plus our breads and buns. Bottom left you’ll see shelves full of chips and cereal. And the shelves on the right house Auggie’s Pediasure drinks plus some packets of Oatmeal.

Our main wall of shelving contains all things food. I try to keep it organized in categories, though you’ll see that it isn’t perfect. It’s functional though, which is what I’m going for.

You’ll see that I basically have a grocery store in my pantry, which is extremely helpful as I plan and prepare meals. I can go to our shelves, fridges, and freezers and get what I need to feed us all well. I can also look at it and see what we are getting low on so that I know what we need the next time I go to the store. (Here’s how I make a grocery list without making a grocery list.)

There it is, the Castle Pantry. I am so, so thankful for this space and for God’s provision to fill our shelves!