Food Storage Guidelines

Good food storage guideines entail using and replenishing your food storage. It should become a commonplace, everyday activity, as normal as preparing meals. Although it does require an initial investment to stock a pantry, eventually it becomes the most economical, convenient, and self-reliant way to live.

Instead of going to the store when you need something and paying full price for it (plus being tempted to impulse-buy), you can go to your storage room or pantry to get what you need. Then you replace it next time it is on sale.

How to rotate your food storage

Rotating your food storage is necessary so that the older products are used before newer ones. Shelves like those pictured here make it easy keep the older products in front while the newer products are inserted in the rear.

If you don't have access to this type of shelving, keep a marker on the shelf and quickly put a date on the cans and packages when you put them away. At a glance, you can see what needs to be used first. One exception might be chocolate chips; they probably don't stay on your shelf long enough to bother marking a date on them.

The best way to rotate your food storage is to prepare meals with it on a daily basis. Of course, that means that you should store what your family will eat. It is wasteful to store products that your family won't eat or that can't be used in your favorite recipes. If your storage includes whole wheat, use it in recipes to accustom your family to the taste and extra fiber.

Be sure and tell your kids that McDonald's hamburgers and fries do not store well.

By the way, if you sign up for our Family Survival Planning Alert, you'll discover . . .

How do I know the shelf life of food products?

Food storage guidelines state that no food's shelf life is indefinite, no matter how it is packaged. Freeze-dried food however, can be stored up to 25 years. The shelf life of a food does not mean how long you can keep it on the shelf without having to actually eat it. A better meaning for shelf life in a preparedness context is that you have learned to store your food properly so that it will "give you life" after it has been on your shelf.

How old is too old?

If the food was safe when you bought it, and if it doesn't show any of the following signs of spoilage, then the food should be safe to eat. If any of these signs are present, throw the food out without tasting it!

Bonus emergency tip: Always know your exits! When in a large, public place, look for emergency exit signs and things like egress path markers, which will light the way out in the case of a disaster that knocks the power out. You should always have an escape route in the back of your mind!

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