Emergency Food Storage - Where Do I Store It?

Many people delay getting their food storage because they don’t know where to store it.  For those living in small apartments or homes, this can be a difficult problem.  It may not be possible to store as much food as you would like, but it is certainly possible to find creative solutions to this problem. 

First, lets consider the important factors that are necessary to maintain the shelf life of your food storage.

·      Temperature – Always store food at a cool constant temperature.  The ideal temperature range is 40 to 70 degrees.  Heat affects nutrition, appearance, texture and taste of food.

·      Humidity – Food containers should be air tight and stored above the floor and away from outside walls.

·      Light – Food storage should be stored in a dark place. Light fades   colors, destroys vitamins, and speeds the rancidity of fats.

·      Pests – Food storage area must be kept clean to avoid the invasion of pests. Immediately cleaning up any spilled food particles.  #10 cans provide the best protection against pest invasion from the outside.  Airtight containers provide the best protection from invasion from inside.  Insects cannot live without air.

During the course of our married life, my husband and I have moved many times.  When we started our life together we rented a 1-bedroom apartment in an old house.  The one closet we had was tiny.  The only place we had to keep our food storage was under the bed.  It wasn’t ideal, but it worked.  My mother happened to work as a clerk in a clothing store.  She was able to provide me with large flat boxes that would easily fit under the bed.  I packed our food storage items in the boxes.  This made access to my food storage easier, as the boxes were easy to slide in and out.   As we moved, had children and added to our food storage, we somehow seemed to find a place to keep our food storage.

Here are a few creative suggestions of spaces and equipment that people have used:

1.    Between the couch and the wall

2.    Between a bed head board and wall

3.    Along the wall of a closet underneath hanging clothes

4.    Mount 12 inch deep shelves floor to ceiling, along a wall and then cover with drapes hung from the ceiling

5.    Stack boxes and put on a plywood tabletop and cover with a cloth for an end table

6.    Use pieces of furniture with built in storage areas such as a bench that opens up with a storage compartment

7.    Use Shelf Reliance Food Rotation Systems that stand-alone or can be used on existing shelves or under the bed. 

It was a long time until we had an actual space that was designated just for food storage.  I have found that you need to be creative and think out of the box.  Please visit my website to see all of the Shelf Reliance Food Rotation Systems that are available.  They are not only wonderful to take advantage of available space, but they help in the rotation of you food storage.

 susansakurai.shelfreliance.com

*From now until May 20, 2012, the Harvest 72" #10 - 11949
 is on sale.  Sale Price: $229.99
Regular Price: $264.99

The following are the sources of information I used to write this article.

http://www.countrysurvival.com/how-to-store-food-storage/

http://www.countrysurvival.com/where-to-put-your-food-storage/

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/48306/

Food Storage at Home

I often long for the days of my childhood when life was simple.  At least it seemed that way.  I grew up on a farm.  Whether in the house or in the fields, my family and I all worked together. It seemed like Mom and Dad had a lot more time with us to teach us the important things in life.  I like to reminisce about those times at home.  Some of my favorite memories are of helping my Dad while he was repairing his machinery in an old granary which was filled with antiques and other very interesting junk.  Others are of sitting on our front porch visiting while watching the big golden sun go down behind the mountains in a beautiful orange and pink sunset.  Best of all are the memories of eating delicious fresh frozen corn and peas or bottled peaches and raspberries after we worked hard to prepare them.  

I grew up with the concept of food storage.  We had what my parents called a fruit room in the basement.  It was always stocked with shelves of bottled peaches, pears, apricots, raspberries, pickles, beats, jams and jellies.  Next to the fruit room stood a freezer with frozen corn, peas and meats that had been raised on our farm or purchased from a neighboring farmer.  We also kept potatoes and apples in a cool dark place in the basement.  We had a large shelf where we kept canned goods, honey and flour.  Everyday we enjoyed fresh milk and eggs thanks to our cows and chickens.  Needless to say, we certainly wouldn’t have gone hungry if the stores had closed. 

Our mother was a wonderful cook.  Among my favorites were her delicious breads, pies, cinnamon rolls and cookies.  She even made fresh butter from the cream that was skimmed from the milk our Jersey cows.  It’s a wonder that my siblings and I weren’t fatter than pigs!

Needless to say, life has changed for most of us.  We live in a fast paced world with lots of places to go and many people to see, or more likely text. Most of us don’t live on farms.  We depend upon our neighborhood grocery store for our food and most of us don’t have the time, knowledge, equipment or inclination to start from scratch to raise, prepare or store our own food.

Ask yourself the following questions when you are thinking of starting your own food storage plan. 

1.  What should I store?

2.  How can I afford to purchase extra food for food storage?

2.  Where will I keep my food storage?

3.  What equipment will I need to help me store and use my food storage?

4.  How can I educate myself so that I will be able to store and prepare the foods I have stored?

5.  What plan will I establish so that I can effectively rotate my food storage to prevent it from getting old?

During the next few days, I will try to help answer some of these questions.  Please come back and visit my blog.  In the meanwhile, please check out the tabs at the top of this blog.  They have important information.  Also, please visit my Shelf Reliance website at: 

 susansakurai.shelfreliance.com

What's For Dinner Tonight?

What shall I cook for dinner?  That is the question that I ask myself every afternoon about 5:00 pm.  If only I had planned ahead.  Let’s see.  What is in the refrigerator?  Hm, not much that is inspiring.  Can you identify with this scenario? 

This is what often happens at my house.  However, now that I have Shelf Reliance Thrive products in my home, it is a lot easier to think up a great menu at the last minute.  Tonight I made a delicious crustless quiche.  I made it crustless on purpose because my husband and I don’t need the extra fat that comes with a crust.  I promise, that was the main reason but my secondary reason was to save time.  I made this quiche almost entirely out of Thrive products.   Here is the recipe.

Crustless Quiche

4  T. Thrive Egg Powder

1/3 C. Instant Milk Powder

½ tsp. Salt

1/8 tsp. Pepper

1 T. Flour

2 C. water

¾ C. Thrive Freeze-dried broccoli reconstituted with ¾ C. hot water and drained

½ C. Thrive Mushrooms

¼ C. Thrive Onions

1/3 to ½ C. Thrive Sausage

1/3 C. Thrive Cheddar Cheese or more if you like

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Spray a pie plate with cooking spray.

2. Place freeze-dried broccoli in a bowl and cover with ¾ C. hot water for 10 minutes.     Drain well and place broccoli in the bottom of the pie plate.

3.  Mix first 5 ingredients above (dry ingredients) well in a mixing bowl.

4.  Place mushrooms, onions and sausage into the bottom of the pie plate along with the broccoli.  (They do not need to be rehydrated.)

5.  Gradually whisk water into the dry ingredient mixture and pour over the top of broccoli, mushrooms, onions and sausage in the pie plate.

6.  Sprinkle the cheese over the top.

7.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes until slightly browned on top.   Toothpick stuck into the center should come out clean when done.

8.  Cool slightly then serve.

It turned out great!  I served it with a nice green salad and a heated roll.  My husband said it was delicious.

Water for Storage and Emergency

I have been evaluating my storage to decide what I need to work on first.  While searching the Internet, I found this Rule of 3 for survival.

 In extreme situations you cannot survive for more than:

3 minutes without air,

3 hours without shelter,

3 days without water,

 3 weeks without food

Since water is so crucial to life, I decided to educate myself on storing water.  These are some of the questions I asked myself and the answers I found.

How much water does an adult need each day for drinking?

·      2 quarts - more for pregnant women, children, people who are ill and people in hot environments

Per person, how much water do I need to store for food preparation and hygiene?

·      At least 2 gallons per person per day in addition to the drinking water above

How many days worth of water storage shall I keep?

·      2 week's supply

This along with more detailed information comes from FEMA and can be found at http://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/f&web.pdf Article titled “Emergency Water Supplies”

What containers are best for water storage?

·      Heavy weight food grade plastic containers.  Food grade containers for water are blue in color

·      It is best to have stationary and portable water storage containers

·      Water boxes – mylar bags filled with water inside of cardboard boxes

Where is the best place to store water?

·      In a cool dark place for maximum shelf life

·      Avoid contact with the floor, build a wooden platform for the containers to sit on

·      Tie down large water containers in case of earthquakes

What if I need to store my water outside?

·      Containers break down more easily in the sun.  Cover the container to help protect the container from sun and weather damage

·      When storing water outside, make sure to leave extra empty space at the top of the container to allow for expansion during freezing.

This information comes from FEMA and can be found at http://www.fema.gov/plan/prepare/water.shtm

For my own water storage, I have chosen a large 55-gallon barrel and water bricks that hold approximately 31/2 gallons each.  I store the barrel in my basement near a floor drain so I can easily empty it and refill it with fresh water.  The water bricks are portable and easy to move around.  They can be stacked as high as the ceiling and lock together somewhat like Legos.  They each have their own carrying handle.  I also have water boxes.  They are inexpensive, but I do not like them quite as well as the water bricks.  They take more space because you can only stack them two high.  Also, they are not as easy to carry.  Shelf Reliance has all three kinds of these storage water storage containers as well as others.  If you are interested in more information or would like to purchase any of them please see my website at:

 susansakurai.shelfreliance.com

You can purchase directly from my website and the items will be shipped directly to you.

If you are interested in this subject, please return for my next post.  It will be on additional places to find drinkable water in the home, water purification methods and water purifying equipment.