Spring Clean Your Food Storage DAY 5: FOOD ORGANIZING

Today is part two of our main food storage spring cleaning job. Yesterday you should have worked on creating your master inventory list, documenting what you already have stored, and getting rid of anything that is not good any more. Today we are going to sort and organize our spaces!

Wipe Down All Shelves:
- You can go shelf by shelf emptying them one at a time to clean them off or just take everything out if you are going to be moving things around anyway.
Categorize Items:
- Organize your shelves in a way that makes sense to you. Put like items together like canned goods, spices, condiments, proteins, home-canned items, etc.
- Store home-canned items on lower shelves or add fronts to the shelves or bungie cords to hold them in place in case of an earthquake
Move Older Items to the Front:
- Make sure to follow a first in first out system with your foods.
- Consider getting a rotating can rack to help with this!
Fill Empty Jars with Water:
- Empty jars take up the same amount of space as full jars. If you are waiting for canning season to fill some jars, stick water in them for extra water storage. You can even “can” them to make sterilized giving them a longer shelf life before needing to rotate.
Avoid Storing Items on the Floor:
- If your storage room has a concrete floor, use pallets, old carpet, or cardboard to creating a barrier between the concrete and any food or water containers. Chemicals from the concrete can leak through plastic into your food.
Add Labels:
- You can label your item categories by putting labels on the front of the shelves. This will help if you have helpers adding things (or removing things) from your food storage.
- You can also label items with expiration dates right on the front so you can see at a glance what items may be reaching best by dates soon.
Take Pictures:
- Not only is it rewarding to have before and after pictures, but you can use pictures of your inventory in case you ever have to make an insurance claim. This in combination with your master inventory list should give documentation to what all you have in your food storage.