Savvy How To: Food Storage Solutions

 

 Savvy How To: 

Creative Solutions for Food Storage Clutter

Food storage is definitely an important part of investing in your future. But for many, storage options may have them bursting at the seams. Storing and organizing your food in small spaces may seem overwhelming and maybe even impossible. However, finding room to keep yourself organized in limited spaces can be simple, though it does require a little planning and some elbow grease. Beyond traditional shelves and cupboards, there are many creative and efficient options for food storage. I asked my readers for their suggestions on how to creatively store food and here are a few of their ideas:

Make Food Furniture: Yes, you read that right. Why not turn your boxes, cans and crates into furniture that serves double duty? Jan Barker of Payson suggests: “How about putting a round piece of wood on top of a stack of boxes or buckets and a round tablecloth on top of that to create an end table or nightstand?– Try filling hinged ottomans with a case of corn or beans. Or what about covering a small shelving unit with fabric and topping it with glass for an instant vanity table, says Riana Jasperson of Santaquin. It's easy to disguise self-rotating can units with a little fabric and wood. One click in the World Wide Web provides a plethora of detailed plans to custom build your own “cloaked” shelving unit. Or take an even easier route and use extra #10 cans as support for plywood shelves. Furniture solutions are a do-it-yourselfer's dream and certainly an inexpensive alternative.

Closets Aren't Just For Coats: You may have an unused coat closet or even “dead space” overhead just waiting for shelving, says Sadie Cunningham from Mona. Years ago, in my small-town home in Southern California, I didn't even have a coat closet. I had to get creative! I utilized the space under the stairs in one of those weirdly misshaped angled closets by simply installing a hanging rod for coats and a series of shelves just above the rod. I filled the shelves with “vacuum saver” type bags full of blankets and pillows and even created ample space for a family game shelf. Small shoe organizers and bookshelves readily purchased at hardware and retail stores lined the angular walls to provide extra storage. Stacey Johnson of Cumming, Ga., didn't waste space here, either! She installed shelving and even “cut a hole in the drywall at the back under the stair's landing and framed the hole.” Hanging a no-sew curtain with a shower rod can easily hide storage items, not to mention it also adds a “cute dimension,” Johnson says. You can also utilize closet doors for additional storage. “I use shoe storage organizers (the ones that hang behind doors), Ale Wortmann of Springville says.

Bedroom Follies: Under the bed is a treasure trove of space waiting to be filled by things other than dirty socks and broken toys. You can raise your bed to new levels by adding bed risers that can increase storage space by 12 inches or more. Use an extra long bed skirt to cover your secret stash! Once you've created space, use “under the bed storage containers, fill them up and just slide them under all the beds in the house” says Julie Taggart of Pleasant Grove. Taggart even organizes her bathrooms this way. Using shoe-size clear containers she stacks and organizes personal hygiene items under the bathroom vanity. “Buy one for toothpaste, another for deodorant, another for razors, etc.– You can stack them a few high, using what is normally wasted space.

Don't let the lack of square footage deter you. Being prepared and getting organized will pay off when you're eating food today at last year's prices!

My Two Cents: Food Insurance

My Two Cents:  

Food Storage, an investment for the future!

I've always thought of my food storage as insurance. We all pay for car insurance, home insurance, health insurance, etc. So why not starvation insurance?

OK, sounds a little drastic I know, but investing in the physical well being of our families is just as important, yes, even more important than protecting any other belonging! In Jean De La Fontaine's 17th century version of the fabled grasshopper and the ant, an idle grasshopper squanders valuable time instead of preparing for the winter and undoubted storms of life. The provident ant, however, foresees the need to prepare and stores away a little food here and there as protection for harsher times. Of course, when winter is finally upon them, the grasshopper is woefully unprepared and left begging for sustenance from the ant's abundant storage of food. So, the ant pulls a few No. 10 cans of dehydrated corn off her self-rotating shelving system and cheerfully shares with her vulnerable insect friend. Oh wait, maybe that last bit wasn't quite part of the story. The grasshopper might have had to sing for her supper, but what if the ant hadn't stored any food either? Malnourished and faint they're both tongue-slapped by a fortuitous amphibian?

Food storage is an important part of investing in your future, not just physically, but also monetarily. Eating food today at last year's prices can often provide a significantly larger return on the money you invested to buy it than even IRAs, 401ks and money market accounts. With the cost of food increasing daily, shoppers must think today about what to buy for tomorrow. But, before you run to the store and clear the shelves, first you must assess your family's needs, determine storage options and create a spending plan.

What to buy, what to buy? There's obviously the basics like sugar, flour, salt, rice and wheat, to name a few. But how would your family do if they had to do without the meals they currently enjoy? In addition to storing the basics of sustainable life you should also purchase and store what you already eat. Make a list of family-favorite meals or snacks and separate them into ingredient and quantity lists. If you eat each meal once a week for example, simply add the quantities required to prepare each meal and multiply by 13, 26 or 52 and you'll know how much you'd need to store to eat it once a week for 3 months to a year!

But, before you buy 52 cans of family-sized soup, you should ask yourself, “Where do I store all this stuff, and once I buy it how do I rotate it?” It's great that you're thinking ahead and filling your pantry, but buying more than you need or have room to store doesn't work. If you're home or apartment doesn't give way to larger storage areas, make good use of closets, cupboards and even under the bed.

Get creative! Re-purpose household objects, like using a hanging cloth shoe organizer for spice storage and hang it on your pantry door. But don't buy more than your family can use before a product expires. Everything goes bad at some point. Letting food expire in the pantry is not only wasteful it's also very costly! Finally, develop a system for rotation, (I use the “stock new on the left, pull to use from the right” method), to keep old food from hiding on the back of your shelves waiting for the right time to bulge and explode.

So, now you need to allocate the funds to start building up your supplies. Don't think you can afford to start? How can you not! The good news is it has never cost so little to buy so much! You can easily cut your grocery bills in half or more by simply watching sales and matching coupons to those sales when possible.

Stocking up when prices are low saves you money when prices rise. But what if you don't know what a good deal is when you see it? I'll tell you in a weekly newsletter where you can find the BEST GROCERY DEALS in Utah County! The cost? Zilch, Nada, Zero ? It's FREE! To sign up for these free emails and for more ideas on how to make saving money easy, visit www.savvyshopperdeals.com, Utah's BEST source for savings!