Small House? You can still make Food Storage work!

For some families one of the barriers to long term food storage is lack of space. Back when my husband and I lived in a New Orleans “shotgun” home with our young son and two rambunctious dogs my son’s crib was in the dining nook and my clothes resided in the coat closet. Of course, we did not have a garage. We never “stocked up” at Costco or Sam’s Club. What was the point? We didn’t believe we had space to store any extra supplies.  IF I had been interested in Preparedness back then (and I SHOULD have been, given the many natural disasters for which Louisiana is at risk!) I would have been able to figure out a solution! Today, I know better.
 
HOW TO STORE FOOD & WATER:

FOOD

• Use 4- or 5-gallon food grade storage pails to store bulk food, food in mylar bags, and freeze-dried foods. See below for ideas about where to store these

• Gamma lids (for the above-mentioned pails) are awesome
• 6-gallon galvanized steel trash cans with locking lids
• Cans & glass jars can be stored on racks in garage, basement and/or pantry

WATER

• 1 gallon bottles (remember to rotate)
• Water cubes (These stacking water cubes store much more easily than traditional water bottles or storage containers. Put a few in your coat closet, bedroom closet, garage or under the bed. Remember to treat or change out the water!)
• If you have time – fill the bathtub
• 50+ gallon blue drums (remember to treat or change out the water)
• Don’t forget that your hot water heater may hold up to 100 gallons!
• Crawl space flexible water storage tanks (2000+ gallons!)
• Rainwater cisterns (obviously you’d have to boil and treat it)

​WHERE TO STORE STUFF?
 
GARAGE

• Of course, if you have one, the garage storage option is great because there's usually some space out there (use it as an excuse to get organized and throw out some junk!)

• Use wire-type or other inexpensive shelving on the back or side walls
• Overhead storage

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PANTRY OR GARAGE CAN ROTATION RACKS

• These simple and ingenious racks hold many more cans than can normally sit on a pantry shelf, and bring an additional benefit of presenting the “oldest” cans first, so you can rotate your supplies appropriately, before they expire.

​UNDER BED STORAGE

• Yes, that’s where I store gift wrap, too. But these same under-bed storage bins are perfect for storing canned food and other survival food including pasta, bottled water, and mylar-packaged staples (more on these later!)

CLOSETS

• Put 1 pail full of food in every closet, plus some water.
• Always better not to have all your eggs in one basket!

BASEMENT or CRAWL SPACE

• For those lucky enough to have a basement or a good-sized crawl space, take advantage of the space and store your well-packaged (rodent-proof) food down there!
• Package food in Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers (see my web page about LONG TERM FOOD STORAGE).
• Put food into 5-gallon plastic or 6-gallon galvanized steel cans (aka paint cans and small garbage cans), and tightly secure the lids.

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• Water storage​ (a great new option for the crawlspace is collapsable water bladders/tanks which can lie beneath your home and store 2000+ gallons of water!

GET CREATIVE!

• Who needs a coffee table? Put a glass top or wood table top on cases of water or canned food
• I like to put some storage food out in plain site, due to my moderate paranoia about looters/thieves after TSHTF. If you’re going to hide your supplies, always leave a certain percentage of you food easily accessible and in ‘plain site'.

AVOID THE ATTIC (TOO HOT)
Even in our relatively cool Northwestern climate it can get VERY toasty in the attic in the spring and summer. Even food that stores well breaks down faster and loses flavor and freshness if stored at above 75 F. 

That's it for my post, today. Please leave comments with any of your food storage ideas and tips for small homes!