[79ford]

I've been reading and lurking around the forum for sometime now but am wanting to start prepping. In fact this weekend I'd like to stop buy the local Save-a-lot or Aldis to start stocking up on canned good items.

I know there is a lot more to prepping than just canned good items and I hope to get those ideas at a later time but right now I'd like to know how you guys store and organize your can food items?

I'll be storing mine in an attached garage on some large shelves but I'd like to find some kind of racks to use to rotate the can good items. Maybe something with two tiers - where I can add new stuff to the top and older stuff is easily accessible at the bottom.

Any suggestions on what to get and where I might be able to get this?

 

[pammygene]

Google can organizer and it will pop up with a bunch of racks. u add at the top and take from the bottom as they roll down. I have seen plastic, metal, even cardboard ! I personally dont use them, I have a pantry in the basement and just stack them on the shelves. I choose not to purchase them for the expense, stacking them on the shelves works just fine for me, and I can get more preps rather than prep holders. But if that is what you choose to try, especially if you have tall shelves, I could see stacking cans too high would be a problem, then go for it....... I lied I do have 2 racks I forgot about in my fridge for soda. I got them at a yard sale for like a quarter or something and they do work great

 

[Emerald Eyes]

Label each shelf 2012, 2013, 2014, etc.

Check out the "best buy" or "expiration" dates of each can and place it on the appropriate shelf.

 

[kev]

Example of my food rotation systems.

I use wire racks to try and keep the food rotated. Each shelf has a certain type of food, such as veggies on one shelf, fruit on another shelf, pasta and protein on another shelf. Cases are stored on the bottom shelves.

related forum thread - http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=39019

 

[79ford]

Kev, those can organizers are exactly what I'm looking for! Where did you purchase those at? I've looked around my local lowes and wal-mart but haven't seen anything like those.

Would you happen to have a model or part # by any chance? Maybe I can find a reseller online?

 

[fwshooter]

I am to cheap to invest in can organizers. I prefer to treat it like a game of Jenga and stack them.

Just realize temp swings will ruin your canned food so make sure your garage stays a good constant temperature in the mid 60s.

 

[OhioMan]

Of course my food in buckets never get rotated out (kinda break glass only in emergency) Powered eggs, powdered milk etc is also that way.

Canned good, we simple rotate out at least once a Month. We either take them to our regular food storage or donate them to our Churches food panty.

In the picture below is 576 cans of veggies, divided up in corn, beans, mix veg's, potatoes, peas etc. We take them out one flat at a time, each flat is written on the front on the card board the date it was placed there.

All the other stuff, Mayo, catsup, canned meats are stacked in order so that we know when they came in (btw canned good are good for decades even if you didn't rotate them as long as they are not dented or their seals are broke)

Everything else is very easily rotated out, soaps, tooth paste etc (old pictures)

 

[prankster]

OhioMan! Wow you've got yourself a supermarket there! 79ford-congrats on your decision to prep! You'll be amazed how quickly things add up! We just put our stuff on shelves in the garage and of couse rotate it. I write the date I put it there on the can-the Best Used By date is already there-and as was stated if the can isn't damaged the stuff is good for a long time beyond that date. Keep prepping!

 

[79ford]

OhioMan, that is amazing! I'm very envious of your setup. Maybe someday I'll be able to get to that level, right now I'm just now getting my feet wet.

 

[jeepjeep666]

Kudos OHIOMAN

 

[compexp]

I made some rotation shelves by taking a standard 6 -shelf unit from Sam's and then making new side braces and adding plywood shelves at an angle, so when I put the cans on the upper shelf they will roll to the back. Then, they drop down and land on the bottom shelf which is canted downwards by one peg hole. That's my "poor man's" version of the nice units you can buy online.

I've been trying to get hold of some of the campbell's soup display racks in the store, like the one's Walmart uses to sell their soup, but the store won't sell them and Campbell's doesn't sell them direct either. Think they'd want to encourage people to buy the racks and keep more of their soup on hand.

 

[Resqu]

I made my own to hold 300 cans.

 

[Zombie response team]

here is one that some one else posted awhile back.
http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Rotating-Canned-Food-Shelf
ZRT

 

[billwilla]

The big bulk cans I currently just stack em best I can, smaller ones I have a couple of the can rotation racks. Always looking for better ways to store stuff. Those wire racks look like they might me cheaper, but of course they don't have the load the newest ones on top and get the oldest ones on bottom feature either.

 

[pammygene]

overstock.com, amazon.com or organize.com has the wire ones like kevin had in his pic

 

[TheGrudge]

We store and stock in our cellar (old farm house that has been in the family for 5 generations and has stored/stocked foods down there since the mid-1800s). Great, great grandfather built the house in 1845 (I want to say?) and its been handed down to each son generation after generation.


Built a lot of my own shelving out of lumber. It works just as good as anything else. I have a few of those plastic stacking shelves you can buy at Lowe's/Home Depot etc., but don't care for them much simply because they are not that strong nor very sturdy. Like many here - over the years - we have amassed our own small, personal grocery store. And I simply go downstairs to "shop". But as others have posted, those wired racks are pretty nice. I don't use them, but they are pretty spiffy.


We eat what we stock and stock what we eat. So everything gets rotated. We've gotten to the point now where we head to the stores to only "restock" what we used for the month (and then some to keep adding to it). And when we actually need to go "grocery shopping", we simply head down to the cellar and get it. Believe me, that is nice when you are snowed in, power is out, or the weather is bad...or you simply don't feel like heading to the store at 10pm for something you ran out of.


I don't know where you live but you mentioned stocking in an attached garage. Make sure temperatures are stable. You want a cool, dry, darkened place to store/stock. Garage temperatures can fluctuate a lot in areas that have extreme temperatures on both sides of the spectrum. You don't want things getting sweltering hot and then freezing cold from year to year. That's going to kill your food supply.

 

[NETWizz]

I wrote some of my own software... it is a work in progress.

It has a + and a - button you click for adding or subtracting from inventory.

Then you just go and scan a UP. If it is in plus mode, each one you scan it adds 1... if in minus mode, it subtracts one.

The very first time it encounters a unique bar code it asks you to describe the item.

... I still need to have a place to enter the date of each item.

***************************

The next thing is an audit... You just scan everything and it knows how many UPC codes of each type you are supposed to hit. I.e. If you have 7 cans of Great Value Vegtable Medly, it expects you to scan 078742228990 an entire 7 times.


Ultimately, I want to get a can roller and have it store the dates... It would be nice to run a query for all cans expiring in 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 6 months, 1 year, etc... and know what you have to eat.

When I finish, is anybody interested?

 

[Monique]

For a beginner, you can put them in cardboard boxes under the bed. Separate them by fruit, veggies, meat, misc. Use a sharpie and write the month/year expiration date on top of the can. This will hold you until you have enough that you need something more elaborate.

 

[RevJammer]

I made my own to hold 300 cans.

Any plans or pics you care to share?

RJ

 

[willow]

I wrote some of my own software... it is a work in progress.

It has a + and a - button you click for adding or subtracting from inventory.

Then you just go and scan a UP. If it is in plus mode, each one you scan it adds 1... if in minus mode, it subtracts one.

The very first time it encounters a unique bar code it asks you to describe the item.

... I still need to have a place to enter the date of each item.

***************************

The next thing is an audit... You just scan everything and it knows how many UPC codes of each type you are supposed to hit. I.e. If you have 7 cans of Great Value Vegtable Medly, it expects you to scan 078742228990 an entire 7 times.


Ultimately, I want to get a can roller and have it store the dates... It would be nice to run a query for all cans expiring in 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 6 months, 1 year, etc... and know what you have to eat.

When I finish, is anybody interested?

You bet. I would love a copy. What are you scanning the cans with?