Posted on 10/15/2012 6:56:41 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
One of the cornerstones of preparedness is storing food. No one argues the point of whether food is important. Maybe an argument can be found in where food is placed in the hierarchy of prepping needs, but no one will say that it does not have a place. What I have found, though, is that not too many discussions occur about where these rations will be stored.
It seems as though it is always assumed that every prepper has an extra room in the house to fill with shelves that can be neatly stacked with cans and boxes and labeled by category or a basement to do the same. I know that I, for one, have not always had these options available to me. Whether you live in a large house, a small house, an apartment or a dorm room, the need for stored food doesn’t change, resulting in the need for places to store foods wherever you may live.
Some of the places that storage food may be stored regardless of the type of dwelling you live in include:
Under the bed: There is a fair amount of space under a bed which can be used for storing food instead of lost TV remotes or slippers. What makes the space under the bed even easier to use for storage is some of the specially manufactured containers that specifically fit the dimensions of the underside of the bed. These containers slide in and out easily from under the bed and make it easy to organize your food storage. The flexibility of these containers would also allow for storage foods to easily be loaded up and taken with you in the event that an evacuation were necessary. A good substitute for these containers would be shallow cardboard boxes.
Under the coffee table: The shelf under a coffee table provides additional space for storing food. This can be a great option for someone who lives in a smaller living space like a loft. Obviously, this could be an eyesore in a main living area but can easily be disguised by covering the table with a tablecloth.
Under an end table: Storing food under an end table is essentially the same as a coffee table but on a smaller scale. This can be a useful tactic in the most size-restrictive spaces like dorm rooms or military barracks.
Make your own table: This is perhaps the perfect option for those who buy storage foods in bulk. It also happens to be the one non-standard food-storage option that I have heard of the most. Foods that are in boxes are especially well-suited for this storage idea. Make a table out of food storage by stacking two boxes of food on top of each other, centering a 2-by-2 piece of plywood on top of the boxes and cover with a tablecloth.
On the closet floor: You know that space on the floor of your closet? Yep. That space below your clothes that doesn’t really seem to be good for anything except for losing an occasional shoe. It can also be an ideal storage area. This area may be particularly ideal for storing long-term foods in No. 10 cans that you may get from companies like Mountain House.
On a closet shelf: The shelf in the top part of a bedroom closet is not always used. If there is open space or junk sitting on your closet shelf, it is space that most likely is being wasted. If shelf space is chosen to store food, always make sure that the shelf can support the weight of the items that are being stored on it. This is especially important to keep in mind when storing canned goods on shelving. Because of weight concerns, the top shelf of your closet might best serve as a storage area for foods such as pasta, instant potatoes, ramen noodles and other lightweight boxed foods.
In the linen closet: A linen closet can be another great storage area in the home, whether it is for linens or something else. When I lived in an apartment, there was a linen closet; but I did not have enough linen to make complete use of this area. In a situation such as this, excess space in a linen closet could be used to store food. Remember to always evaluate the amount of weight that you are thinking about placing on a shelf before you put it there to ensure that it will not cause the shelf to break or pose a safety risk.
Behind the couch: If the couch is up against the wall in your house, it is likely that you have at least 4 to 6 inches of space that most people would consider “dead” space. What can be done with this space depends on the individual piece of furniture; but it could allow for at least one row of soup cans, boxes of macaroni and cheese, jars of pasta sauce, etc. Essentially, the limit is the creativity of the person placing the food storage items behind the couch. If someone is really inclined toward engineering and is concerned about gaining quick access to these items, it could be possible to tie or tape these items together, which would allow them to be pulled out together without having to move the furniture.
Inside your luggage: Do you have luggage that sits empty in the closet for the greater part of the year? Most people do. This makes your empty luggage an ideal place to store items such as canned and/or dry goods while you are waiting for your next chance to relive the Spring Break trip you took with your friends in 1992.
Out in the open: OK, so I don’t mean literally just sitting out in the open. But if there is an open space in a room, there is an opportunity to use a set of cabinets or piece of furniture as a second pantry. This can look like just an ordinary piece of furniture in the home while disguising your emergency food stores.
While places to store food for a difficult time are limited only to your imagination and the space that you live in, there are without question places in every home where foods can be stored. Once a decision has been made as to where you plan on storing your food, make sure that it is in appropriate containers. Plastic totes are a great way to keep critters out and protect food from the elements that cause it to go bad at an accelerated pace. Don’t forget to annotate expiration dates and rotate storage foods so that you don’t end up with a cache of useless foods. Perhaps most importantly, don’t forget where you stored your food.
–Thomas Miller
Gee, I thought one of the answers would have involved a hollow tree (cf. Potter, Beatrix. The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes. London:Frederick Warne & Co., 1911)
Canned food if properly stored will last over 20 years. I know this from experience. In Vietnam I was eating C Rations from the 40’s. I’d take them any day over LRP’s or MRE’s.
Ping!
Unfortunately I have stored too many that way :-(.
11: Between your rib cage and your knees
(see: Roseanne Barr, Michael Moore)
Thanks for the post though some make fun of preps. They’ll be the first ones whining knocking at your door. Hope they don’t lose their jobs or worse when a supply of food would give them a buffer and they don’t have to explain to their kids why mommy and daddy didn’t care enough to provide a little insurance.
Remember not to store food where the temperature is too extreme. A hot garage or attic will ruin your supplies.
Too bad prescriptions can’t be stockpiled.
I would think that the biggest problem in storing food would not be finding a place to put it, but finding some way to keep insects out of it. For instance, I know that if I put a bag of flour in the cabinet sealed inside of a plastic container with a silicone seal, somehow moths and weevils will grow inside of it. How they get past the seal is a mystery, but they do every time.
When in the field one night I opened a can of CRat Chili. I pulled out an 5 inch long vein from some animal. I then started bargaining for fruitcake.
They were in the bag when you bought it. Next time put the bag in the freezer for a few days before putting it on the shelf.
Why can’t prescriptions be stockpiled? You don’t believe those USE BY dates do you?
There’s one other place you can store things....if you have a house with space underneath it that is dry....we have probably 800sq ft of space under our house...it’s dry and cool and the ground is covered in black plastic.
With the risk of grossing everyone out, it could be that they were already there. Industry standards allow for a certain amount of insect eggs, parts and excrement in food articles like flour, cornmeal and the like. You also have the added issue of contamination during transport.
Foodstuffs should be rotated on a regular basis, particularly if one is planning on long-term storage. Any eggs will hatch, and the rotation allows you to weed it out of your supplies.
Out of curiosity, has this happened with a single type and brand of food item, or does it happen in everything?
the food has their eggs in it. They hatch out after sealing. I’ve had success freezing pasta and flour first before long storage. This kills the eggs.
I’ve noticeed it happening with stored flour and nuts. I’ve always assumed that the crafty insects wiggled through the seals as if their life depended on it. I never considered the possibilty that they were there already.
Neither had I until someone pointed it out to me. Like I said....gross. LOL!
Try #10 cans of food from:
www.waltonfeed.com
You can keep enough cases of cans under your bed to feed you for a year. I keep to basics like oatmeal, rice, potato flakes, barley, powdered milk, etc.
The food is good as long as the cans don’t rust through. You can paint the outside with clear shellac, candle wax, etc. to keep them about 100 years.
Buy food from Walton by the pallet to save on freight. For about $1000 you can buy enough to feed a family for a year.
That’s a lot cheaper than freeze dried.
A small pressure cooker will save on fuel and cooking time. With a grain grinder, you can bake bread using fresh flour forever. The whole grains in sealed in mylar bags inside 6 gal. pails will keep for at least 20 years.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.