Storage Ideas
Water and Food
Now that you are planning to get your long-term food storage. Where are you going to put it all? There are many different options and is only limited to your imagination. If you have a storage room you will plan things differently than if you only have one common great room and bedrooms on the side. Here are some ideas to help get your ideas flowing on how to do your house.
We all know that food storage is important, you should make arrangements to store as much water as you can. A person can live for a long time without food. Water is critical for survival. I will list three methods for storing our water that will provide several days' worth of water for our needs. An easily attainable container is the Aqua-Tainer brand water containers. These can be purchased from several places, one example is from the sporting goods section at Walmart.
I have found the Aqua-Tainer to be a quality product. The box shape makes them very easy to store on your shelves. There are a variety of sizes. The ones I pictured hold 7 gallons of water. It comes complete with a spigot and an air vent. You must open the vent before opening the spigot or the water won't flow. When the container is full, the water will come out almost as fast as from a kitchen faucet.
A more economical method used to store water is saving plastic soda bottles and large juice jugs. Even 32-ounce Gatorade bottles make excellent water containers. This method should be rotated about every six months replacing it with fresh water. It is important when filling the plastic containers to fill them to the brim and to splash some of the chlorinated water into the lid. Try to avoid having any air space between the water and the lid.
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The other common storage unit is the 55 gal drum. This Option allows you to store a lot of water in one place. Depending on how you store the water, you may need a hand pump to get the water out of the drum.
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Having a water filtration system will also help for longer term water needs.
The two keys to not wasting food and money is to store what you eat and eat what you store. If your family really doesn't like oatmeal, don't store it. If you have a sensitivity, find an alternative.
Rotation is the other key. Have a rotation system set up so that you use your food and are continually rotating out the oldest food items.
Managing Food Supplies
Do:
• Keep food in covered containers
• Use only pre-prepared canned baby formula for infants
• Discard any food that has come into contact with contaminated floodwater
• Discard any food that has an unusual odor, color, or texture
Don’t:
Eat foods from cans that are swollen, dented, or corroded, even though the product may look safe to eat
• Eat any food that looks or smells abnormal, even if the can looks normal
• Use powdered formulas with treated water
• Let garbage accumulate near your food storage. It will attract pests.
Note: Thawed food usually can be eaten if it is still “refrigerator cold.” It can be re-frozen if it still contains ice crystals. To be safe, remember, “When in doubt, throw it out.”