Tips On Storing Food Storage Safely
Today I want to share my tips on storing food storage safely. I’m very concerned with what I’m seeing on Facebook and many blogs concerning food safety. Here’s the deal, we can’t afford to waste our precious dollars on the goods we buy to feed our family if we can’t store it properly.
I have a Facebook group and I worry that some are trying to do things with their stored food in hopes they can make it last longer. I hope to set the record straight today.
You may have a different opinion, and I respect that. I have been canning food for over 50 years, and even so, Mark and I went a few years ago to get our Master Canning Preserver Certificates.
Things change, and canning has had to change because food grown now is less acidic and therefore we have to adjust our canning habits. In case you missed this post, please read it: Four Things That Are Not Safe To Can At Home.
My tips are easy to follow and will save you a lot of money in the long run. You have probably heard me say, “buy right the first time.” To help you understand and deal with the necessary changes, I will walk you through my journey of storing food, and I’ve been doing it for 50 years.
I have been married 51 years and I have always had food storage. Some years were leaner than others, but I have always had food.
My mother taught me to make bread and to cook from scratch, those are two valuable skills, and I appreciate the skill of sewing that she taught me. If you have taught your family these skills, and more, I applaud you. I really do because you have taught them to be self-reliant.
Today I’m only talking about food, not water. You know my thoughts on storing water, please store at least 4-gallons per person per day. You may think that is way too much. It’s not, trust me on that one.
Tips On Storing Food Storage Safely
Shelving
When Mark and I were first married, we built some shelves ourselves. We were newbies, but we knew we needed to store food. We bought brackets, metal strips and shelving.
Then our next home we built shelves attached to the 2 by 4 studs in the basement. Those were perfect because I could see all the jars lined up that we had bottled. They were super strong and held up very well.
Fast forward to now, we downsized to a much smaller home. This house is perfect for the two of us and our two puppies. We even have room for guests. Thankfully, our family doesn’t t mind sleeping with buckets of wheat in the guest bedroom.
In order to stock our #10 cans, we purchased shelving from Costco online. The shelves in the store are not as sturdy. These are the ones I purchased (then I added plastic sheets on the shelves) at Costco: Trinity 6-Tier Wire Shelving with Wheels.
The reason we have wheels is so we can move them easily if we have to. Those are 4-foot Bungie Cords from Home Depot holding my cans in place in case we have an earthquake.
Buckets/Gamma Lids
This is how I store my Lehi Mills hard white wheat. I only buy wheat from then because they clean it at least six times. Most companies only clean their wheat two times.
My wheat grinders are pricey so I can’t risk running cheap wheat through them. These Lehi Mills buckets are 6-gallon in size.
I store all my white bread flour and wheat with Red Gamma Lids. Everything in my house is colored coded.
I admit I may be OCD, yep, I own it. I don’t put any Oxygen absorbers in my wheat. I do not use Mylar bags, ever.
The wheat comes in these buckets and I just replace some of the lids with Red Gamma Lids. I pour the newer wheat into the buckets with the Red Lids. This is how I keep track of the freshest wheat.
Wheat-Hard White Wheat
Containers
I love to buy Rubbermaid 8-quart and 12-quart commercial containers like you see below. They are airtight and the lids are easy to remove and put back on. I use them because I live in the desert and we have critters.
Yes, I have bug spray monthly, I have to. But I only have the perimeter of my house sprayed. Mark and I can sleep at night knowing our food is protected from the pests from outside.
Canning Jars
These are mason jars made by Ball and Kerr. It’s been a tough year to get canning supplies, including canning lids, water bath canners, and even pressure canners. Please note, be careful what you read on the internet.
It is not SAFE to Oven Can any food. The jars are not designed to have DRY HEAT, they may EXPLODE. In case you missed this post, Four Things That Are Not Safe To Can At Home
FoodSaver
FoodSavers are awesome to use with our food storage. I don’t use oxygen absorbers when I place food in my mason jars when using the FoodSaver Jar Sealer. I did call FoodSaver and they said the old-style accessory hose is going away. They only work with the V2000 or V3000 series. The new accessory hose is now green and black. This is why people were having trouble getting the old style hose. This picture below is what the OLD-STYLE looks like.
Long-Term Food Storage
My suggestion to all is to start with small cans of food, and when you have extra money buy some commercially processed Freeze-Dried food in #10 cans that have a shelf-life of at least 25 years stored inside of your home.
Please buy one #10 can a month. My advice right now since this year the prices have skyrocketed, is to wait until the prices are not so high to continue your long-term food storage efforts. Here is a post you should read: Canned Foods I Highly Recommend You Store (these are short-term).
Dehydrating Food
Having a dehydrator is awesome to dehydrate your own food. Now, keep in mind, Mark and I took classes to get our USDA Master Canning and Preserving Certificate. We have both canned together for 50 years, or so.
But I wanted to know if there were changes in the canning world. Yes, indeed there are changes. Our food has changed. It’s less acidic, so we have to make a few changes to our old canning ways.
We learned at our classes that the food we water bath can, pressure can, or dehydrate ourselves has a shelf-life of one year. Yes, I have eaten some home-canned peaches that were 2-3 years old.
I get it. But it’s best if used within one year. So there you have it.
I have an Excalibur Dehydrator but I have friends that have a Nesco and love theirs. Please get one that fits your budget, you will never waste food again. You can dehydrate leftover fruits and vegetables for snacks or soups.
Food Storage Types
Freeze-Dried Food:
Let me explain what freeze-dried food is in a nutshell. The first step to freeze-dried food begins with freezing. The second step is the frozen food is placed in a vacuum chamber under low heat.
Then the third step starts when the frozen water crystals evaporate directly from ice to vapor which is a process called sublimation.
What’s really nice about freeze-dried food is the fact that it generally lasts longer in your storage stash, depending on the manufacturer. Please always look at the cans and see the shelf-life that is listed.
You can eat the food directly out of the can, and therefore, it uses a whole lot less fuel, if any, when it comes to meal preparation. Freeze-dried foods usually have an open shelf-life of 1-2 years.
Here again, please look at the #10 can or on the website of the manufacturing company for details.
Pros: You can eat it right out of the can. It uses less fuel because most foods we can get by without cooking them. The bonus, it has a longer shelf-life compared to dehydrated food.
Cons: It’s more expensive.
Dehydrated Food:
Okay, most of us purchase dehydrated food every day. We purchase cereal, spices, pasta, beans, baking mixes, etc. Dehydrated is the way the water has been removed from the products.
The water is slowly cooked out of the food without actually cooking it. It’s one of the most affordable, light-weight, and compact ways to purchase food for our storage or everyday cooking.
We need to be aware of the dehydrated term, it generally takes longer to cook. Most of the items can’t just be “snacked” on right out of the can. It’s too hard. This is fine for soups, stews, etc.
We need to remember that typically dehydrated food does not last as long as freeze-dried. It usually has a shelf life of 5-8 years. They usually have an OPEN shelf life of 6 months to 1 year. Please read the information provided by the companies you purchase from or who produced the food.
Pros: It costs a lot less money.
Cons: It uses fuel to cook it and has a much shorter shelf-life.
Mylar Bags/Oxygen Absorbers
I must set the record straight why I will not use Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers. About 8 years ago now, I dry canned some food from a local church cannery up in Salt Lake City, Utah in #10 cans. Mark and I purchased the food there and were handed Oxygen absorbers. It was the first and last time I ever did this.
My daughter came and we were all working together. The mistake we made was that the volunteers at the cannery were volunteers with zero experience in using oxygen absorbers.
We dry canned beans (full of large rocks-very inferior quality), dehydrated onions, dehydrated carrots, and dehydrated celery. At the time we were so excited to be getting the food cheaper than say a commercial company.
The problem we had was that the oxygen absorbers were open, warm, and used. Therefore they would not work.
We were newbies and had no idea what we were doing. One year later my daughter called and said, “Mom I think these carrots are rancid.” So I opened my cans, one after another.
Yes, indeed we wasted $1,200.00 on food we had planned to use for our entire family to have some food storage. All of the food had to be trashed.
At the time I was teaching classes at Honeyville Grain in Salt Lake City, Utah. The company offered free classes to show people how to cook with food storage and they had many wonderful teachers come and share their expertise.
One of the days I was teaching, an expert on oxygen absorbers was teaching as well. What I learned that day changed my view forever on oxygen absorbers and Mylar bags.
There is a margin of error that can’t be missed when combining ounces of food with the different sizes of oxygen absorber cc’s. You don’t just throw an oxygen absorber into a Mylar bag or #10 can without first calculating the exact number (or more-to be safe) of cc’s per ounce for the TYPE of food you are putting into #10 cans or Mylar bags.
MISTAKES can and will be made. This means different foods use different cc’s. Please be careful or you may become sick with the food you have processed yourself.
Storing Food Long Term
- How to Store Butter Long Term
- How to Store Cooking Oil Long-term
- How to Store Salt Long-Term & 9 Rational Reasons You Should
- Popcorn for Food Storage
Final Word
I hope you enjoyed today’s post on how to store food storage safely. We must stock food in order to keep our family safe. My gut is telling me that there are still families out there that, for one reason or another, are not doing what they should be doing.
Do they love standing in line at the city and county buildings to get food after a disaster? Maybe they think the government will deliver food to their homes after a major disaster, I don’t know.
I have heard from local church leaders in my Southern Utah area that less than 10% are prepared to take care of their family after a disaster. Some leaders have asked me to come and teach some of the mothers in their congregation how to cook.
It was hard for me to say no because I love helping others. But I was surprised that in a congregation of 350-500 that they did not have anyone close by to teach others to cook from scratch.
One leader sent me an email and asked, “How do I light the fire under these families in her church so they’ll be better prepared?” Wow, all I can say is, wow.
I feel like shouting from my rooftop, “People get your act together!” Of course, I know there are several families in each area who will be able to take care of themselves. At least I hope so. May God Bless this world, Linda
Copyright Images: Various Fruits and Vegetables that have been Canned at Home AdobeStock_211841782 By Pamela_D_Mcadams
I spent 6 yrs of my army career being responsible for the “water buffalo” the tank we used to haul water to the field for training. It was 300gls and we had 100-120 people. I filled it every day to every day and a half.
The1gl per person per day recommendation is just to sit at home, do nothing and stay alive. The minute you add labor, laundry, dishes, toilet flush and hygiene it increases.
I wish I was organized as you with my food storage. That looks awesome. I’d love to have that dedicated room. I’ve got what I refer to as the “closets of life” (food/medical) and the “closets of death” (guns/ammo).
I’ve certainly made my share of mistakes as well in preparations. I do use Mylar and occasionally O2 absorbers but only in certain items.
Yesterday I bought 50lbs of non iodized salt for fresh meat storage post SHTF and I won’t use O2 absorbers on it because it makes the salt brick up and I need it loose to cover the meat. I will Mylar it in 3-4lb bags and bucket it for convenience and storage.
Make sure you mark the bags and the buckets with sharpie on contents, date etc. Cut out the nutrition and cooking data and add it to the bucket when you store it too. Though I might know it all it might be one of my grandkids that uses it and they might not.
Do what you can with what you have.
Stay safe.
Hi Matt, I do not have a designated room for food storage. LOL! I put those rolling carts in a bedroom where I have two sets of triple bunk beds for the grandkids! Now the grandkids are getting too BIG for bunk beds, but we still use them when we have visitors. I roll the carts out so they can sleep. It’s not a perfect set up but I have a small home and I need food storage, water storage, and beds, lots of beds! I have 17 grandkids. They don’t all come at the same time. I had to pull so much stuff out just to take pictures. LOL! It’s all good. I’m glad to hear you only use Mylar bags occasionally. My concern is for the people that think if they use Mylar bags say for pancake mix or flour it will extend the shelf-life to 25 years. It won’t. I hope they have a lot of Imodium on hand. That’s awesome about the 50 pounds of salt. You teach me so much, thanks Matt! Linda
Wow 17?
I’m exhausted with keeping my 3 lol
Hi Matt, 3 is a great number! A divorce brought us 3 extra ones. We had 14 and we always add the 3 that joined our family through marriage after a divorce. Life is good! Linda
This is one of the best posts! Thank you so much for sharing. I have never used Mylar bags nor oxygen absorbers. Never even seen them. LOL I do have some #10 cans from Honeyville! Great products.
Linda, you have me beat on the grand babies. I only have 11, but . . . I do have 3 great grand sons.
This is an awesome post. I have a question on vacuum sealing jars. Do you kNow how long vacuum canned pecans will last? Or would it be better to freeze them? I have vacuum sealed flour in jars. The secret I found is to use a coffee filter with dry items like flour. I love my vacuum sealer! I also have an old Seal-a-meal sealer. LOL it doesn’t vacuum, but I have used it for other no perishable items. It’s really good for making small bags out of zipper seal bags. I’ve needed some smaller ones for travel.
Hi Deborah, life with grandkids is the best ever! I always freeze my nuts, any kind because they go rancid so quickly. I put my nuts in FoodSaver bags for the freezer. Oh my gosh, I had a Seal A Meal! Boy, that brings back memories! I had it for years until FoodSaver asked me to do a review so they sent me the one shown in this post. I called FoodSaver to ask why the accessory hose and jar sealers are in short supply. They are discontinuing the accessory hose like I have. The new accessory hoses are black and green. Linda
I have two food savers! Love them so much. I also have some bag rolls on hand. I will reuse the ones that hold things that aren’t meat. They are washed and dried first. I will only use the ones with meat IF I put the meat in a zipper bag first. And they don’t leak.
Hi Deborah, I love it! I gave my old one to a daughter. FoodSavers are awesome! Linda
My prepper daughter got one before I did. She got me started on prepping and has taught me quite a bit. Granted, you have taught me much more. I’m of the opinion that you never know it all. I maybe be old, but I’m not too old to learn! I’ll be too old to learn when I’m 6- feet under. LOL hopefully a few more years from now.
I really love putting food up, and learning. I finally found a biscuit recipe that works for me. Equal amounts of self rising flour and whipping cream. So so yummy. Hubby has already asked for them again. They taste a lot like what my grandma used to make, but not quite. I’ll tweak it till they do. But, hers were completely from scratch.
Dear Linda I love your posts and all the work you do. I learn so much from you and your followers. I have a question I could use some advice on. Through some circumstances a few years ago I lost my home and even in it. That means all my stored food. Everything. I have struggled but am back on my feet more or less. I am in a small apartment on social security, so my budget is super tight. Where should I start? I mean from scratch. No jars, no buckets, no shelves, no canner. I mean scratch. And everything now is expensive this time around compared to before, if you can find them at all. Where do I start? I really need advice. Sorry for being so long winded. I need help.
Hi Kathleen, you are never too long-winded for me. Here’s the deal you are not alone, so let’s talk about this. I have changed my views on food storage in the last few years. I’m grateful I had purchased the #10 cans when I did. But, now the prices are so out of control (the#10 cans). Who can afford those? Good grief. Scrap the #10 cans, for now, my friend. I want you to think about what you eat every day. Start with breakfast, then lunch, then dinner. Mark and I are going to give up meat, I refuse to pay those prices. I am taking B12 complex vitamins to compensate for zero meat. You do not need meat to be healthy. Vegetables are so good for you. I cannot afford fresh vegetables in the winter, so in the fall I buy case lot sales of green beans and canned corn. Let me snag a sheet I used to use when I would teach people how to start stocking up. You do not need jars, you do not need a canner. Stack your food in boxes get them from the grocery store. I want you to read this post. It has a printable, if you do not have a printer I will mail you a copy. https://www.foodstoragemoms.com/food-storage-list-printable/ We need to talk, you can get through this. Please email at foodstoragemoms@yahoo.com I am here to help you. Linda
Kathleen ~
If Linda has a problem with being long winded, she would cut me off the list of subscribers!!!
When I started prepping, I started by making up a 1 week menu plan of breakfast, lunch, dinner ans snacks. Then I purchased everything I needed for those meals. This is what my family ate that week. During the week, I made up a 2nd week of menus and purchased everything for that week plus extras of the non-perishables. Of course, I also was working with 2 incomes at the time! I continued to do this until I had 1 month of food stored in addition to what we were eating. I continued this until …
Now, I am single – husband is deceased and daughter grown/married with kids. I have a prepper mindset now and when I shop, if pasta is on sale, I purchase as much as my budget allows – same with any other non-perishable that I eat (canned/boxed). I calculated just the other day that I have 6-8 months worth of non-perishables on the shelf and I feel confident that I can/will survive. I do have some freeze dried foods that I purchased a few years ago (before retirement) but can no longer afford to invest in this manner.
My theory is this: store what you eat and eat what you store. This way, all the non-perishables are in constant rotation.
Leanne thank you so much for your kindness in taking time to reach out to me and encourage me. I truly appreciate your insight and information. I am sitting down today to start a list and a plan. Since I any get paid monthly I have plenty of time to inventory what I have and draw up an accurate budget accordingly to what I can actually depend on coming in. Both you and Linda have given me a lot to think about and work with. God bless.
Great comment Leanne, we are here to listen and help on another. I love long comments, I read all of them. Linda
Kathleen, I have been thinking long and hard about your post. My heart brakes for your lost, but grateful for your strength to work your way back. Linda’s post are inspiring and can be overwhelming for beginners, but she has taught me so much. I am in awe of her wisdom and abilities. For newbies like me I have found it best to start small. Focus on the basic survival needs. Bottled water when it is on sale, and filling empty milk cartons for toilet flushing. Then go to what you need for the next ten days. My daughter in law taught me to buy what you eat, and eat what you buy. Rotate, buy basics in multiples as you have the funds. Even 2 weeks of necessities will give you comfort and security.
Chris thank you for your kind thoughts and wisdom. I will be patient and not be overwhelmed with all there is to think about and do. My kids say prepping is a sign that I am not trusting in God to provide my needs. I try to tell them that it was God who told Joseph to prepare for the upcoming famine, and showed him what needed to be done to prepare for the days ahead. As a result of Joseph’s diligence and obedience to GOD , not only were the Egyptians saved, but the whole remnant of Israelites as well. Joseph’s entire family
Survived the famine. Thank you again.
Linda ~
Great post as always! One of the things that I would like to figure out in my tiny apartment is where to put a shelving unit so I can get all my food preps out and visible. Since I store what I eat and eat what I store, this would help immensely when I do my food prep! I often do an inventory but then the canned and boxed goods go back in bins and boxes! Out of sight and darn it, out of mind much of the time. If I could figure out where to put a shelving unit, I could get everything organized so I could shop my preps before going to the store!!
I haven’t used mylar bags but I have used O2 absorbers. I think this next week, I will get a few items out of my storage that I sealed with the absorbers and see if they are still good. I was careful about using them though and all the jars sealed. Praying they are still good!! But, if not, I guess the upside would be that it would free up some canning jars!
Testing items is a must and really builds confidence. My son, last week, just opened a bag from 8 yrs ago with lucky charms cereal he wanted to test out. It was good.
Please share your experiences with opening stuff. I love to hear from people on it.
Hi Matt, great idea, I may add that to a post as a question! Thanks Linda
When I did a lot of my dry-pack canning, my kids helped me and none of the items have gone bad. I don’t use mylar unless I double bag it with something heavy. The mice here find everything! Now all I use I can in metal or glass or in somehting heavy as I mentioned. Good info. on the Food Saver, thank you!
Hi Cheryl, I’m glad your dry-pack canning is okay. I keep receiving emails from readers that their food has gone rancid. I wonder if this is why the LDS Cannery has shut down all operations for doing it yourself. I know all of ours was rancid and my neighbors call me to come and see theirs when opened because it smells bad. It’s the old something for nothing or cheap. I hope people check theirs because there is a problem. I would rather toss it now than hope to eat it when we need food. I would trash it now and gear up with other food storage. Linda
Freezing is so easy but I find it hard to trust with most of my food storage so only have a small chest freezer. If the electricity goes, there goes the food, so I only count it as short term storage. I keep spares of things I eat on the basis of one in use, one or more for backup to be replaced as soon as the first one is low (or on sale) and a slightly larger stash of absolute basics carefully kept track of. I have a small stash of 5 year storage really basic food bars in the go bag for absolute emergencies and most of the rest of the storage is definitely store what you eat stuff. All in a fairly small apartment, along with my water storage. Some is under the bed, some on a row of wire shelving behind curtains in the “shedroom” as I call the bedroom and some in the entry closet. It’s all recorded on a spreadsheet, printouts on a clipboard with expiry dates noted and kept updated as needed. Next step is going to be setting up buckets with gamma lids, each containing a full selection of basics so if it comes to a crunch (or earthquake!) I can at least make off with a couple and not lose everything or end up with all one thing or another. I like your colour coded idea, which I’m going to incorporate for keeping edibles and other stuff separate but still be able to grab at least one of each.
Hi Alice, I feel the same as you do with the stuff in my freezer. Oh well. You have made some great plans that are well thought out. None of us know what the next few months will bring, but whatever food we have right now will be a blessing. God helps those that help themselves, you are doing awesome! Keep up the good work, we will get through this. Stay safe, stay well, Linda
Several years ago I read about power outage and freezers. The suggestion was to duct tape the door and layer several blankets/quilts around the door. This person said in a power outage – ALWAYS eat the refrigerated foods first, then the frozen foods. Of course, it all depends on what you have in each and how full your freezer is! I think that as long as I start in on the frozen foods within a couple of days, everything should be OK but…WHEN IN DOUBT, THROW IT OUT!!
A trick to know if your freezer has melted too long before refreezing is to put a coffee cup or pint soup container in the freezer filled with water. Once it’s frozen, put a quarter on top of the ice. If the quarter is at the bottom of the cup/container when you return to check then the food isn’t safe. If it’s partway down, it’s a judgement call….in normal times unless the quarter is barely 1/4 of the way down then I’d toss everything out and chalk it up to safety. If in the middle of a severe shortage I’d have to think twice, but would probably still err on the side of safety since I’ve got a good supply of LTS food and it’s not worth risking food poisoning.
Hi dmwalsh, thanks for this reminder about the quarter in the cup of water!! Linda
Everything you post Linda forces me to think and re-evaluate what I am doing as I move forward, and for that I thank you. We have been able to build up to about 9 months of food and 12 months of toiletries and cleaning products, but #10 cans and 5 gallon buckets are currently beyond my abilities. We have a whole house generator, but we have no way to provide alternate heat… other than that, and I doubt our HOA would allow any. I have come to realize, it’s not all or nothing. I will follow your inspiration and do the best I can.
Hi Chris, I wrote a post for tomorrow where I talk about changing my thoughts on food storage. I’m glad that I purchased #10 cans of food many many years ago. They are freeze-dried and last 25 years. Well, if you look at the prices now, they are way out of anyone’s budget. Of course, millionaires could buy them. I noticed ThriveLife posted the smaller cans on freeze-fried beef. Well, if you look closer at the #10 cans they show ground beef for $78.00!!!! Are you kidding me?? ONE CAN and it’s not the only company. I will be a vegetarian before I spend that kind of money. That’s awesome you have a whole house generator. It’s not all or nothing, you are so right. Thank you for your kind words, Linda
Hi Linda, Thank you so much for all your posts, so informative, so helpful, I look forward to reading them every day. I’m thinking of storing m pasta, [ some in cellophane, some in boxes,] in storage buckets with gamma lids, can I store them in their original wrappers. Also the same for cereal, do I take them out of the boxes and leave them in their original pkg. I’m so grateful I found your site, I now have three months of food stored, working on 6 months. I’ve looked at a lot of food storage sites, while some are very good, I think yours is the best, it has common sense and down to earth advice.
Thanks again
Virginia
Hi Virginia, oh, you made my day! Thank you for your kind words. Here’s the deal, if my food storage is going to be a lot of work, I will not do it. (I will but let me explain)! LOL! When I come home with pasta, I love keeping it in its original packages, then placing it in 5-gallon buckets with Gamma Lids. Now, if its pasta I will use within six months, I empty the packages into those Rubbermaid containers. Now, they are expensive but any airtight container will work. I live in the desert and we have critters. I have my house sprayed outside every month for bugs. I have to because the cockroaches would come and visit me and I do not like them. They carry diseases and whatever else. This is why everything in my house is in airtight containers. If you saw me when I buy sugary cereal for Mark’s breakfasts at Walmart you would for sure think I’m a hoarder. I’m not I fill a shopping basket with those HUGE bags and they overfill the baskets. Yes, people stare at me. I walk faster and don’t look back. I go twice a year for his cereal and I keep it in the original bags in laundry baskets on my bunkbeds. When Mark opens a bag he fills his 8-quart Rubbermaid containers. I’ve never had trouble with the bags. When I get down to 2 or 3 bags I go back to Walmart. I have never had Pantry Moths, but I know some people have had them. They come into our homes in the glue or whatever in the sealed boxes. But the cereal we buy is in bags, I don’t know if that makes a difference, really. Keep stocking, we will get through this. Thanks again, Linda
I have wasted a lot of food over the years, and have finally made a system to keep track of everything, a simple spreadsheet that I update every time I buy or use something is working so far. I also mark the purchase date on the package, this is enough for me to grab the oldest item.
Flour, rice, beans and other bulk items I store in marked 1 gallon bags, those go in 5 gallon buckets. That way I can take a bag of rice out of storage, check it for issues, put it in the for-use canister and mark it off the spreadsheet.
I still have had to throw food out, but it’s been a lot less, and mostly because the people I planned for have gone away or passed on.
Hi Tweell, it sounds like you have a great plan with your spreadsheet. I like your idea of the one-gallon bag. Then the 5-gallon buckets to store then is awesome! We have to do whatever it takes to protect our food storage. Stay safe, Linda
Thank you for this post!
Quick question about the Lehi Roller Mills White Wheat – once opened, what is the shelf life of a bucket? If we are only storing a few buckets, are the lids they come with sufficient?
Thanks!
Hi Melissa, I replace the lids with red Gamma Lids. I use my wheat to make bread, so I open and close the lid open. It’s different than say #10 can. I would say months. It’s wheat! It may be different in humid areas but I live in the desert. Keep it cool. Linda