Off The Grid News Better Ideas For Off The Grid Living
Food storage is one of the most important aspects of prepping and survival planning. Even if you have a nice homestead set up with a garden and livestock, you should be prepared with stored foods. This can include canned goods, dried goods, preserved meats, and the fruits of your own garden, canned and preserved. And, of course, don’t forget water. If you have a year’s worth of food stored in couple of different locations around your homestead as well as a garden and animals, you are in an excellent position for when society falls.
Getting your food storage going by preserving your harvest and purchasing supplemental canned and dried foods is just the beginning, though. There is no point in keeping all of that food if you are not managing your inventory. Without proper management, you may find when the time comes that you are lacking certain nutrients in your supply. Or, worse, you may find that you have let a good portion of your food go bad without replacing it. With the right plan that includes labeling, inventorying, and rotating your foods, you can keep your supply organized, fresh, and up to date.
Taking Inventory
The first step in good food storage management is knowing what you have. Taking inventory is something that you should do along the way as you add to your stocks. However, if you began storing without keeping a record, you can remedy that by taking an inventory. That could be a big job if you already have a big supply, so get the whole family involved and make a day of it.
Easy Techniques For The Freshest Flavors In Canning…
Inventorying simply means making a record of what you have. It could be a simple list of everything, but a more useful record is one that is organized in some way. For instance, you could organize your inventory by food type: canned, dried, vegetables, fruits, meats, spices, and so on. You could also do an alphabetical list of everything in storage. The way you choose to organize it in your record, however, should mimic what you actually have in the storage area. If you are not happy with how your foods are arranged, change the set up while you take inventory and make the record match what you actually see.
Alphabetical order is one way in which to keep your inventory, but it is not necessarily practical for your food storage. The alphabet has nothing to do with the storage needs of a food. It is more helpful to store foods according to their types. Alphabetizing, though, can be useful when you need to find information about a food quickly. Consider keeping an inventory that matches your food arrangement in storage, but also a list of your stock in alphabetical order. You can do this easily if you create your inventory on a spreadsheet. The software can quickly alphabetize your list and create a second document so that you have two records in no time. Making updates on a spreadsheet is also easy. As you make changes to the stock, changes to your document are simple and quick to make. Of course, you cannot count on having power for your computer, so be sure to print out your updated inventory from time to time.
Also consider creating a map of your storage areas. You can keep these at the entrance to the food storage for quick access to exactly what you are looking for. The map need not be detailed, but label it with the main groupings of your foods and the different types within each grouping. For instance, label the canned vegetable section and the types of vegetables within that section so you can find what you want quickly or send someone else to find what you need.
Labeling
Once you have a good inventory of your food storage area and have organized them in the manner that you find most useful, it’s time to label everything. Labeling is important even if you have cans with labels already on them. Your own labels can give you quick and vital information about each food such as what it is, when you stored it, and when it is expected to expire. With a simple yet effective labeling system, you will not have to search each can for the small-printed expiration date. And you can determine your own expiration dates, as the ones given are often conservative estimates.
Buy labels, or make your own with blank stickers and your printer, that will allow you to record the information you want to know about each food item. This should include the name of the food. Be as descriptive as you feel you need to be, but keep in mind that your labels should give you a quick method for seeing what you have. Also include the date that you put the food in storage and the date at which you expect it to expire. The latter will be an estimate, so keep in mind that you may need to check a food before you throw it away. Read up on the shelf life of various foods so that you can make the most accurate expiration estimate possible.
For a very quick way to note the age of your foods, use small, colored stickers. Circle stickers in a variety of colors are useful for this. On the wall make a chart that describes the meaning of each color and then label the foods with the appropriate sticker. Each color, for example, could refer to the approximate date at which you stored the food, or the time at which the food will expire. For long-lasting foods, each color can represent a different year. For short-term foods, each color can stand for a different month. In addition to a more detailed label, the colored stickers give you information at a glance.
Rotating
Rotating your foods in storage is the final, yet most important part of your plan. If you simply collect foods and leave them in place, they will all go bad. You should be constantly using and replenishing your supply to keep it up to date. Use your short-term storage items most frequently and your longer-lasting foods less frequently to be most efficient. The basic principle behind using and replacing your food items is simple: put the new stuff in the back and eat from the front. As you use an item, push the whole row forward and put a new item at the back of the line.
To be successful at rotating, you need to have a very tidy and well-organized storage area. Each food item should be stored in a line with the newest and freshest representative at the back of the line. Depending on how much you have, you may need more than one line for each item, which means that you will need to order from left to right as well. When you use up the row on the far right, push the other rows of items over and create a new row on the left with new items. For cans, you can purchase or make shelves that slant forward. That way, when you take out the first can in a row, the other cans will roll forward, leaving you an empty spot in the back for a new can. Having the colored stickers is helpful when considering rotation. A quick glance at the colors will tell you if your cans and other foods are still in the correct order or if they have gotten mixed up.
Make sure you use your stored foods. Whatever you store should be foods that you actually intend to eat. If not, they will sit there collecting dust and will expire. Supplement your diet of fresh vegetables and fruits from your garden and fresh dairy, eggs, and meat from your animals with canned, preserved, and dried foods from storage. By using your stored foods, you will not only keep your supply fresh and up to date, you will also be forced to keep an eye on it daily to keep it organized and well-labeled.
©2012 Off the Grid News
Much needed information. My problem is space to store items Thank you
We have lived in and raised a family in a small house for 47 years. There are places to store food that are unseen and handy. Most people store dirty socks and dust bunnies under the beds. We have beds that are taller than normal and storage bins fit under them easily. I inventory and rotate the food and woe to the family member who does not mark off an item that is removed for use. All food is stored so a bug or rodent would starve to death in our house. Closets are also good for food and medicine storage. How many clothes does one need when a few will suffice? We also grow and can and freeze most of what we eat. That way, I know where my food has been and what it has been exposed to. It does not take a lot of money or space to properly prepare.
the thing that bugs me though is most everything in the food prep area I got at a substantial savings, with quite a variety of canned goods. Now all the prices have gone up, some considerably, as I decide to get newer stuff just to rotate in. I guess I was hoping the crisis would come before the expiration dates so I wouldn’t have to pay regular prices to restock lol
Unfortunately, prices have barely begun to go up. Over 20 years ago before I wrote either of my books I wrote a copyrighted white paper entitled “The Coming Financial Crisis” In it I predicted we would have “more than 300% inflation” when it finally arrived. I could not have imagined all that has happened since then but in 1992 while praying I clearly heard the following in my spirit (or inner mind), “There will be MORE than 300% inflation, more like 450%”. Well, based on what has already happened, I am extremely confident in telling you that food prices and everything else (with the possible exception of houses) are going to at least triple, and it will not take 20 years more or even five to do so.
My advice, were you to ask, would be to simply eat what you have and replace it with mostly freeze dried canned foods that last 10 to 30 years. They are now even available in smaller 2.5 size cans though four of them cost more than the four times larger number 10 cans. Such did not exist even three years ago. The major places that sell such foods have periodic sales and that’s the best time to buy. So far your food storage has proven to be a much better investment than money in the bank. I personally believe that there is a high probability of there being food riots and shortages with stores empty for a month all across the land sometime in the future. I wrote about the government preparing for this in my last book and chapter four was entitled “Gasoline or Milk, $10 a Gallon”. Serious hard times are coming. As a nation we are no longer the moral people our ancestors were and God is not pleased. Last November 19th while at prayer I clearly heard the spirit of the Lord: “MY HAND OF JUDGEMENT WILL STRETCH FORTH AND ALL WILL FEEL IT, SOME MUCH MORE THAN OTHERS. FEAR NOT!” It was a voice unlike any I had ever heard, a voice of power and strength, firmness like steel (a voice like steel is the only way I can describe it). God always seems to give His people plenty of time to get ready when he is going to do something big. When the earliest followers of Jesus were admiring the great city of Jerusalem He commented that not one stone would be left on top of another (meaning that it would be utterly destroyed) which did not happen until some forty afterwards.
The destruction of Los Angeles was first warned about (to my knowledge some 47 years ago and I expect it in two years from a great earthquake, and “The Urgent Message”, the vision of the late Rev. David Wilkerson was first described in the late 1990′s. The end of the world is not likely until many, many more things happen, but those who have food and water and who don’t live in a major city will consider themselves blessed in the near future. I believe some of this is why some 3,000,000 Americans are leaving the country each year, up ten times from a decade ago, although I believe what is coming will be world-wide. Our nation is broke and so are many other nations, and inflation is the only way we can hope to keep going along. Only the anarchists and those who hate God and the USA want to see it collapse, and yet we spend hundreds of millions of borrowed dollars every day, the major cause of inflation.
More advice: try to store only non-GMO foods (genetically modified organisms) or you will just be storing future illness along with your food, dried milk that does not contain artificial bovine hormones which are illegal in most of the world but common here. There is much to learn and not a lot of time to learn it. Most important of all, pray for guidance and direction. Every person and situation is different, but God is no respecter of persons and He loves all who are reading this equally. Remember, it is the height of folly to do nothing because you cannot do a lot. Many believe we do not have much time left before life as we know it will be changed forever. Pray, and may God bless us all.
Gut 98% of corn, cotton, soy, sugar beets & now alfalfa are GM, I’ve contacted several FD companies and they cannot confirm their products DO NOT contain GM items. So, you ARE saving GM or “illness” items in your storage.
Plus ALL sweet/sugar corn IS hybrids. Yet another source of GM.
I agree, very good information, thank you very much off the grid.
I have the same problem, space.
Doing what I can to have things ready, but again…space…:-) going to make the best use of the space I have.
Jesus Bless you all.
Rev. John
I have a friend in a distant state who has a substantial amount of food stored under her bed in the master bedroom. I myself have a 50 pound box of ancient sea salt stored there. I purchased a steel corner storage rack from Sam’s Club in 2010 (it’s already gone up about 15% in price) and it holds a great deal. Remember, store what you eat, and eat what you store.
I’m surprised that you didn’t suggest entering food storage inventory information to a spreadsheet. It allows you to sort on food type, storage date, expiration date, and a multitude of other parameters, as well as alphabetically by food item.
Al Jensen
I have a fairly large food supply set aside, plenty for my wife and I for quite a few months. Plenty if we can stop ourselves from sharing too much of it with our great but clueless neighbors when the time comes. I basicly do everything you mentioned in your article which kinda makes me feel I’m doing something right. Instead of using a spreadsheet I use the database function of Microsoft Works. Included in the database is the item name, size and expiration date. Also, quantity; type(is it a can, bag or bottle) and then I have a category such as water, veggie, spice, dairy, meat and so on. My main sequencing is by expiration date but I can sort it and print it in many different sequences with just a couple of clicks of the mouse. My base food is 5 gallon buckets(mylor lined) of rice and beans. I do not eat from these since they are packed for long term storage. The rest of my storage is basically canned food from the grocer and that I eat as they near the expiration date. Along with the database I write the expiration date on the canned foods for easy reading and I try to keep them stored by expiration year and like foods together. I pretty much have every available space in the house used. I also have a database of all my tools and other non-food items that would be needed in a long term disaster and they are filling up my garage and storage shed.
My wife is of a like mind but she is getting concerned about all the space I am using. She is a wonderful woman though and puts up with it.
Check out this site by 2 moms who stock a year’s supply of everything. The site is geared to women, (but many men find it useful, also), which makes sense because women do most of the shopping, cooking, organizing. Much of the ‘prepper’ movement is macho and somewhat intimidating, but this site breaks it down into ‘baby steps’. It has a great interactive spreadsheet with a tutorial. It’s called FoodStorageMadeEasy.net.
Don’t let the extent of preparation get you down so that you don’t do anything. First, choose 14 meals (suppers) that you and your family really like. Buy the ingredients for those meals as much as you can at a time until you get 13 weeks worth (that’s 3 months). Next add enough lunches and then breakfasts. Next add personal supplies to last that long and household products, medicines, etc. (Don’t forget water, including a purifier, because you won’t know the quality of water in an emergency). A little at a time will add up quickly. By then you should have 3 months worth of anything you would need (add to the list as you think of personalized items). Then if something does go wrong, you at least can live fairly comfortably for 3 months. After that work on another 3 months and then another and then another until you have a year’s supply. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is a food/home storage. It takes time and money and as has been mentioned often, space, but it can be done with imagination and faith. The internet has a plethora of information of home storage ideas and emergency kits and anything else you want to know. Take a deep breath, have a sincere prayer (often) and go to it. You’ll be thankful you did.
Those that ignore the talk that the government controls our food, the farmers, is not hype. Everything we eat, drink has gmo added to it. That is why everyone is sick, irritble, the doctors don’t know what to do but ptlls. I have 2 1/2 acres I will be using . 1 acre I have cleared that I will grow organic produce and fruit. I will be dehydrating full time . I will grow enough produce to sell also. I am a survivor . My next step is chickens. I am a prepper We don’t need the government or the city halls. Every day is a good day!
I have been storing food (mostly canned foods from the grocery store) since 2007 in my basement. I only buy what the family eats on a daily basis and I rotate it all the time so nothing goes bad. I store everything in different sized blue plastic tubs with matching lids from Walmart, Lowes, etc…I don’t have shelves to place food on, so the tubs work great for me. I just stack the cans on top of each other in rows of 3 or 4 (depending on the height of the tub) with the furthest expiration dates being on the bottom so that I always have the freshest stuff on top. I also keep cat food, dog food, toiletries, etc.. down in the basement in large plastic garbage cans with wheels (this stuff I don’t usually rotate, it’s mostly just stuff I want on hand in case of an emergency). There are other places to store stuff if you don’t have a basement like me. Perhaps you can store food in an extra closet or in your coffee table, end tables, etc. Just because you don’t have a lot of space doesn’t mean you don’t have some space somewhere. This was a great article!
I also come from a faimly that stored long turm food under the beds. But you have to be carful with most consumer goods today, most store bought can goods are GMO.
This is a very well done article.
Many people think they can’t prepare– because they think it’s so VERY expensive and they don’t know where to begin. It can be overwhelming. The best advice I can give is to—-”Just Begin.”
It’s not really hard to do or very expensive–if you Do it the correct way. Don’t do it all at once. Don’t go into debt doing it either. Just start by buying 1 or 2 extra boxes of (spaghetti pasta & a jar of sauce OR a box of Tuna Helper with a can of Tuna OR a box of Hamburger Helper with a can of chicken) or whatever it is your family “loves to eat”– ((EACH payday)) and begin there. If you aren’t used to this food—START eating it. Don’t forget to buy Lots of gravy packets & ketchup– they make your rice & beans much better tasting.
If your family does Not eat these (types of foods) You need to begin doing so today! At least a few times a month. The reason being is– it’s very hard to train your palette & digestion system to eat foods you & your kids are not used to eating.
During an emergency and/or what if situation which could become a LONG period of time—this would be when many people and their children who have never eaten this way before in their lives could starve & die. This is a learning-transition period. It’s sad, but very likely to happen. Our countries masses would more than likely survive because they ARE used to eating this kind of food everyday. Its easily available in all the stores today. Buy it NOW while it’s still fairly inexpensive.
Then when you have enough that you need to put it into a box or plastic tub (to keep it dry) or a 5 gallon bucket for storage in the pantry or closet– the hardware stores have some buckets that are a reasonably priced. You can get a bucket for around $2.50 and a lid for $1.50. *Food that is (already pre-packaged) can go into your new Plastic Tubs or 5 gallon Buckets without it being a food grade one. *If you OPEN the packages up and pour them into the buckets (I don’t recommend this) they HAVE to be food grade ONLY.
The dollar stores have a lot of good tasting food for less money than many grocery stores do. I love the Save-A-Lot stores & Dollar because its good food at great prices. I also love Costco but you Do have to become a member there- just to shop there. I also go to the local ethnic stores–they have a lot of great sales plus they have better prices on their (Short & Tall jar/candles) than even wallyworld does. When the power goes out you NEED candles & matches.
Many big (name brands) canned food companies have a generic label brand also and the smaller Save-A-Lot type of stores is where they sell their merchandise for LESS to the masses in all bigger cities. And if you read the labels many of them are made right here in the good ole USA. Once you decide how you want to create your food storage– it grows really fast.
Remember to eat what you store, Rotate your food–by Keeping the newest food at the back or on the bottom and you’ll do great… The main thing is– to BEGIN. Just do a little at a time and it will happen. Good Luck and God Bless,
I really have to do a better job rotating…I found several items that had expired and were bad, had to toss them. Grr.Lesson learned though. I have to keep track better.
We keep our games in the plastic cases you find them stoerd in at movie/game rental stores most of the time they are just a small, clear/opaque plastic case, just large enough for 1 game cartridge each. Then we simply stack them side by side along the book shelves (just like you would find books). The cases come in handy they help protect the cartridge, keep them clean when not in use, and they’ll actually stand on edge, hehehe . We’ve bought all of ours over the years at various movie outlet/rental stores, when they cleared their inventory. Just buy up a stack of them, like you would jewel cases for CD’s.Even if you use a case that is larger than needed say a VHS tape case it will make it easier to store the games on end and if you label the spines, it’ll make locating the one you want much faster.If you want a project that’s a little more involved, you can build specialty shelving like a shadow box where you can store them a few cartridges per box/shelf, or even individually, if you want to put that many shelves into it, hehe.Good Luck