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A Great Way To Store Food
February 23, 2010
Food Storage Bins
One of the best ways to store food is to use plastic storage bins. There are nearly unlimited choices with regards to sizes and shapes, and they stack. Plus they are available almost anywhere. Given the variability of sizes, you can choose what works best for you. For example there are bins that will fit perfectly underneath a bed, and are the perfect height to hold standard canned food from the grocery store. This is especially a good idea for those that do not have lots of storage space. It’s also a good idea to have your food storage supplies located in different areas and not all in one place, so these plastic bins are a perfect choice for the different sizes that you will need depending on the area you are using to store.
W recommend that you give special attention to the overall size or ‘volume’ of the container that you will use. If it will be used to store canned food, then the container will get heavy really fast, so get choose containers that are too big. Plus, a very heavy bin makes for difficult stacking and handling when going in and out of your food storage.
We highly recommend that you purchase heavy duty, thick-walled bins that feel stiff, whereas some styles of bins are soft and flimsy. For canned foods, we have been using 10 quart heavy duty plastic bin containers for the typical size grocery store food cans- solid color so that prying eyes do not know what is inside. It’s a good idea to label each bin with a bin number and write down what is inside each one, along with the quantity. It’s really not too much extra work and it helps you to manage your overall food storage inventory for things like food type, quantity, and for those that are ambitious – calorie content – which will ultimately tell you if you have enough food, depending on your food storage goal.
Food Storage Bin Inventory Management Tool
I wrote a food storage bin inventory management spreadsheet to keep track of our food storage bins, what food items are in them, how many calories, and the number of calorie equivalent survival days. I especially like the ‘how many survival days’ caloric equivalent, so that you know where you stand.
If you choose to download it and try it out, simply enter the appropriate information in the yellow cells, and the rest calculates automatically. Within the spreadsheet itself, there are 3 worksheet tabs at the bottom, each for a group of 8 bins. I hope that you find this useful!
The template is a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. If you do not have Microsoft Office, an excellent free resource for a complete compatible office package is OpenOffice.org
Here are the files. Click to open, or Right Click to ‘Save Link As…’
Food Storage Bins Inventory_v2.xls
Food Storage Bins Inventory SAMPLE_v1.pdf
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