Food Storage – where to store it when space is an issue?

In our goal to care for ourselves and our families, there are many challenges. Some more practical and some more emotional. But one of those practical challenges is to find ROOM!

Room to store food that will be accessible enough to our day-to-day living, so as to allow us to not only “Store-what-we-eat“, but to actually “EAT-what-we-store“. When I was a child, it seemed that most houses were built with a cold room. Ours was for sure. And it was COLD, all year round. All our non-frozen food went in there, the boxes of fruit my mother bought, and everything else that needed to be kept cold but not frozen. Twenty years later, by the time Dan and I were looking at houses to buy, the fashion was very different. There were fewer cupboards in kitchens, no (or very small) pantries and zero additional space to store food – especially if you wanted it cold. What the heck? Another twenty years later, with the homes my kids have purchased, I am noticing some common trends. The newer homes have fairly nice sized pantries, but virtually NO available space for additional storage. It seems that for the last several decades, storing more than a few week’s worth of food requires considerable creativity. And being creative is important, because where we store our food storage is a big factor in *how long we can expect it to last, *the quality that it will retain, and more importantly *how accessible it is to us to be able to USE.
Types of containers, and conditions in the space we store it will impact its shelf life.

FINDING SPACE WHEN YOU’RE PRETTY SURE THERE ISN’T ANY

After we bought the house we are currently in, it took us a few years of trying this and that before we settled on not one area that worked for food storage, but a combination of three areas. A little over a decade ago, we made some big changes in what we were storing, which influenced of course, how we stored it. Although I still do home canning and I still dehydrate when its suitable, and yes, we still have a freezer, about ten years ago we began to incorporate FREEZE DRIED Food into our food storage. The exceptionally long shelf life was the initial attraction – twenty five years, as opposed to the suggested two years of canned food (whether home canned or commercially canned), and the one year or less recommended for frozen food. That’s a BIG Plus! But it was also the variety that appealed to me. Everyone knows that the weak spot of any food storage program is VEGETABLES. Eating canned fruit isn’t bad, but who really likes canned vegetables? canned peas? or green beans or beets? When I was a child, Popeye tried to convince us that canned spinach was desirable. It would make you strong! he said. And although he did a good job convincing me it would make me strong, even Popeye couldn’t make canned spinach taste good. Suddenly with freeze dried food, one could have spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, celery, onions, and a whole lotta other vegetables – that tasted like they had just been picked, and which were FULL of important nutrients! And not just vegetables. Fruits, dairy products and even meats!

When considering where to store food storage, it is important that you find a place that is dry, dark and cool. Wouldn’t it be nice to have those cold rooms of yester-year? But even though most modern houses don’t plan for that sort of thing, those three factors of *dry, *dark, and *cool, must be our focus when looking for a suitable place. All other factors are secondary to moisture and temperature.

CONTAINERS

Common containers for food storage are:
*paper – such as sacks of flour and sugar, or cardboard pasta boxes – short term only.
*plastic or cellophane – such as pasta bags, raisin bags etc – short term only.
*plastic buckets with air tight lids – suitable to pour from, or place bagged foods into. Practical for holding large amounts of food while keeping smells in or out, air out, and light blocked. Shelf life is completely dependent on what you put into them.
*glass – mostly used by home canners, this is as effective as metal cans except for the obvious need to keep in the dark. Food exposed to light will react to it. Shelf life is recommended to be two years or less.
*metal cans – of wet food such as fruit, cans of soup etc – like jars, recommended shelf life is two years. Metal cans – of dried food extends the shelf life considerably. It is the absence of moisture and the absence of oxygen that is so beneficial, but of course, it depends what is in the can, and how dry it was when sealed.

In all cases, moisture in the #1 enemy, It is imperative that we protect food from moisture which creates a perfect environment for harmful micro-organisms to thrive in.
*hint: moisture doesn’t always mean liquid. Be mindful of moisture in the air that dry food will absorb when exposed to it.

CREATING ROOM

When you invest in food storage, “where am I gonna put this?” has got to be a question we ask ourselves. We can’t just keep buying food without a proper place to put it. We need shelves of one sort or another. And we need some kind of dedicated space.

The space underneath stairs is often awkward and poorly used. Its generally an unfinished area, without heat, and If its in the basement, the cement floor helps it to be cool. The absence of a window keeps light to a minimum. Building some sturdy shelves can take best advantage of the space. Make sure the shelves are high enough for large #10 cans and deep enough for 3-4 of them or 4-6 quart jars.

SHELVING

The incorporation of freeze dried food into our family food storage meant that our storage situation needed to be adjusted. Frankly, it made it a lot easier. We had already invested in a shelf rotation unit. The company was then called SHELF RELIANCE (changed their name in 2013 to THRIVE LIFE). We opted initially, for the variety unit which held small cans like tuna sized, right up to the large number 10 sized cans, and everything in between. Seriously, it was one of the best investments we ever made in the area of food storage. It made rotating the cans so easy, and rotation is a major consideration when managing long term food storage. First in, first out. No more wasting food because it gets forgotten behind something else. The shelf rotation system was simple and brilliant.

For those like us, who needed some serious organization and to maximize storage space, this can-rotation system was the cat’s meow. It holds more cans than I could have imagined – up to 300 cans of varying sizes. No more stacking boxes and searching for what you’re pretty sure you have somewhere. And more importantly, no more forgetting about cans that remain tucked away until way past their expiry date. They are suitable to set up in a pantry, in a closet, in a food storage room, tucked into some corner in the basement, or in whatever available space you have – it keeps food uncluttered, visible and accessible.

In time, we bought another unit to accommodate some of our growing supply of large family sized cans of freeze dried food. But still, where to put them? and where to create more storage space? When we first got them, we kept them both in the laundry room which wasn’t ideal for a number of reasons, so we kept our minds open to other possibilities.

At the time, we had an exceptionally long family room in our basement. We measured off a few feet at the back and Dan built a wall, instantly creating a new room, narrow but sufficient for our needs. We put our rotation units into it, adding additional shelves as were appropriate. Having two rooms for food storage might not have been our initial preference, but one must make the best of one’s situation right? It does allow us to diversify and organize better. And it allows for easy access.

TEMPERATURE

When dealing with food that has such an exceptionally long shelf life as freeze dried food, it is tempting to assume that shelf life is unconditional, Make no mistake – there is no such thing as unconditional. Fluctuating temperatures of summer highs and winter lows undermine the integrity of any food, no matter how dry it is stays. That 25 year shelf life is dependent upon ideal conditions.
Q: What is the ideal temperature condition?
A: Consistent temperatures below 70 degrees Fahrenheit (or 20 degrees Celsius) with the most important part being “CONSISTENT”.

Yes, we all know people who store their food in an unheated garage, but in that condition (at least in the climate I live in) it is impossible to avoid drastic fluctuation of temperature. However, if that is your only option, all you can do is make the best of it. Do you best to keep the temperature as consistent as possible, and know that your 25 year expectation should unavoidably be adjusted. I have even known some who store their freeze dried food in an outdoor shed! Though it may offer shelter from the rain, shed, temperatures can easily dip below -40 C in winter and rise to almost +40 C in the summer, with everything in between. This is extremely undesirable, and will most assuredly affect the stability of your food. It is not necessarily cold or heat that causes the damage, as much as the continuous fluctuation between the two extremes.

In the end, all we can do is the best we can do. I am of the firm belief that FOOD STORAGE is very important. I believe it should be food of the highest quality possible, and that all precautions should be taken to ensure it stays healthy. Where to start? That is a discussion for another time, but it is critical to start somewhere. Better to have some than none. Better to start! Don’t wait for a location to suddenly appear. Take charge and carve out a spot that is dark, dry and maintains a temperature as consistent as possible. Build or buy some shelves to store it, and GO FOR IT. You’ll never regret it.

Where have you found the best place to store your food storage? I’d love to hear your creative solutions when space was limited.

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle