Author Archives: Tad Hennessey

Tips To Create Extra Space for Food Storage

It can be very difficult to find a room for food storage if you are living in an apartment or a small house. Things become even trickier when you have a family to take care of. But then, you can pull off this task with a little creativity. You can use existing spaces in a smart way to enhance food storage capability of your home’s interior.

In this article, we are going to talk about the few places where you can store your foods.

Create false bottoms in the cupboards

This method works really when you have low cupboards. You can place boxes on the floor for food storage. Then a piece of wood can be used as a cover for those boxes. You can use rest of the cupboard’s space for the normal items that you want to put there.

High shelves in the children’s closets

The high shelves in children’s closets remain unutilized because children cannot normally reach those high shelves. You can use those shelves for storing the emergency foods. If there isn’t any high shelf in the children’s closet, you can opt for the false floor we have talked about in the above mentioned food storage method.

Racks on the cupboard doors

Creating a spice rack on the inside of the cupboard doors can create an amazing place to store the spices that you are going to use during emergency situations. Essentially, you will get valuable space in the cupboard that can be used for emergency food storage. Spices racks are available from the market and they are usually quite less expensive.

Bigger items

We have certain bigger and hollow items that always remain empty. These items are most used for decoration purposes. They include wicker baskets, chests, hollow footstools, and bigger vases. You can fill them with foods, and nobody will be able to tell that these are actually the functional decorative items.

Space above the kitchen cupboards

In many kitchens, there is an unused space of about two feet above the kitchen cupboards. This space between the cupboards’ top and ceiling can actually be one of most reasonable spaces to keep the emergency survival foods. But make sure that you are placing lighter items there in order to avoid adding extra weight.

Under or around the furniture

A little adjustment of furniture can create more room for anything that you want to store. You can definitely use that bedroom space for storing your emergency survival foods. Pulling the furniture a little away from the walls creates a space which you can use for storing the foods. You can cover that food storage with bed sheet, tabletop, or any kind of fabric. The space beneath the furniture items can also be used for this storage.

Tips for Vegetarian Emergency Food Storage

Vegetarian people may be resourceful during normal days because they do not need any meat sources to fulfill their nutritional needs. But emergency days are different. Because of the tendency of fruits and vegetables to perish in just a few days, you might need to make some arrangements to maintain vegetarian emergency food storage.

The foods that you are going to have to choose in this regard should require no refrigeration, no preparation or cooking, and little to no water. Although water is an important item in any emergency survival food kit, you cannot afford using majority of per day water quota for cooking.

Now, let’s talk about different ways of emergency food kit preparation.

Emergency Food Kit Preparation Tips

  • The first thing that you have to take into consideration is the proper food storage arrangement. You are going to have to buy foods that have longer shelf life, and those foods should be stored in food storage containers that are air-tight and BPA-free. Prevention of moisture issues can be prevented by placing silica packets inside the containers. Make sure that you are not stacking food containers too high especially if you live in the area that is prone to weather emergencies. Make sure you are storing your foods at is dry, dark, and cool with the temperature regulated between 32 degrees and 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Canned foods may not be the best option during normal days but you are going to thank yourself for buying them in case of emergency. But one thing that you have to keep in mind is that certain protein rich canned foods do not come with longer shelf life. Beans, lentils, corn, milk, powdered eggs, and tuna fish are some of the many options that you can consider in this regard. An excellent option in this regard is the protein powder which is not only nutrient-rich but very easy to store. You can add a little amount of this powder into the canned juice to have a good source of energy prepared.
  • You can buy frozen dry foods for your emergency food storage. The best thing about these foods is that they can last up to 20 years. You can have those foods as snacks or you can mix them with the other non-perishable foods to enjoy different flavors. The major advantage of mixing these dry foods with other foods is that you can boost overall taste, calorie, and nutritional content.