"Empty Larder Days"

I confess that there are still a number of song lyrics that I don't know, but I continue to mimic the sounds I think I'm hearing, regardless of whether they form a real or logical word.

I had a revelation this morning.

The clue in my crossword puzzle was a 7-letter word for "pantries". I was stuck. I had no idea. Eventually, all the other words around it were filled in and I was left looking at larders. Larder... where had I heard the word before?
Then it hit me.
Dodger in the musical "Oliver!" sang the song "Consider Yourself". We sang the song in elementary school chorus a gazillion years ago and, in the tradition of all children's choruses, we didn't understand half the words we were singing - let alone say them correctly.

The line goes "If it should chance to be, we should see some harder days, empty larder days, why grouse?"
(Nevermind the fact that none of us knew what grouse meant - heck, I don't know what it means even now!)


The whole song:
Consider yourself at home.
Consider yourself one of the family.
We've taken to you so strong.
It's clear we're going to get along.
Consider yourself well in
Consider yourself part of the furniture.
There isn't a lot to spare.
Who cares?..What ever we've got we share!

If it should chance to be
We should see
Some harder days
Empty larder days
Why grouse?
Always a-chance we'll meet
Somebody
To foot the bill
Then the drinks are on the house!
Consider yourself our mate.
We don't want to have no fuss,
For after some consideration, we can state...
Consider yourself
One of us!