This article has been contributed by Harper Anderson
We live in an increasingly chaotic world so it is no surprise that food storage has become an increasingly popular topic. More and more people are making the smart decision to build a supply of emergency food. While this process doesn’t have to be complicated or unaffordable, wise food storage does require more than just buying extra food. Here are 3 ways to help your food storage efforts to be more efficient and effective.
Start with the Basics
Food storage has become a competitive industry so there are plenty of options out there. Keep it simple. Start with water and then build up your store of basic grains, dried fruits and vegetables, powdered dairy products, and freeze dried meats. The most basic items will be the ones that you depend on if emergency strikes but they are also the easiest to integrate into daily use.
Rotate Your Food Storage
After establishing a solid supply you will want to keep the oldest foods in easy to access locations so that you can use them before they expire. There are plenty of recipes out there that can help you integrate food storage into your daily menu without compensating for taste, both as full meals, as well as filler ingredients and side dishes. Using your food storage in this way will allow you to avoid wasting your food investment and save money in the process. As you use food storage items you will want to replace them in order to maintain a full store of fresh foods.
Store Wisely
There are an innumerable amount of storage racks, containers and shelves that will work well to store your food. Use what works best for your situation. If you have space to dedicate an entire room for food storage, great. Organizing a storage room by category will help you keep things straight and will make food easier to access regularly. Avoid extremely large containers or extremely deep shelves because they make food rotation more difficult. If space is tight and you don’t have the option of a dedicated storage room there are a lot of creative ways to store your food in unobtrusive ways. Utilize crawl space, closets, space under beds, cupboards, space under stairs, or any other number of places to store food. Tupperware, boxes, racks and containers can help you to use this space efficiently. And the most important storage rule: label clearly!
Nobody likes to think about catastrophe but we’ve all seen enough natural disasters and other crises to know that it is a possibility. Food storage is one of the most basic precautions we can take in order to be as prepared as possible. Although any type of food storage is better than no food storage at all, wise food storage will ensure peace of mind while remaining useful from day to day. As is the case with most things, the key to storing food efficiently and effectively is a little effort all the time. Don’t attempt to tackle food storage all at once—build it gradually. And once you have established a good store of food don’t neglect it so that when you are ready to use it, it is ready for you.
Good article! Most people overlook the “taste” factor in buying emergency food. I don’t know about everyone else, but I’d get pretty damn sick of eating powdered eggs and plain rice for (possibly) months at a time! Anyone starting their own emergency food storage system should check out this article about which foods to buy, what amounts, how to store them, etc. It will help you avoid a lot of common pitfalls in food storage: http://www.martiallawusa.com/wp/?p=37