SORTING AND COUNTING...AND A VICTORY

Warrior Woman

My storage food consists of both #10 cans of freeze-dried, and cans, boxes, and miscellaneous containers of 3- to 4-year shelf-life foods. I've been acquiring food for years and after going keto, added a lot more. I decided it was time to inventory, so I ordered some rolling racks. My husband was nice enough to assemble the rack for me (I received one of 2 racks after 2 months of waiting for the backorder to clear), and I waited until he was busy power washing the driveway to adjust the shelf spacing so I could double stack the cans.

Case after case, box after box came out of the storage area, and I entered everything into an Excel spreadsheet with the food type, name, qty, manufactured date, and expiration date. There are a couple of items that have no manufacture or expiration date, and the code (if there was one) brought up nothing when I searched it online, so I guesstimated. It took me 3 days to get through the cases, which doesn't include any shorter-term storage food. Every can is clearly dated (the boxes were contents-labeled and dated but the cans weren't); the front row on each shelf faces front, and the back row faces the back of the rack, making it easy to see everything on the rack. I grouped the cans by food type to see what else I need; more instant milk (2 cans at end-of-life), more whole egg powder, and another can of biscuit mix should round this collection out nicely. I found things I'd forgotten about, like Marion Blackberries and Strawberry-Flavored Apple Chips. I have a lot of items that can't be sourced from Mountain House etc. anymore due to supply disruptions. I'm so glad that I continued to add to my long-term storage every year, and much of it when prices were reasonable. I did just receive some FD apples that had been backordered; 2 months ago I paid half of what today's price is ($19 vs $38).

Victory! My husband stopped griping about my food purchases when he caught a few podcasts (his latest passion) about the coming food shortages, and then he went shopping with me to see if the bare spots on the shelves were real or my imagination; they are indeed real. He inspected my handiwork and asked, "What am I supposed to do with whole wheat flour? I mean, in case you die or something". I hope that doesn't portend my untimely end! 😱 I told him there are recipes on the can and everything he needs to make bread is on the baking shelf on the rack, except for yeast that's in the freezer. Once I was done with my current inventory project, he came back to reinspect and was relieved to see that there are just-add-water meal makers on the top shelf. Never mind those - we have a 4-week supply of them in a tub under the bed! He came back later and asked in a concerned tone, "That's not all of it, is it?" Well, of course not but it's all I can unpack until the next rack comes in (next week) - this one is double-stacked and jam-packed! I still have rice and beans to vacuum pack in canning jars, plus a ton of miscellaneous items that are still in underbed storage bins. I'll pick up some bins if I need them, but I already have a ton of large and small milk crate-type bins on hand.

Patting myself on the back? Nope - kicking myself for not doing this a long time ago before the amount of food I kept buying nearly overwhelmed me. I foresee a time in the not-too-distant future when we may need to access these supplies, and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find what I needed when I needed it. I'm half-relieved to see that we have a lot of long-term storage and have very few needs in that regard. I'll be totally relieved once this project comes to completion.😌

Moral of the Story: No matter what you have, make sure it's organized so you can find it.

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