Temperature
Most foods are fine at room temperature (75F or cooler) for over a year. You don’t want to store your bulk items (wheat, rice, beans, etc.) where you have great temperature changes, such as an un-insulated garage or attic. Getting too hot or freezing is not good for your food. Try to keep your food at a constant, cool temperature. You want it to stay dry. Ideally, you should keep containers off of the floor to allow for air circulation. If you have a cool basement area, a space under the stairs, or even room in a bedroom closet, you can expand your pantry by storing items there.
How long will it last?
How long is your food good for? It might surprise you to find out that expiration dates are more along the lines of suggestions. Just because the items on your shelves are past their expiration dates doesn’t mean you have to throw them out! You can see what the shelf life of canned goods is here. Also, go here to read about foods that you can store for 30 years.
Containers for Storage
To keep bugs and rodents out of your food, you may want to keep your longer-term storage items in #10 cans (that is a large-sized can) and food-grade storage buckets. Many bulk items can be bought in these containers, already sealed. You can also buy empty buckets and fill them yourself with bulk items, such as rice, flour, sugar, beans and popcorn that you’ve bought in bulk.{I prefer Sam's Club!}
Shelving
What about shelving? The important thing is that your shelves can hold up to the weight of your food. You can have something as simple and durable as Gorilla shelves, which is what I use, or you can get a more expensive can organizer. However, don’t let the cost of shelving keep you from storing food from your family! I simply keep a permanent marker in my pantry and write the month and year that the food was purchased on each item as I buy it. I put the oldest items closest to the door, and the newest items go at the back of the shelf. Sometimes this takes a few extra minutes if I’ve done a large shopping trip at a case-lot sale or at Sam’s Club. However, it is worth it! I have my children carry in the food while I mark dates and put food away.
You can read the first installments of Food Storage Friday here .
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2 comments:
Thanks for the great post. I love those gorilla shelves. I just priced the shelving and they are cheapest at Home Depot- $76.97 for the 48" wide ones. I can't wait to get some to put in my storage room.
Julene,
When we bought our gorilla shelves, you could turn the shelves upside down like we did to make a lip. A few years ago they stopped making them that way, so you may want to check if they can do that now. Even if they don't, they can hold cases of cans, or heavy buckets of wheat, without warping. They are very strong!
Also, we combined a few shelf units together to make more shelves on some of our sheving units. That made it possible to fit more items on the same shelves.
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