I don’t know if you remember or not, but when I started this blog, I posted a picture of what my food storage area actually looked like (see original post here). It is temperature controlled and safe, but it was a MESS! See?
*Before* picture of my infamous Closet Under The Stairs.
I wanted to keep it real though, so I posted it, as embarrassing as it was. I also promised that I would eventually clean it.
Finally, several weeks ago, I finally did it! And I took pictures to show all of you. It’s still packed, but it’s organized in such a way that I can rotate the food I use regularly with my long term storage, which I don’t need to access as often, in the back. Take a look.
After clearing everything out of the closet, which was faster than I thought with the help of my boys, I started with a clean slate and reorganized the entire closet. First, I put in the things I wasn’t planning to rotate right away: my wheat, beans, and other grains. Next, I organized my dehydrated and freeze dried food and my “just add water” meals.
Then I put in the items I plan to access regularly: my grain mill, honey, flour, sugar, etc. I also put our “bug out bags” (aka 72 hour kits) in a place we can grab and go, if needed. In addition, I put some store brand “Sterno” to use as emergency fuel for cooking in an easily accessible place.
Then I organized my jams, jellies, and other home canned goods for easy access. I also used an old book shelf for food I rotate regularly.
See? I also have some of my regularly used supplies on top of the bookshelf (food grade hose, gas shut-off tool, etc), so I can easily access them.
Is it my ideal food storage compartment? No. But who has the ideal everything in life? I make do with what I have, and I’m very grateful to have it. You may be thinking, “Great! She’s a crazy prepper!” and will ignore everything I say from here on out. If so, that’s your prerogative, but there is wisdom in storing food.
Food storage like mine has become a thing of the past for most families, but it didn’t used to be that way. Families used to regularly store food to get through the winter and pantries were rarely completely bare like ours often are now. We are used to shopping daily or several times a week for food. Did you know that grocery stores usually stock enough food for 1 day or less for the entire community they serve? Food storage is vitally important for all who want to eat when things go wrong (tornadoes, snowstorms, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc.).
As much as I love my readers, neighbors, and friends, I can’t feed you if things go wrong. Take a minute or two today and evaluate how long you would be able to feed yourselves and your families if the grocery store ran out of food. Would it be months, weeks, days, or hours?
Make a plan today to get one more day’s supply of food than you currently have and build on that. If you do this each and every week, in six months, you will have almost a 1 month supply! If you do it once every other week, you will have a 2 week supply after 6 months. Plan for the worst, but expect the best. That’s my mantra.
