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ROTATING your food storage
One of the easiest ways to make your food storage a success is to practice good rotation. Organization and rotation are the key to not losing your storage to spoilage. For us, being organized means we rotate without having to consciously think about doing so. Let me explain what I’m mean.
A well rounded food storage will include canned goods, bulk items, MREs all of which have a shelf life of 2 to 12 years, some even longer. The only items you should really have to concern yourself with would be primarily boxed goods, oils, baking powder etc. as these tend to have a shorter shelf life. ‘Variety’ is a key to helping you maintain a good storage.
Here’s the way our storage works. In our ‘pantry’ the shelves are not deep so we store items left to right. For example, if I needed a can of beans, I would take the one on the right of other cans. When I restock, I stock from the left, pushing the remaining green beans to the right. This technique always ensures that the can on the right is the oldest can. So, you see, you are ‘rotating’ without having to think about it as long as you follow the ‘take from the right rule’ every time.
It’s similar to the way a grocery store stocks their shelves. In the store (provided they are stocking correctly), the oldest items are on the front of the shelves where customers will pull from first. The shelves are restocked placing the new items towards the back on the shelves.
This is the way our ‘main food storage’ works. The shelves are deeper here so we take from the front and stock from the back of the shelves. Again, this will always ensure proper rotation. The items are then brought into the ‘pantry’ to restock those shelves.
So however you store your food, ‘left to right’ or ‘back to front’, if you always follow your same system, you’ll always be rotating. It’s easy!
DATING your food storage
When I am restocking, the first thing I do is date the top of the can/box using a black magic marker with the month and year it was purchased. This allows me to know how long the item has been stored.
Some of our food storage supplies are on deep shelves with rollers. When I pull out one of the shelves, I can tell, at a glance, how long the items have been stored. If you notice an item has been stored for a few years, then you may want to check it’s shelf life or may sure you use that item next.
Knowing that many of the food storage items have a shelf life of a few years, using what you store and rotating what you store should greatly reduce any spoilage you may have.
If you enjoyed this, or topics of preparedness, geophysical – current events – risks, consider our survival blog RSS feed, new posts by E-mail, or bookmark us at Modern Survival Blog
Modern Survival Blog related posts
Food Storage 101, What to Store
Prepper’s New Years Resolutions
Sold Out! freeze-dried-food, No.10-cans
How to Seal a Mylar Bag in a 5-gallon bucket
Prep for your Pet
Posted on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 01:50:00 +0000 at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ModernSurvivalBlog/~3/zDOGntzcFzk/
Comments: http://modernsurvivalblog.com/preps/food-storage-101-rotating-and-dating/#comments
ROTATING your food storage
One of the easiest ways to make your food storage a success is to practice good rotation. Organization and rotation are the key to not losing your storage to spoilage. For us, being organized means we rotate without having to consciously think about doing so. Let me explain what I’m mean.
A well rounded food storage will include canned goods, bulk items, MREs all of which have a shelf life of 2 to 12 years, some even longer. The only items you should really have to concern yourself with would be primarily boxed goods, oils, baking powder etc. as these tend to have a shorter shelf life. ‘Variety’ is a key to helping you maintain a good storage.
Here’s the way our storage works. In our ‘pantry’ the shelves are not deep so we store items left to right. For example, if I needed a can of beans, I would take the one on the right of other cans. When I restock, I stock from the left, pushing the remaining green beans to the right. This technique always ensures that the can on the right is the oldest can. So, you see, you are ‘rotating’ without having to think about it as long as you follow the ‘take from the right rule’ every time.
It’s similar to the way a grocery store stocks their shelves. In the store (provided they are stocking correctly), the oldest items are on the front of the shelves where customers will pull from first. The shelves are restocked placing the new items towards the back on the shelves.
This is the way our ‘main food storage’ works. The shelves are deeper here so we take from the front and stock from the back of the shelves. Again, this will always ensure proper rotation. The items are then brought into the ‘pantry’ to restock those shelves.
So however you store your food, ‘left to right’ or ‘back to front’, if you always follow your same system, you’ll always be rotating. It’s easy!
DATING your food storage
When I am restocking, the first thing I do is date the top of the can/box using a black magic marker with the month and year it was purchased. This allows me to know how long the item has been stored.
Some of our food storage supplies are on deep shelves with rollers. When I pull out one of the shelves, I can tell, at a glance, how long the items have been stored. If you notice an item has been stored for a few years, then you may want to check it’s shelf life or may sure you use that item next.
Knowing that many of the food storage items have a shelf life of a few years, using what you store and rotating what you store should greatly reduce any spoilage you may have.
If you enjoyed this, or topics of preparedness, geophysical – current events – risks, consider our survival blog RSS feed, new posts by E-mail, or bookmark us at Modern Survival Blog
Modern Survival Blog related posts
Food Storage 101, What to Store
Prepper’s New Years Resolutions
Sold Out! freeze-dried-food, No.10-cans
How to Seal a Mylar Bag in a 5-gallon bucket
Prep for your Pet
Posted on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 01:50:00 +0000 at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ModernSurvivalBlog/~3/zDOGntzcFzk/
Comments: http://modernsurvivalblog.com/preps/food-storage-101-rotating-and-dating/#comments