Food Storage Friday

With rising prices, bad weather, unstable job environments, one of the best things we as women (or men) in charge of our homes can do, is work on our food storage to ensure our family will continue to eat well no matter what the circumstance is. It doesn't take a lot to organize your pantry and make a little room for extras, and with the help of coupons and sales, can be done very cheaply. Every Friday, I'd like to encourage you to join in with me to do one or two little things to add to or work with your food storage.

So how did you do last week cleaning out your cabinets and organizing them? Did you find a lot of expired things?

I found a can of evaporated milk that expired in 2008! Oops!! My pantry system really needed the organizing - it's been crazy since we went to move and didn't. Everything was just haphazrdly on the shelves. Now I can tell what I really need to restock on! Here's my after picture:


How does yours look? (If enough of you want to play along, I can add in a Mr. Linky so you can link up!)

I'd like to share with you a few tips for food storage:

When purchasing items in boxes and cans, look out for dents in the cans, and boxes that look like they have been crushed. If there's a really good deal on dented cans, they are usually safe to purchase (beware of rust or bulging cans though!), but be sure to place them at the front of your food storage and use them quickly.

If you're storing food on shelves like me, never place food items on the lowest shelf unless there is at least 1"-2" of space underneath to allow the air to circulate. (Never place food directly on the floor, either, even if it the flat box) Use the bottom shelves to store items like toliet paper, paper towels, aluminum foil, etc. (That's what is on mine!)

Don't store food in areas of the house that aren't temperature stable. The lifespan of foods is greatly reduced when the temperature gets hot or cold. For this reason, avoid storing food in places like the garage or attic. (besides the fact that you might encourage critters or bugs!)

This week, I'd like to encourage you to sit down and think of 3 meals you create on a regular basis. (If you menu plan, this should be easy!) What ingredients do you use in the recipes that store for more than a few weeks? Most people make a dish at least every 2-3 weeks that use pasta as an ingredient. This makes pasta an item you can always stock up on when on sale - plus, most packages of pasta have Use By dates 2 years from when you buy it! Try to come up with at least 5 items that you can stock up on extra of when it's on sale. So what's on your list? Buy an extra of one of these items (if it's a great price) on your next shopping trip.