When canning as much as I can, food storage can get to be an issue. I’ve been really lucky that we’ve lived where I had plenty of room to store my canned foods. In Missouri, in our basement, we had a concrete safe room that was about 12′ x 30′ and then had an “L” shaped end that was even larger. This is a picture of one of the racks I kept in that room. The room had no sunlight and stayed plenty cool since it was underground and concrete. There were three of these shelving units.
Food Storage
Here, with our house being so small, there’s no room to store them in the house. When we added the sewing room, we included an 8′ x 16′ closet and an 8′ x 8′ closet that are inside the heated and cooled area of the shop. It’s hard to get a decent picture because with them being just 8′ wide and two shelving units in there, I can’t get far enough from the shelves to get a decent picture.
Food Storage
Behind the soups are home canned things. The soups are in front, single layer, because when I’m gone, Vince will often grab a can of soup for lunch and he tumbles and digs and makes a huge man sized mess so I try to keep in plain sight the things he uses. Don’t know if you can see my wine collection. Vince buys good wines . . nasty dry stuff. I like the cheap, sweet wines with the cool labels. It doesn’t matter to me how they taste because I’d rather have Dr. Pepper than wine anyway but if the label is pretty . . in my opinion, it must be good wine.
Food Storage
These shelves have some home canned things, mostly overflow . . like 100+ jars of tomatoes or okra, but it is where I keep a lot of the storebought stuff.
Food Storage
In order to use the older stuff first, I put in from the front and take out from the back.
Food Storage
There’s overflow into the sewing room. This is under my small cutting table. There’s my stapler! It looks like a lot but when you think about it . . even if you eat 6 dinners per week at home and have one meat and two vegetables with each meal, that’s 312 meats and over 600 vegetables. We also eat lunches at home so we go through a lot of food in a year!
Sheila Sanderson says
Judy you have no idea what you started a couple of years ago, cans of Baxter’s soup, bought when reduced, and quite a lot of other canned goods all stored in the garage…….Well after all I am a Thrifty Scot 🙂
Sherrill says
Did you hear us talking about you last night?!! I was telling my sister & niece about your sweet potato find and how I went & got some but yours were canned, mine frozen. Then I told them about your post about canning vs freezing, etc. and I said I can’t even imagine how many jars you’ve got cause in the summer you’re CONSTANTLY canning. I wouldn’t have the space to put anywhere NEAR what you’ve got!! WHOA
Susan says
You make me look like a kindergartner. =) I have an understairs closet stuffed full, but it’s a lot less space than yours, and a shelf in the garage, plus a bit in the freezer. I’m only storing for one, though, and I don’t eat all that much.
Mary H says
WOW! if there ever is aneed, you could live off your food stores for a long time! I know where to go if there ever is a “zombie Apocalypse”! LOL!
JudyL says
Don’t come to my house. I believe in sharing but everyone should be assessing their own situations, thinking about possibilities that could call for the need to be self-sufficient and taking care of their own. I work hard to have what we have and my feeling is .. everyone can do what I do and if you don’t, they’re on their own when the “zombie apocalypse” hits. Honestly, it’s not the zombies that worry me but when/if something happens, my supplies will be locked up safe and protected so there’s no need even thinking about coming to my house! I know you’re joking but there are a lot of people who think there’s no need for them to do the hard work . . they can go to someone else’s house and I’m betting any one who is doing the hard work already has a plan in place for when others come begging.
Linda in NE says
Agree 100%.
Dianne S. says
Right there with you, Judy!
CindyM says
I store fabric and shoes just in case…. *L* My habit and my feet will be happy through a disaster!
Linda in NE says
My fabric “preps” are in good shape too!
Linda in NE says
You’re not running out of soup any time soon! Our weather was so crappy this past Winter that my “extra” pantry is looking kind of bare. It seemed like the only good days for doing any major shopping were days I had to work. When I saw the picture of your food storage in MO my first thought was this: “If the New Madrid fault put out a really good shaker all those jars would be a big mess on the floor.” Hopefully Texas is far enough away for that to not happen….but like in Nebraska, it can all blow away in a tornado. We just have to hope nothing like that happens. Our crazy weather season started yesterday, though we didn’t even see any moisture. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for the next couple of months a least.
Diana says
Ahh an area after my own heart – I have a BIG Pantry and still not enough room. LOL
liz says
I opted to go the freeze-dried storage. While many companies sell the prepared meals, I opted to go for the basics to be able to make my own meals. Since I am cooking for one, it sure is easier make a meal without wasting half can of something. Or eating the same thing for a week.
I am bettered prepared since Judy started writing about this topic. It’s easy to start – prepare for 72 hours, then a week, then a month. It’s fun to think about scenarios and see how prepped you are.
One rule – store what you use and use what you store. Second rule – don’t talk too much about your preparation. The fewer number that know, the better. That’s why I talk about cooking for one and cost savings and not that I would be able to cook for one for many,many days.
But, many thanks to Judy for the virtual kick in the rear to get us all thinking about this topic.
Anita says
How do you keep track of what’s in the jars? I didn’t see any labels or dates, but it could be the jars were turned away. Thanks for sharing all your tips!
Angie says
Thanks for sharing your canning storage shelves and tips.