The first thing I did is clean out all the junk and stuff I don't use anymore. When you're prepping, fake plants and a closet full of clothes you don't wear becomes a burden. After I got everything cleaned out, I then turned my attention to shelving and drawers. I now have plenty of space for my food and supplies. My apartment is 500 square feet.
I have a 800 sq ft unit and it is fully stacked with furniture and now lots of canned food. It’s a huge mess and I hardly have room to walk trough my unit. So I ordered some shelves and tomorrow I will transform my bedroom walk-in closet to a pantry. I hope that will reduce the mess 😉
I will say extra clothes are very helpful, but I don't encourage hoarding behavior. 3 weeks no power after Katrina, but running water worked. Needed those extra socks for washcloths, and shirts for a towel. Had clean clothes as needed, and the shower was the only escape from the awful heat.
My bedroom wall is lined with cases of water. I have food in boxes lining the wall in the dining room stacked high. Food under the bed, in every closet, cupboard, under the dining table. It's a small apartment and I've utilized every possible space. I've reached the point where there's no more storage room.i have over 2 years of toilet paper . I'm as ready as I'll ever be.
I have a breakfast room and nobody was using it...not to eat or do homework...nothing. I took the diningroom table down, stored it behind my china hutch using cling wrap from UHaul to bind the legs together with it, and duck tape to keep the hardware with it. I set up a couple of shelves in there and created a baking station,& coffee station while I was at it and a very small mini table/breakfast two seater in there. What a difference. I now have prep space which can be expanded while I'm collecting prep stuff. So, who still uses a diningroom? I do, for prepping.
I grew up in New Zealand which I’d part of the ring of fire. My mum told me about an earthquake that happened when she was a young working lady, before she got married. The earthquake shook all of her mothers (family’s) preserves of the shelf and smash onto the floor. I now live in Western Australia, there’s not much earthquake activity here but I still secure any drawers, shelving or heavy furniture to the wall. Just as well as our youngest climbed the bookshelf at 8 mths (he walked at 9 months)! I didn’t want furniture falling on the kids. But we string a wire across to stop our preserved food falling on the floor in the event of an earthquake or active child! I’m loving your videos. Just become a subbie and I’m saving your videos to a playlist so I know where to go for this sort of info. Thank you for sharing. God bless you all and your loved ones. 🌹Rosie of Oz🇦🇺 & 🐶Omega the Cavalier🐶 (she likes watching RUclips with me 🥰)
One lesson I learned was to make sure you have a list handy for stored items in hidden places you don't forget about them 😊 It is best to rotate your food so nothing gets too old before you can enjoy it.
Last week we gave away a queen size bed and converted a spare bedroom into a massive pantry with shelves around the perimeter. Next, I will be learning pressure canning for about 200 quart mason jars I'll be filling. :) Great video!
Thank you for the idea of storing under the couch. I saw this video a few weeks ago. I live in a 1 bedroom apartment and, although I have to be leery of neighbors, as best I can, I knew I needed to get more food in here, all current events considered. Because I live alone and sit for my job, I don’t quite have the strength and agility to lift my couch anymore and certainly not, in order to properly place furniture risers underneath the feet. I also don’t have family, not anyone I’d trust to know that I’m storing food so, I needed to do it myself. Using a furniture lifter, still, was not enough. So, I purchased a low profile car jack. It is a heavy thing to lift, on it’s own, but still better than lifting a couch. Using the furniture lifter, as my couch was only about 1” off the floor, I got the couch onto the car jack. This was the safest, most convenient option I could find for someone who’s doing this alone. The couch is now up on risers and I’m in the midst of storing a minimum of 150 cans of food underneath on 5 boot trays, so they can be easily retrieved, if needed. As a graphic designer, I have also downloaded a CAD drawing of my apartment layout and have documented the types of foods, as well as their Best Buy dates, using Adobe Illustrator. I plan to do this in other areas of my apartment. If I were able to get really clever, without a lot of noise, I’d also create secret storage between some beams, behind the drywall in here. And, oh yes, I used the CD/DVD storage idea a few years ago, to add to the inside of my pantry. I bought 2 inexpensive media holders from Walmart, stacked one on top of the other, bracketed the top one to the ceiling and it has been a steady and firm way to hold household supplies and paints. But, again, perhaps due to current events, I need to let some of those paints go (or get to some really quick painting) and use those shelves for food storage, although I rather like the more hidden ideas of food storage as, if someone wanted my food, the pantry would be the first place to go. And because I cannot seem to stop writing here 😆, another place I’m considering putting flatter cans of food is behind the toe kick under the kitchen cabinets. I replaced the Masonite there a few years ago with plywood but, never nailed it down so, it would be easy to get a boat load of cans underneath there. Sure hope these cans maintain their integrity though. It’s going to be rather unfortunate if any of them give way.🤢
I'm actually thinking about the droppped ceilings in my bathroom and laundry rooms if zombies come to steal my food. I plan on protecting my stocks with a gun, but if they come in gangs, and they will, I will probably not live to retrieve my hidden food anyway.
@@henryottis295 I’ll be lucky to survive this Monday. I’m an a partner dweller, some of my food is exposed, I do not have the energy to move it and they’re coming to replace my electrical panel. If they don’t like this, as nice as it is to be prepared, it may not only make me a target, but get me evicted, when I’m right in the midst of fighting my sister over a property I’m supposed to inherit, since my mom recently passed. Yeah, nothing is going that well in the freakin’ world!
@@Rose_is_a_Rose_ storing the food in hidden places turned out OK. But, I also had a tall stack of filled mason jars in the living room and I still have extra food in the bedroom. As there was that and other clutter, I’ve had to do a lot of heavy lifting, to move most of it to a storage unit. Management had to come in, to access the roof vents. As per my clutter, I’m killing myself to clean this place up or be evicted in 2 weeks.
I'm in earthquake state too. I have food & water everywhere in my house. Very small house. Plus I don't know in the event of an earthquake what will be damaged in my home. I built a credenza type cabinet with shelves, close to ground, so it will stay cool and it's in my kitchen. Lots of storage there. Looks good. never have to open the doors except to get food so no light. then bought the can things that rotates the cans as you use them. I have water under kitchen sink, under both bathroom sinks and bottoms of closets. I have my home canned food under my bed and all my freeze dried food in bottom of clothes closet. My garage gets too hot to put any food out there so I started moving things out if my house to my garage, ( its detached) that I don't use that often to make room for more food in my house. I added a small pantry type cabinet to the end of cabinet in kitchen too for food storage. I have a master list of my food that lets me know where everything is so I can rotate my stores. It's been a lot of work but will be worth it in the event of an emergency to have what I need. If I had too I would put all my food in buckets or bins and have them in my living room covered with a pretty cloth! I would rather have the food I will need than have a showcase living room. The store is the last place I will want to be after an earthquake. It may take some work but I believe you can find room for storage if you are serious about it.
Sounds like my house! My garage is too hot to store food, so there's canned food under the bed, buckets & crates in the bedroom, containers of water in 3 different places! :)
I live in a small apt. So storage is very limited. Also being a single older woman and my 6yr old granddaughter security of my prepps are a concern. What I came up with is I took the dust catcher from under my couch and love seat off and it's hollow under it except for frame work. I store long-term stuff in plastic bends with lids under them and no one has a clue. You just can't rearrange furniture. Lol. But it works great. Ty for so much wonderful information. G
A dose of motivation goes a long way. A good amount of space in our storage room is occupied by non-food items that will NOT be affected by heat. If we move those items to the upper storage cabinets that run all the way to our high ceilings, we will have a lot more free space to use for the heat sensitive food storage that needs to be down low closer to floor level. The upper cabinets in our home remain virtually unused because of the high heat infiltration from the attic under the tropical sunshine. You folks are absolutely correct, spaces you already have should be fully utilized. Thank you for the video.
I am creating my storage space in the basement and looking into shelving. We are taking out what was there and buying a heavy metal Husky shelf from Home Depot and anchor it in. I’m planning to get 1 large and 2 smaller in furnace area that has plenty of space. There is a small window but plan to cover it completely so no light comes in. Also I have another area I can use for storage space so I’ll keep buying shelving. My husband thinks I’m overboard but I know, for years, it’s wise to have at least 3 month or more of supplies and learn to rotate food. I’m now looking longer than 3 months. I have a sense things might get rough for a time as everything resets.🤗
Great ideas, but what I don't hear you talking about is weight concerns. Putting too many cans (or just too many pounds) in the wrong space - especially when you plan on storing it there for years - can cause structural damage in the form of sagging floors, misalignment of doors, etc. If you have a garage or basement with a concrete floor to support the bulk of your heavy items - great! But overloading small spaces like closets is a bad idea, especially if you are a renter.
She did talk about these considerations briefly when telling the story about her friend. Structural considerations for the entire house could tak up it's own video.
I don't store food in the kitchen cupboards to avoid structural damage. I've heard of shelves crashing under too much weight. The 2 most expensive rooms in the house to remodel are the kitchen and the bathroom.
I find a lot of people truly do believe they can't find the space. They just can't "imagine" or think outside the box and are just bewildered. My husband is one of these types. If it isn't extremely straightforward he doesn't get it.
Not everyone has closets. To save money I live in a converted garage. I've had to buy metal shelving units on wheels in order to move them for vacuuming. Everything needs to be off the floor for bug control. It's a pretty crappy place, but I've improved it as best I know how.
Any home is better than no home and you are making the best of it by treating the space like you would any other home and prepping to have some security, no shame in that. Hats off to you@
Hey, at least you have concrete floors and don't have to worry about weight issues!! It could be a palace as long as it's yours, and I bet it's real cozy. I could live in a garage really well as long as I had some kind of heat here in the Northeast.
When I see the large plastic totes side by side, my first thought is to turn every-other one upside down for a few more inches. All good stuff here :) Thanx for sharing!!
We got rid of our dining room table we never used and got two of the large black shelves ($60 each from Home Depot) we have water and 5 gallon buckets of food on the bottom shelves, and number 10 cans, and other emergency supplies on the upper shelves. The very top shelf up by the ceiling holds the extra bags of cat food, we can’t forget our pets!
My garage is very hot but I still store preps out there including water. Food that only lasts 20 years instead of 30 years is better than no food. Just because we don't have good places to store doesn't mean we shouldn't store.
cut a hole in the concrete in the middle of your garage (NOT near the outside wall!!) and dig down to make a cool well around 50 degrees constantly. reinforce the dirt walls of course so your slab does not crack. go down 6-7 feet. if your slab is 4 inches or 6 you can dig a larger hole with a smaller entry . slide the concrete lid back into the cutout opening and park your car over it for instant protection. never store food over 70 degrees or where the temp goes up and down. that will spoil all your food. put an underground concrete septic tank in your back yard and use it as a cold cellar. make sure you have good drainage under it.
QUESTION: (Hi, PP!) I Keep looking above my head at the 12' ceiling, that is SO empty and bare. Since you are an Engineer, I ask you to come up with a STURDY lift for a piece of 3/4" plywood, hopefully hydraulic, that can be lowered and raised at will, adjustable, that is able to be tied to the ceiling joists, with wall anchors, that is not so ugly that it needs hidden... I would buy. There is a huge need to go safely vertical. And, since you are an engineer, do you know of any plans to turn an old wringer washer into a treadle-powered washing machine? I am searching for plans for one, as I have access to an old wringer washer and a treadle machine. I am on a very limited income, so cannot afford to hire someone to come to my home to build these items, but I KNOW they could be built or have plans made up and sold to or for this old DIY granny to work on.
Hey Paula...sorry for the delay in getting back to you. You probably saw our garage storage racks video. These are working well...mostly use it for light stuff that isn't temperature sensitive (blankets, seasonal decorations, etc.) so that prime real estate can be used for food and other important stuff. I had considered possibly making it so it could be raised and lowered, but that got complex and probably dangerous. Instead got a taller ladder with a landing so I can get stuff up and down easily. My garage ceiling isn't 12 feet, but probably 10 feet or a bit more. If you want more details on that, connect on our contact page. Haven't seen any plans for converting an old wringer washer...probably a bit of a challenge, but doable by some tinker butt out there. I will keep an eye out. Thanks for being part of the solution!
Another storage for long-term storage of food that last 25 to 30 years is it when you get it new build a wall or partial wall and utilize the boxes in place of drywall in just spackle thin coat of spackle over it let it dry sand it smooth and paint it, another one for long-term cans is inside interior walls wolves that you do not need insulation with the cans in there it should also act as soundproofing Plus, just remember you must redecorated after 20 years take everything apart put in new and eat the older stuff
Mice can eat right through boxes! Leaving them on the floor is just asking for trouble. Cellars and basements should have a permanent dehumidifier. Stored food should be kept in a cool place, not a warm closet. Most garages are not heated. Your food can get to 100 degrees in summer and below freezing in winter where your cans can expand and ruin your food.
Mice can jump a couple feet in the air. Rats can jump over 3' and can chew through concrete. Even if the stuff is off the floor you have to have some other way to protect it (like mesh or cans, or keeping it out where you can see it).
I stored a large tote with bags of beans and rice. Pack rats chewed right through it. They got in chewing through the wood flooring. I don't know if mice or other creatures can do that.
Miss independent, did you see my post? Myself and my 6 ye old granddaughter live in a small 1bdr apt and can't do any modifications as a renter. My post is here check it out it might help you.
Thank you for sharing . I live in the Uk and a lot of us have small homes without much storage .this is a wonderful helpful video ,thank you . I’ve 👍🏻🔔. Stay safe and well .
I'm a recent widow, had to sell the house we bought 16 years ago for our retirement home, because I'm also disabled and couldn't do simple things like caulk around windows, and tried for over a year to find a handyman and couldn't. I started looking when my husband first became ill (cancer). So now I'm in an senior apartment. There is very little space. I know the tricks like under the bed, thinking vertically, etc. I see this video title and figured I'd learn something. I turned it off in about 30 seconds after "that's just an excuse". Lot of subscribers, and I'm glad they won't miss me :)
Look around you would be surprised what you can find for free my neighbor had a shelving unit out for the garbage guy with a sign that said free I took it I also got the bottom part of a 12 drawer dresser one time and I put that in my basement laundry room my daughter doesn't live with me now but she stores her winter clothes in there and then she swap them out for summer that's where I have all my toilet papers stacked on top
I just discovered your channel and thanks for spreading the word. I have some new ideas from watching your video. You don't have to be "a prepper" to be prepared and have a few items that can make the difference. For us apartment dwellers who may not be able to install shelving - we use plastic bins that fit under our bed frames, and you can get a lot of canned, dried and long-shelf life food under a couple of beds. I have 10" x 2'' x 4' bins full of Mountain House, canned goods, pilot bread, dry beans and rice and dried fruit. Enough to feed my small family for a long time. We have 7.5 gallon water containers in our bathrooms stacked 2 high - it doesn't look great but they are a possible lifesaver.
@@henryottis295 Bought on Amazon - I treat with bleach and can barely lift them, but I have a bad back - Reliance Products Aqua-Tainer 7 Gallon Rigid Water Container, Blue, 11.3 Inch x 11.0 Inch x 15.3 Inch - I live in a small floor-level condo and stack these in my bathroom.
For a guy who lives with a cleaning machine. 😬 I built rolling storage boxes for under the bed. That way she or we can move them for her to fell better that the room is clean. 😱
My solution for storing extra linens, books, medical supplies, etc. is straw/wicker baskets from discount stores. Just before college starts, there are usually a whole lot of cheap woven laundry baskets available for between $10-40. They fit perfectly on top my large bookcases and take up that space up to the ceiling. Rectangular baskets can be perfect for storing paperback books on closet shelving put up over doorways, and plastic boxes and/or short bookshelves work great for storing things behind a couch (and provide a shelf to hold more rectangular baskets). Books can also be double-stacked on bookshelves. When one has no basement and no garage, crappy, poorly designed closets, etc., one must find REALLY creative solutions for storage!
You just gave me an idea! I have empty wasted space BEHIND books on my bookshelves where I could easily stash my home canned mason jars which are best kept in the dark like that! 👍🏻
You are so right about looking for places to put things. We had tons of space that wasn’t really being used for anything useful what we have was, walking back porch and it has no windows just the doors from the outside and then like a 15 feet walk Into the house. We had to put the washer and dryer on this one side and then there was on the other side there was this really tall big space that we could never really figure out what to use it for it was like 6 feet deep 13 feet wide and 20 feet high!! So we put two heavy shelves in there that gave us a lot of room and then the bottom of the space we had room to put 8 - 5 gallon water containers with Spicket. When you walked up to the space, it was about 3 feet off the floor so it was very sturdy and then right beside that area was a little. It was originally supposed to be a coat closet, but it was right beside the kitchen so we had had it kind of is a little pantry do you have to just walk out of the kitchen and then it was right there and it had its own door and everything, so the space inside there was probably 5 foot wide in 12 feet deep and 20 feet high so we put shelves all along the back wall and then put small shelves all down the right side of the wall in front of that. So we have plastic totes with mylar bags of stuff and some dehydrated foods and then on the shelves we have cases of stuff and then the little shelf on the wall it’s just wide enough to have one can deep and there’s probably six shelves so it’s really nice because you could just step up one step into it and there’s a light in so it’s out of sight, no one would know it’s there and I keep a thermometer in there. But it’s cool, dry and when you shut the door it’s dark so it’s like perfect. So I never would’ve thought of these wasted space until I subscribed to your channel and started getting ideas. So thank you so much for all your hard work and effort in helping us to help our families and friends. God bless you.
Sadly all indicators point to many more barely getting by. Many interviews of regular people have been showing this. Ideally it would be great to have places for storage and income to afford it.
Water. When there have been occasions of frozen water pipes, with a delay in getting it fixed/thawed., I have found that Minimum, with no clothes washing, I used 50 gallons of water. I had two types of water. 30 gallons of tap water, for dish washing, hair washing, and animal water, and 20 gallons of spring water for cooking and drinking. Multiply that times number of people in your home. 3 people, 300 gallons per month. The farm supply stores have some great water storage devices. I re-used heavy kitty litter canisters for the tap water storage.. They run about 3 gallons each.
For the over the door shelf storage: You could easily install a tension shower curtain rod and hang a curtain if you wanted to hide the storage items for cosmetic appeal.
I have a bed frame with 13-14" clearance. They've gotten really affordable and there are a ton of options on Amazon. Sometimes you can combine them with a traditional bed frame so you can keep your headboard and all that.
@@funsizedi88 yeah will work fine but if they are short you may be better with clear plastic ones, or just add some labels so it's easier to find stuff. As long as they aren't to heavy it works fine, I have a couple set up in bathroom for wipes, toothpaste, tooth brushes, shampoos etc and they work fine.
These are all great ideas. I lack lots of storage. But I’m going to see what we try from y’all. I definitely wish we had a basement but we are below sea level. It’s too hot and humid here to keep fresh veggies and fruit for a while. After week is goes bad but I have been thinking of canning. Thanks so much.
Lol. Yep. I’ve next time my parents and am prepping with them. Was just telling my dad,y thought are always on stocking go food and managing space. And figuring out what can go.
I'm amazed at how much food is stored in some of these examples.. really makes me miss my former old home with a real root cellar! My present home is small so I will just store as much as I can which would be a tenth of some of your examples.
As much as I'd love to store my food inside, I have to use the garage. I'm a musician and the space I could have used inside is reserved for storing gear that would get damaged by the temperature sways in the garage. That said, I store my buckets and cases of food behind my tool chests against the wall. Who says that those rolling tool chests always have to be flush against the wall? Bring them out a couple feet and there becomes plenty of out of storage.
I live in Australia & basements are non-existent in our houses. Where I live is on the coast of South Eastern Australia, so it does get cold in winter, but probably would be considered more like Autumn by people who have annual snow. I have no cool windowless rooms but do have a downstairs room (with floor to ceiling sliding doors x 2, but I think I can create a dark environment by installing heavy dark curtains. I look forward to giving it a go.
I live in a 100 year old pier and beam that wont hold extremely heavy. My spare bedroom thats not heated or cooled ( no central a/c) I store toilet paper tools, etc No food. I just started prepping, so its barely a third full. Thank you for all the ideas.
We too live in a 1920's pier & beam off grade house. I have a lot of books & heavy bookshelves. My husband made crossbeams to support the critical floor joists & added 2 more piers per crossbeam in the crawlspace. We've been here over 20 years & not had another floor issue since he did that.
You have all this stuff, but have you insured it? You absolutely must. And you must know what you have/keep just like a store. I was robbed and theived, abused injured drugged and left with NOTHING. . . and it's all gone. I was grotesquely underinsured. So you can store up but make sure you're storing up treasure in heaven - while you're doing this make sure you remember to save souls because that effort is like the only thing that can't be taken from you.
Winner of a video, I've been looking for "best long term food storage items" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Have you heard people talk about - Ponannah Unthinkable Prestige - (just google it ) ? It is a good one off guide for discovering how to produce an amazing bug out plan for your survival without the hard work. Ive heard some awesome things about it and my work buddy got excellent success with it.
I'm sorry you went through that. Years ago I was burgled while I was at work and I lost all the jewelry that my grandma gave me as well as other pieces that meant a lot to me memory wise but the worst part was the feeling of violation that someone had touched and ransacked everything. It looked like a hurricane had hit it the way EVERYTHING had been tossed all over. Took me quite a while to get myself back to my more optimistic self. But it did happen and I was and am grateful that I wasn't physically harmed. I'm sorry you were but at least you weren't killed and that means there is hope for your future. I wish you well and peace.
You really gotta question your relationship with God if he allowed you to be robbed, thieved, abused, injured, drugged and left with NOTHING. Perhaps it is all part of his plan, perhaps he is challenging you or perhaps you pissed him off. No need for insurance. My most expensive prep is my generator at $1,000 and it is chained with a thick chain to my house. Buddy heater $200, Gas One stove $100, cans of food about $1 - $3 each, really not insurance worthy. Frankly probably more effort to steal than they are worth, so I can't see why they would steal if there is a $2,000 laptop sitting in your house, which would be insured.
The way things are going in this country, maybe you should make a video on telling us where we can HIDE the emergency food. Just a thought... Is there a certain type of container that's good if you have to possibly bury your food supply somewhere discrete?? 😕😟
Fabulously helpful video. So glad to have discovered your channel. Could you bury a plastic tub instead of a metal one as described. (Holes in the bottom and store root vegetables.) Would there be condensation? Would there be any other problem with that? I am a widow on a farm in South Africa and food storage has become urgent. Are there root vegetables you could just leave in the ground? What else could you store in tubs underground? I could only do it with tubs so that scenario would be most helpful. Appreciate any advice.
my wife and I have downsized for 2000 sq. ft. to 400 sq.ft. but your ideas are fine if you have the space. We are using climate controlled storage at $1300 per year which is way to expensive. We have decided to go completely dehydrated / freeze dried as we can find placed in our 5th wheel to store our supplies.
I love the suitcase idea! I've had a big one lying around on the floor for years and not used it. I dunno if I'll ever be travelling far again (particularly not abroad, so why should I leave it empty and unused?) I was thinking about storing my pasta in it but I'm worried somehow the mice could get to it, but if I put my tins in it it would get too heavy so I'm a bit undecided right now!
Speaking of storage/hiding spots...there's often loads of space on the inside of a couch. Need to hide $? GET A CAT! My EX would always steal $ outta my purse and lie about he did. I started hiding cash in zipbags and hide it under the litter box. He would NEVER change a litter box! Plus, I would hide cash in a tampon box cause I knew he wouldn't touch that.
Our garage is our food storage place,not the best place as it is in idaho where it gets hot and cold, but its what we have....we ALSO just found out we have mice, and are trying to get rid of them, we thought maybe we could get metal locking cabinets to help them hopefully keep out of the food. Any suggestions on what to do? Right now we have things in bins but the mice are getting in and ruining things which is very frustrating. Trying to kill with traps and maybe put peppermint ball stuff around to deter them...they are also getting in our house. NOT fun.
I bought my 1st rolling can rack. Went to put it together today. No instructions. Will call company tomorrow to see if it was just an oversize. Hope so
I have two rooms with queen size beds I put bed risers underneath them which creates a lot of storage plus I have a full basement a few years ago I went to a garage sale a guy had 10 shelving units wanted $1 apiece I offered him $7 and he took it I kept 7 and my daughter has 3. I have always been a person that has stocked up I have a wall of toilet paper in my basement so I didn't have to look for any during covid. All those people's basements you showed they've done a great job. I haven't paid for new clothing for years most of my clothing has come from Goodwill also garage sales and I've gotten a lot of household items this way for a fraction of the cost some of these items still have tags on them.
Question... how safe is it (for the cans) to stack those boxes on end? thats 3 cans that are stacked up on each other inside that box... and ... are they going to dent and end up breaking the seal? or is it ok? and how many deep can you stack the boxes? i have several boxes with beans and wheat and would like to know...
I was wondering if I over did shelf weight capacity. The longest hold 2700 lb per shelf, shorter ones 3000 lb per shelf. These shelves are in a space that I was building a family room that morphed into a storehouse. I do need braces across shelves as I live in earthquake country also
Thank you for all your helpful advice it’s much appreciated, I am a complete novice at storing food so I have a few questions to ask you . Can you tell me what is the correct all year round temperature for storing food and can you please tell me the different ways to store long time food . I have bought a food vacuum sealer machine , I have plenty of jars but I don’t have the jar vacuum sealer. Can I use oxygen food absorbers instead? And what sizes should they be? Thank you
I like using heavy duty or metal milk crates. (found by roadside, gifted to me, yard sales, ordered on line) I make sure that I can lift them as cans can make the crates very heavy. Plastic cat litter buckets hold bags of beans, rice, lentils, peas and dried milk. Can be easily moved if need be.
I live in a 530 square foot apartment in hurricane country. I have food tucked in the back of my bathroom cabinets, inside my entertainment centers, both, and in the nightstand by my bed. Be creative. Pretend your hiding stacks of hundred dollar bills. You'll be AMAZED how many places to hid food. But, only if you want to and are not lazy
Great informative video. Thank you for sharing. God Bless you both. 💗 I store in a den and in my kitchen. After watching this video I have a few ideas that I maybe able to implement going fourth.
I live in a 2 bedroom mobile home with very little cabinet space. The only additional space I can use is the deacon’s bench. I am partially disabled & getting down on the floor to get things under the bed is basically not an option. Any other suggestions? I have a small shed. What can I safely store out there? Thank you
Ellen- you could buy under-bed storage bins with wheels, and then tie a rope to the handle on one end to pull it out easily. These could also be used under a couch, a tv cabinet, a credenza, etc. You could also store food in plastic totes with lids behind couches, next to beds, and in closets. Good luck to you!
as you have shown the wall cabinet pantry for storage you also might move that cabinet ( It MUST be an INSIDE WALL) and remove the drywall exposing an open 4in deep cavity to store items. do a quick repair to the drywall and if someone breaks in to steal your food they probably won't take time to move cabinets. For long term foods and preps ONLY. you do not want a leaking can..
Wow. Great to know! Thank you so much! I’ll see what i can get. :) i love you videos. They are all so helpful. And this one was good for me. I am storing food all over my house. We have a lot of cabinets but they are spread all over all the bedrooms. I wish i have one nice room to keep everything in but no pantry until this big house. It was a shame they never put one in. All my food is spread out everywhere. It could be a good thing i guess but it’s hard to manage it all with dates and keeping items grouped together to track what you have stored. Oh well. Having the cases would help me a ton with storing in a closet!!! Thanks again!
LOl...just came back from the store with 10 lbs of rice and more beans, etc. My son is aggravated with me because 'where you going to put it mom?!' And my spouse...well, he's good with me prepping as long as I don't disturb him too much and he doesn't have to make space in the garage.....even though most of what is down there are piles of junk he has brought in. There's a question for you....what do you do when you want to prep and your spouse/partner doesn't?
Run out ofoilet paper in a pandemic! ;) Seriously though, you have homeowner's or renter's insurance, and auto and life insurance, and retirement savings. Being supplies for storms, unemployment, earthquakes, interruptions in the trucking supply chain is kind of the same thing. I know it got us through a couple of months of unemployment. You never know.
I have that same spouse problem, I do what I can and still maintain marital harmony. I will drop subtle hints from time to time. Also talking about the TP shortage and the Texas power outages has helped my position some. Mentioning other scenerios as they happen would help too. Start with what ever natural disasters are the most likely in your area. Whether it's power outages, flooding, snow storms, whatever is most likely for you, then slowly expand on those things. I can't guaranty success but that's what I do. I'll even talk about some small thing I might like to do and discuss it openly. I do take advantage of every inch she gives in, plus take a few more. Good luck, maybe some other folks will pitch in on ideas too.
What a great idea. I never thought about using metal file cabinets for food storage. I've used them for craft storage, so why not food. Thanks for the idea.
Wow you guys are amazing!! I'm so. Under prepared! Looks like you have been doing this for sometime! Again, I'm alone in a very small apartment and plus my health is not good to do all this cleaning out and so forth. I have started and put food away. Under my bed is storage bins with table clothes and lines. I need help and don' t have it. And it's October 2020. And the Election is just a couple weeks away. Plus Winter. I have so many things that need to go. I do have bins under tables put not with food. I need to think this out. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. As I said, under the bed my end tables and coffee table and kitchen table I have bins full of things but not food. I have 3 bins I do have food. You are very Blessed! I will need to pray and ask God to help me figure this out and this short bit of time!-- Thank you for your advice and information!
What I am concerned about is rotation of canned food (store bought). Canned food only lasts about five years. That means you would have to be eating it & continually rotating it. So I don't want too much canned food, and only what we like to eat. Dry food makes more sense to me, although you do need water to prepare it.
Exactly. I have been stockpiling pasta because wheat will soon be unattainable, but it has occurred to me that the amount of water and heat to make it may be unavailable to me.... 😢
I just got started prepping this year, so I’m supper new to this thing. I’ve put food supplies in large rolling husky tubes. So far I have five filled with food tucked in my pantry. I figured if I need to bug out I can probably take a few tubes with me. I surely agree with getting rid of stuff, which I’m currently doing, I feel like I’m being suffocated by things, especially things I don’t need.
I have a spot on one of my top shelves that is on the lower end of a vaulted ceiling so there isn't much room for stuff so I put a cardboard flat of the small cans of tomato sauce there where they fit just right under the ceiling.
With my toilet paper and paper towel long term storage I guess silica gel packs And I vacuum still each package individually to heat the moisture other paper probably for long term especially if you are a store them in a bathroom where there's a shower lots and lots of moisture in bathrooms also because if things go sideways we may not be able to wash the dishes due to water conservation so I buy lots of paper plates and just for the most civil war and I store them in the same way heat from moisture out of them
The first thing I did is clean out all the junk and stuff I don't use anymore. When you're prepping, fake plants and a closet full of clothes you don't wear becomes a burden. After I got everything cleaned out, I then turned my attention to shelving and drawers. I now have plenty of space for my food and supplies. My apartment is 500 square feet.
I have a 800 sq ft unit and it is fully stacked with furniture and now lots of canned food. It’s a huge mess and I hardly have room to walk trough my unit. So I ordered some shelves and tomorrow I will transform my bedroom walk-in closet to a pantry. I hope that will reduce the mess 😉
I will say extra clothes are very helpful, but I don't encourage hoarding behavior. 3 weeks no power after Katrina, but running water worked. Needed those extra socks for washcloths, and shirts for a towel. Had clean clothes as needed, and the shower was the only escape from the awful heat.
Amen you are sooo correct about extra crap !!
I put socks over all my glass jars that require darkness. Then, store everywhere and anywhere I can think.
My bedroom wall is lined with cases of water. I have food in boxes lining the wall in the dining room stacked high. Food under the bed, in every closet, cupboard, under the dining table. It's a small apartment and I've utilized every possible space. I've reached the point where there's no more storage room.i have over 2 years of toilet paper . I'm as ready as I'll ever be.
@@TheProvidentPrepper Thankyou for youre encouragement . Thanks to you and others like you I'm better prepared than i would have been, I'm grateful.
I have a breakfast room and nobody was using it...not to eat or do homework...nothing. I took the diningroom table down, stored it behind my china hutch using cling wrap from UHaul to bind the legs together with it, and duck tape to keep the hardware with it. I set up a couple of shelves in there and created a baking station,& coffee station while I was at it and a very small mini table/breakfast two seater in there. What a difference. I now have prep space which can be expanded while I'm collecting prep stuff. So, who still uses a diningroom? I do, for prepping.
I grew up in New Zealand which I’d part of the ring of fire. My mum told me about an earthquake that happened when she was a young working lady, before she got married. The earthquake shook all of her mothers (family’s) preserves of the shelf and smash onto the floor. I now live in Western Australia, there’s not much earthquake activity here but I still secure any drawers, shelving or heavy furniture to the wall. Just as well as our youngest climbed the bookshelf at 8 mths (he walked at 9 months)! I didn’t want furniture falling on the kids. But we string a wire across to stop our preserved food falling on the floor in the event of an earthquake or active child! I’m loving your videos. Just become a subbie and I’m saving your videos to a playlist so I know where to go for this sort of info. Thank you for sharing. God bless you all and your loved ones. 🌹Rosie of Oz🇦🇺 & 🐶Omega the Cavalier🐶 (she likes watching RUclips with me 🥰)
One lesson I learned was to make sure you have a list handy for stored items in hidden places you don't forget about them 😊 It is best to rotate your food so nothing gets too old before you can enjoy it.
Thanks - I keep a notebook with what I have will add that in my notebook
Love love love the extra board across the front of the shelves with the glass jars on them.
Last week we gave away a queen size bed and converted a spare bedroom into a massive pantry with shelves around the perimeter. Next, I will be learning pressure canning for about 200 quart mason jars I'll be filling. :) Great video!
Add a hidden entrance like with a bookcase to keep food hidden from FEMA. Also will room stay cool?
Thank you for the idea of storing under the couch. I saw this video a few weeks ago. I live in a 1 bedroom apartment and, although I have to be leery of neighbors, as best I can, I knew I needed to get more food in here, all current events considered.
Because I live alone and sit for my job, I don’t quite have the strength and agility to lift my couch anymore and certainly not, in order to properly place furniture risers underneath the feet. I also don’t have family, not anyone I’d trust to know that I’m storing food so, I needed to do it myself. Using a furniture lifter, still, was not enough. So, I purchased a low profile car jack. It is a heavy thing to lift, on it’s own, but still better than lifting a couch. Using the furniture lifter, as my couch was only about 1” off the floor, I got the couch onto the car jack. This was the safest, most convenient option I could find for someone who’s doing this alone.
The couch is now up on risers and I’m in the midst of storing a minimum of 150 cans of food underneath on 5 boot trays, so they can be easily retrieved, if needed.
As a graphic designer, I have also downloaded a CAD drawing of my apartment layout and have documented the types of foods, as well as their Best Buy dates, using Adobe Illustrator.
I plan to do this in other areas of my apartment.
If I were able to get really clever, without a lot of noise, I’d also create secret storage between some beams, behind the drywall in here.
And, oh yes, I used the CD/DVD storage idea a few years ago, to add to the inside of my pantry. I bought 2 inexpensive media holders from Walmart, stacked one on top of the other, bracketed the top one to the ceiling and it has been a steady and firm way to hold household supplies and paints. But, again, perhaps due to current events, I need to let some of those paints go (or get to some really quick painting) and use those shelves for food storage, although I rather like the more hidden ideas of food storage as, if someone wanted my food, the pantry would be the first place to go.
And because I cannot seem to stop writing here 😆, another place I’m considering putting flatter cans of food is behind the toe kick under the kitchen cabinets. I replaced the Masonite there a few years ago with plywood but, never nailed it down so, it would be easy to get a boat load of cans underneath there.
Sure hope these cans maintain their integrity though. It’s going to be rather unfortunate if any of them give way.🤢
We could be best friends!!!
I wish I could get to space under my cabinets. What a boon!
I'm actually thinking about the droppped ceilings in my bathroom and laundry rooms if zombies come to steal my food. I plan on protecting my stocks with a gun, but if they come in gangs, and they will, I will probably not live to retrieve my hidden food anyway.
@@henryottis295 I’ll be lucky to survive this Monday. I’m an a partner dweller, some of my food is exposed, I do not have the energy to move it and they’re coming to replace my electrical panel. If they don’t like this, as nice as it is to be prepared, it may not only make me a target, but get me evicted, when I’m right in the midst of fighting my sister over a property I’m supposed to inherit, since my mom recently passed. Yeah, nothing is going that well in the freakin’ world!
@@Rose_is_a_Rose_ storing the food in hidden places turned out OK. But, I also had a tall stack of filled mason jars in the living room and I still have extra food in the bedroom. As there was that and other clutter, I’ve had to do a lot of heavy lifting, to move most of it to a storage unit. Management had to come in, to access the roof vents. As per my clutter, I’m killing myself to clean this place up or be evicted in 2 weeks.
I'm in earthquake state too. I have food & water everywhere in my house. Very small house. Plus I don't know in the event of an earthquake what will be damaged in my home. I built a credenza type cabinet with shelves, close to ground, so it will stay cool and it's in my kitchen. Lots of storage there. Looks good. never have to open the doors except to get food so no light. then bought the can things that rotates the cans as you use them. I have water under kitchen sink, under both bathroom sinks and bottoms of closets. I have my home canned food under my bed and all my freeze dried food in bottom of clothes closet. My garage gets too hot to put any food out there so I started moving things out if my house to my garage, ( its detached) that I don't use that often to make room for more food in my house. I added a small pantry type cabinet to the end of cabinet in kitchen too for food storage. I have a master list of my food that lets me know where everything is so I can rotate my stores. It's been a lot of work but will be worth it in the event of an emergency to have what I need. If I had too I would put all my food in buckets or bins and have them in my living room covered with a pretty cloth! I would rather have the food I will need than have a showcase living room. The store is the last place I will want to be after an earthquake. It may take some work but I believe you can find room for storage if you are serious about it.
Sounds like my house! My garage is too hot to store food, so there's canned food under the bed, buckets & crates in the bedroom, containers of water in 3 different places! :)
I live in a small apt. So storage is very limited. Also being a single older woman and my 6yr old granddaughter security of my prepps are a concern. What I came up with is I took the dust catcher from under my couch and love seat off and it's hollow under it except for frame work. I store long-term stuff in plastic bends with lids under them and no one has a clue. You just can't rearrange furniture. Lol. But it works great. Ty for so much wonderful information. G
A dose of motivation goes a long way. A good amount of space in our storage room is occupied by non-food items that will NOT be affected by heat. If we move those items to the upper storage cabinets that run all the way to our high ceilings, we will have a lot more free space to use for the heat sensitive food storage that needs to be down low closer to floor level. The upper cabinets in our home remain virtually unused because of the high heat infiltration from the attic under the tropical sunshine. You folks are absolutely correct, spaces you already have should be fully utilized. Thank you for the video.
I am creating my storage space in the basement and looking into shelving. We are taking out what was there and buying a heavy metal Husky shelf from Home Depot and anchor it in. I’m planning to get 1 large and 2 smaller in furnace area that has plenty of space. There is a small window but plan to cover it completely so no light comes in. Also I have another area I can use for storage space so I’ll keep buying shelving. My husband thinks I’m overboard but I know, for years, it’s wise to have at least 3 month or more of supplies and learn to rotate food. I’m now looking longer than 3 months. I have a sense things might get rough for a time as everything resets.🤗
Hopefully everything resets and revalues soon! Like yesterday!
Great ideas, but what I don't hear you talking about is weight concerns. Putting too many cans (or just too many pounds) in the wrong space - especially when you plan on storing it there for years - can cause structural damage in the form of sagging floors, misalignment of doors, etc. If you have a garage or basement with a concrete floor to support the bulk of your heavy items - great! But overloading small spaces like closets is a bad idea, especially if you are a renter.
She did talk about these considerations briefly when telling the story about her friend. Structural considerations for the entire house could tak up it's own video.
Public housing, complete concrete.
Problem solved. Hide everything under the bed.
I don't store food in the kitchen cupboards to avoid structural damage. I've heard of shelves crashing under too much weight. The 2 most expensive rooms in the house to remodel are the kitchen and the bathroom.
I find a lot of people truly do believe they can't find the space. They just can't "imagine" or think outside the box and are just bewildered. My husband is one of these types. If it isn't extremely straightforward he doesn't get it.
Not everyone has closets. To save money I live in a converted garage. I've had to buy metal shelving units on wheels in order to move them for vacuuming. Everything needs to be off the floor for bug control. It's a pretty crappy place, but I've improved it as best I know how.
Any home is better than no home and you are making the best of it by treating the space like you would any other home and prepping to have some security, no shame in that. Hats off to you@
@@funsizedi88 Thank you.
Hey, at least you have concrete floors and don't have to worry about weight issues!!
It could be a palace as long as it's yours, and I bet it's real cozy.
I could live in a garage really well as long as I had some kind of heat here in the Northeast.
When I see the large plastic totes side by side, my first thought is to turn every-other one upside down for a few more inches.
All good stuff here :) Thanx for sharing!!
Q
Kick your kids out. I have found since my kids moved out, I have a lot more room for preps, now require less preps and have more money for preps. LOL.
We got rid of our dining room table we never used and got two of the large black shelves ($60 each from Home Depot) we have water and 5 gallon buckets of food on the bottom shelves, and number 10 cans, and other emergency supplies on the upper shelves. The very top shelf up by the ceiling holds the extra bags of cat food, we can’t forget our pets!
Pet food needs to be stored in metal barrels with tight fitting lids.
Bedding goes in vacuum bags, stored on edge in a shelf in the attic. Freed up a whole closet for food.
I watched this for the second time. I got some new inspiration on some closet space. Thanks❤️🙏
You could add a nice hiding curtain in front of your Toilet paper shelf. :-)
My garage is very hot but I still store preps out there including water. Food that only lasts 20 years instead of 30 years is better than no food. Just because we don't have good places to store doesn't mean we shouldn't store.
The food will spoil if it's hot or heated.
cut a hole in the concrete in the middle of your garage (NOT near the outside wall!!) and dig down to make a cool well around 50 degrees constantly. reinforce the dirt walls of course so your slab does not crack. go down 6-7 feet. if your slab is 4 inches or 6 you can dig a larger hole with a smaller entry . slide the concrete lid back into the cutout opening and park your car over it for instant protection. never store food over 70 degrees or where the temp goes up and down. that will spoil all your food. put an underground concrete septic tank in your back yard and use it as a cold cellar. make sure you have good drainage under it.
QUESTION: (Hi, PP!) I Keep looking above my head at the 12' ceiling, that is SO empty and bare. Since you are an Engineer, I ask you to come up with a STURDY lift for a piece of 3/4" plywood, hopefully hydraulic, that can be lowered and raised at will, adjustable, that is able to be tied to the ceiling joists, with wall anchors, that is not so ugly that it needs hidden... I would buy. There is a huge need to go safely vertical. And, since you are an engineer, do you know of any plans to turn an old wringer washer into a treadle-powered washing machine? I am searching for plans for one, as I have access to an old wringer washer and a treadle machine. I am on a very limited income, so cannot afford to hire someone to come to my home to build these items, but I KNOW they could be built or have plans made up and sold to or for this old DIY granny to work on.
Hey Paula...sorry for the delay in getting back to you. You probably saw our garage storage racks video. These are working well...mostly use it for light stuff that isn't temperature sensitive (blankets, seasonal decorations, etc.) so that prime real estate can be used for food and other important stuff. I had considered possibly making it so it could be raised and lowered, but that got complex and probably dangerous. Instead got a taller ladder with a landing so I can get stuff up and down easily. My garage ceiling isn't 12 feet, but probably 10 feet or a bit more. If you want more details on that, connect on our contact page. Haven't seen any plans for converting an old wringer washer...probably a bit of a challenge, but doable by some tinker butt out there. I will keep an eye out. Thanks for being part of the solution!
Another storage for long-term storage of food that last 25 to 30 years is it when you get it new build a wall or partial wall and utilize the boxes in place of drywall in just spackle thin coat of spackle over it let it dry sand it smooth and paint it, another one for long-term cans is inside interior walls wolves that you do not need insulation with the cans in there it should also act as soundproofing Plus, just remember you must redecorated after 20 years take everything apart put in new and eat the older stuff
Mice can eat right through boxes! Leaving them on the floor is just asking for trouble. Cellars and basements should have a permanent dehumidifier. Stored food should be kept in a cool place, not a warm closet. Most garages are not heated. Your food can get to 100 degrees in summer and below freezing in winter where your cans can expand and ruin your food.
Those boxes have #10 cans,6 per box
Mice can jump a couple feet in the air. Rats can jump over 3' and can chew through concrete. Even if the stuff is off the floor you have to have some other way to protect it (like mesh or cans, or keeping it out where you can see it).
@@no_peace a rat jumping 3’ in the air is what nightmares are made of 😱
Keep mouse and rat traps.
I stored a large tote with bags of beans and rice. Pack rats chewed right through it. They got in chewing through the wood flooring. I don't know if mice or other creatures can do that.
Good ideas - need more for people who live in a place with no garage etc like 1br apt where u cannot make modifications
Miss independent, did you see my post? Myself and my 6 ye old granddaughter live in a small 1bdr apt and can't do any modifications as a renter. My post is here check it out it might help you.
Buckets line and stack in small spaces.
Thank you for sharing . I live in the Uk and a lot of us have small homes without much storage .this is a wonderful helpful video ,thank you . I’ve 👍🏻🔔. Stay safe and well .
@@TheProvidentPrepper 💛💐
I'm a recent widow, had to sell the house we bought 16 years ago for our retirement home, because I'm also disabled and couldn't do simple things like caulk around windows, and tried for over a year to find a handyman and couldn't. I started looking when my husband first became ill (cancer). So now I'm in an senior apartment. There is very little space. I know the tricks like under the bed, thinking vertically, etc. I see this video title and figured I'd learn something. I turned it off in about 30 seconds after "that's just an excuse". Lot of subscribers, and I'm glad they won't miss me :)
Understand - I am disabled and bedbound and don't have support system nearby. I worry about FEMA confiscating my food
I got my prepping shelves off Craigslist for FREE
Look around you would be surprised what you can find for free my neighbor had a shelving unit out for the garbage guy with a sign that said free I took it I also got the bottom part of a 12 drawer dresser one time and I put that in my basement laundry room my daughter doesn't live with me now but she stores her winter clothes in there and then she swap them out for summer that's where I have all my toilet papers stacked on top
How much weight can the floors handle? Is it necessary to brace up the floors of a bedroom or closet prep storage space?
I just discovered your channel and thanks for spreading the word. I have some new ideas from watching your video. You don't have to be "a prepper" to be prepared and have a few items that can make the difference. For us apartment dwellers who may not be able to install shelving - we use plastic bins that fit under our bed frames, and you can get a lot of canned, dried and long-shelf life food under a couple of beds. I have 10" x 2'' x 4' bins full of Mountain House, canned goods, pilot bread, dry beans and rice and dried fruit. Enough to feed my small family for a long time. We have 7.5 gallon water containers in our bathrooms stacked 2 high - it doesn't look great but they are a possible lifesaver.
@@TheProvidentPrepper Thanks - I'm nowhere near as prepared as I'd like to be, but I'm working on it.
@@jduff59
Where did you get the water containers?
Do you have to treat the water with anything?
And what about the weight issues ?
@@henryottis295 Bought on Amazon - I treat with bleach and can barely lift them, but I have a bad back - Reliance Products Aqua-Tainer 7 Gallon Rigid Water Container, Blue, 11.3 Inch x 11.0 Inch x 15.3 Inch - I live in a small floor-level condo and stack these in my bathroom.
For a guy who lives with a cleaning machine. 😬
I built rolling storage boxes for under the bed. That way she or we can move them for her to fell better that the room is clean. 😱
3 years ago I added risers to 1 queen and 2 full sized bed frames and was able to create space for 1K pounds of grain.
I guess you have to make sure your floor can handle the weight.
My solution for storing extra linens, books, medical supplies, etc. is straw/wicker baskets from discount stores. Just before college starts, there are usually a whole lot of cheap woven laundry baskets available for between $10-40. They fit perfectly on top my large bookcases and take up that space up to the ceiling. Rectangular baskets can be perfect for storing paperback books on closet shelving put up over doorways, and plastic boxes and/or short bookshelves work great for storing things behind a couch (and provide a shelf to hold more rectangular baskets). Books can also be double-stacked on bookshelves. When one has no basement and no garage, crappy, poorly designed closets, etc., one must find REALLY creative solutions for storage!
You just gave me an idea! I have empty wasted space BEHIND books on my bookshelves where I could easily stash my home canned mason jars which are best kept in the dark like that! 👍🏻
This is a good video to get us thinking how we can use OUR space better. Thank you!
You are so right about looking for places to put things. We had tons of space that wasn’t really being used for anything useful what we have was, walking back porch and it has no windows just the doors from the outside and then like a 15 feet walk Into the house. We had to put the washer and dryer on this one side and then there was on the other side there was this really tall big space that we could never really figure out what to use it for it was like 6 feet deep 13 feet wide and 20 feet high!! So we put two heavy shelves in there that gave us a lot of room and then the bottom of the space we had room to put 8 - 5 gallon water containers with Spicket. When you walked up to the space, it was about 3 feet off the floor so it was very sturdy and then right beside that area was a little. It was originally supposed to be a coat closet, but it was right beside the kitchen so we had had it kind of is a little pantry do you have to just walk out of the kitchen and then it was right there and it had its own door and everything, so the space inside there was probably 5 foot wide in 12 feet deep and 20 feet high so we put shelves all along the back wall and then put small shelves all down the right side of the wall in front of that. So we have plastic totes with mylar bags of stuff and some dehydrated foods and then on the shelves we have cases of stuff and then the little shelf on the wall it’s just wide enough to have one can deep and there’s probably six shelves so it’s really nice because you could just step up one step into it and there’s a light in so it’s out of sight, no one would know it’s there and I keep a thermometer in there. But it’s cool, dry and when you shut the door it’s dark so it’s like perfect.
So I never would’ve thought of these wasted space until I subscribed to your channel and started getting ideas. So thank you so much for all your hard work and effort in helping us to help our families and friends. God bless you.
We have an unused bedroom off of the kitchen that we have converted into a walk-in pantry.
Sadly all indicators point to many more barely getting by. Many interviews of regular people have been showing this. Ideally it would be great to have places for storage and income to afford it.
Water. When there have been occasions of frozen water pipes, with a delay in getting it fixed/thawed., I have found that Minimum, with no clothes washing, I used 50 gallons of water. I had two types of water. 30 gallons of tap water, for dish washing, hair washing, and animal water, and 20 gallons of spring water for cooking and drinking. Multiply that times number of people in your home. 3 people, 300 gallons per month. The farm supply stores have some great water storage devices. I re-used heavy kitty litter canisters for the tap water storage.. They run about 3 gallons each.
Great ideas I am going to go empty out my laundry room cabinets and use them for storage and I also have space on top that’s not getting used
Make sure the cabinets are anchored well. The cheesy cabinets in our apartment sagged just from normal use.
crowbar under bed to open doors after earathquake
I have mine next to my bed in my go-bag. Too many uses to list....it's just a 10" bar, which is good enough.
I store cans and dry goods in storage bins
For the over the door shelf storage: You could easily install a tension shower curtain rod and hang a curtain if you wanted to hide the storage items for cosmetic appeal.
I have a bed frame with 13-14" clearance. They've gotten really affordable and there are a ton of options on Amazon. Sometimes you can combine them with a traditional bed frame so you can keep your headboard and all that.
overdoor shoe holders are good for lighter items
What are you referring to as SHOE HOLDERS?
@@maryscavone5622 they are canvas ot plastic holders that hang over the door,, I have some and they have 20 pockets in them designed to hold shoes.
Such a great idea!!
I was thinking of using them in my pantry for stuff like spices/condiments/small random items. Does this work well for anyone??
@@funsizedi88 yeah will work fine but if they are short you may be better with clear plastic ones, or just add some labels so it's easier to find stuff. As long as they aren't to heavy it works fine, I have a couple set up in bathroom for wipes, toothpaste, tooth brushes, shampoos etc and they work fine.
These are all great ideas. I lack lots of storage. But I’m going to see what we try from y’all. I definitely wish we had a basement but we are below sea level. It’s too hot and humid here to keep fresh veggies and fruit for a while. After week is goes bad but I have been thinking of canning. Thanks so much.
Lol. Yep. I’ve next time my parents and am prepping with them. Was just telling my dad,y thought are always on stocking go food and managing space. And figuring out what can go.
I'm amazed at how much food is stored in some of these examples.. really makes me miss my former old home with a real root cellar! My present home is small so I will just store as much as I can which would be a tenth of some of your examples.
There is a video showing how
To make a root cellar by digging a hole and putting in an old freezer.
Excellent video!! Thanks 😁❤️👍
As much as I'd love to store my food inside, I have to use the garage. I'm a musician and the space I could have used inside is reserved for storing gear that would get damaged by the temperature sways in the garage. That said, I store my buckets and cases of food behind my tool chests against the wall. Who says that those rolling tool chests always have to be flush against the wall? Bring them out a couple feet and there becomes plenty of out of storage.
I live in Australia & basements are non-existent in our houses. Where I live is on the coast of South Eastern Australia, so it does get cold in winter, but probably would be considered more like Autumn by people who have annual snow. I have no cool windowless rooms but do have a downstairs room (with floor to ceiling sliding doors x 2, but I think I can create a dark environment by installing heavy dark curtains. I look forward to giving it a go.
Thank you.
I live in a 100 year old pier and beam that wont hold extremely heavy. My spare bedroom thats not heated or cooled ( no central a/c) I store toilet paper tools, etc No food. I just started prepping, so its barely a third full. Thank you for all the ideas.
We all start with the small stuff.
We too live in a 1920's pier & beam off grade house. I have a lot of books & heavy bookshelves. My husband made crossbeams to support the critical floor joists & added 2 more piers per crossbeam in the crawlspace. We've been here over 20 years & not had another floor issue since he did that.
You have all this stuff, but have you insured it? You absolutely must. And you must know what you have/keep just like a store. I was robbed and theived, abused injured drugged and left with NOTHING. . . and it's all gone. I was grotesquely underinsured. So you can store up but make sure you're storing up treasure in heaven - while you're doing this make sure you remember to save souls because that effort is like the only thing that can't be taken from you.
Winner of a video, I've been looking for "best long term food storage items" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Have you heard people talk about - Ponannah Unthinkable Prestige - (just google it ) ? It is a good one off guide for discovering how to produce an amazing bug out plan for your survival without the hard work. Ive heard some awesome things about it and my work buddy got excellent success with it.
I'm sorry you went through that. Years ago I was burgled while I was at work and I lost all the jewelry that my grandma gave me as well as other pieces that meant a lot to me memory wise but the worst part was the feeling of violation that someone had touched and ransacked everything. It looked like a hurricane had hit it the way EVERYTHING had been tossed all over. Took me quite a while to get myself back to my more optimistic self. But it did happen and I was and am grateful that I wasn't physically harmed. I'm sorry you were but at least you weren't killed and that means there is hope for your future. I wish you well and peace.
So glad you are ok ❤️ Yes focus on the lost !!!
You really gotta question your relationship with God if he allowed you to be robbed, thieved, abused, injured, drugged and left with NOTHING. Perhaps it is all part of his plan, perhaps he is challenging you or perhaps you pissed him off. No need for insurance. My most expensive prep is my generator at $1,000 and it is chained with a thick chain to my house. Buddy heater $200, Gas One stove $100, cans of food about $1 - $3 each, really not insurance worthy. Frankly probably more effort to steal than they are worth, so I can't see why they would steal if there is a $2,000 laptop sitting in your house, which would be insured.
@@johncasey5594 perhaps we should not judge others, or we may be judged.
The way things are going in this country, maybe you should make a video on telling us where we can HIDE the emergency food. Just a thought... Is there a certain type of container that's good if you have to possibly bury your food supply somewhere discrete?? 😕😟
Fabulously helpful video. So glad to have discovered your channel. Could you bury a plastic tub instead of a metal one as described. (Holes in the bottom and store root vegetables.) Would there be condensation? Would there be any other problem with that? I am a widow on a farm in South Africa and food storage has become urgent. Are there root vegetables you could just leave in the ground? What else could you store in tubs underground? I could only do it with tubs so that scenario would be most helpful. Appreciate any advice.
Carrots, turnips, beets can be left in the ground. Ck for more Google
That's a good idea with the suitcase. I have two and they're both not being used.
my wife and I have downsized for 2000 sq. ft. to 400 sq.ft. but your ideas are fine if you have the space. We are using climate controlled storage at $1300 per year which is way to expensive. We have decided to go completely dehydrated / freeze dried as we can find placed in our 5th wheel to store our supplies.
Thank You for the Great Ideas
I love the suitcase idea! I've had a big one lying around on the floor for years and not used it. I dunno if I'll ever be travelling far again (particularly not abroad, so why should I leave it empty and unused?) I was thinking about storing my pasta in it but I'm worried somehow the mice could get to it, but if I put my tins in it it would get too heavy so I'm a bit undecided right now!
This was quite informative! Thank you!
Speaking of storage/hiding spots...there's often loads of space on the inside of a couch. Need to hide $? GET A CAT! My EX would always steal $ outta my purse and lie about he did. I started hiding cash in zipbags and hide it under the litter box. He would NEVER change a litter box! Plus, I would hide cash in a tampon box cause I knew he wouldn't touch that.
Lol😆😆😆
LOL LOL
Our garage is our food storage place,not the best place as it is in idaho where it gets hot and cold, but its what we have....we ALSO just found out we have mice, and are trying to get rid of them, we thought maybe we could get metal locking cabinets to help them hopefully keep out of the food. Any suggestions on what to do? Right now we have things in bins but the mice are getting in and ruining things which is very frustrating. Trying to kill with traps and maybe put peppermint ball stuff around to deter them...they are also getting in our house. NOT fun.
I bought my 1st rolling can rack. Went to put it together today. No instructions. Will call company tomorrow to see if it was just an oversize. Hope so
I have two rooms with queen size beds I put bed risers underneath them which creates a lot of storage plus I have a full basement a few years ago I went to a garage sale a guy had 10 shelving units wanted $1 apiece I offered him $7 and he took it I kept 7 and my daughter has 3. I have always been a person that has stocked up I have a wall of toilet paper in my basement so I didn't have to look for any during covid. All those people's basements you showed they've done a great job.
I haven't paid for new clothing for years most of my clothing has come from Goodwill also garage sales and I've gotten a lot of household items this way for a fraction of the cost some of these items still have tags on them.
Question... how safe is it (for the cans) to stack those boxes on end? thats 3 cans that are stacked up on each other inside that box... and ... are they going to dent and end up breaking the seal? or is it ok?
and how many deep can you stack the boxes? i have several boxes with beans and wheat and would like to know...
I got an idea now for my bathroom. The t.p. in bathroom.
Under my bed too.
I was wondering if I over did shelf weight capacity. The longest hold 2700 lb per shelf, shorter ones 3000 lb per shelf. These shelves are in a space that I was building a family room that morphed into a storehouse. I do need braces across shelves as I live in earthquake country also
These are Awesome Ideas.
Thanks for the information.
Excellent Video. 👍👍😎
Thank you for all your helpful advice it’s much appreciated, I am a complete novice at storing food so I have a few questions to ask you . Can you tell me what is the correct all year round temperature for storing food and can you please tell me the different ways to store long time food . I have bought a food vacuum sealer machine , I have plenty of jars but I don’t have the jar vacuum sealer. Can I use oxygen food absorbers instead? And what sizes should they be? Thank you
They have new vacuum sealers for jars and special containers and bags. You tube and internet will show you.
I like using heavy duty or metal milk crates. (found by roadside, gifted to me, yard sales, ordered on line) I make sure that I can lift them as cans can make the crates very heavy. Plastic cat litter buckets hold bags of beans, rice, lentils, peas and dried milk. Can be easily moved if need be.
I live in a 530 square foot apartment in hurricane country. I have food tucked in the back of my bathroom cabinets, inside my entertainment centers, both, and in the nightstand by my bed. Be creative. Pretend your hiding stacks of hundred dollar bills. You'll be AMAZED how many places to hid food.
But, only if you want to and are not lazy
Great informative video. Thank you for sharing. God Bless you both. 💗 I store in a den and in my kitchen. After watching this video I have a few ideas that I maybe able to implement going fourth.
Some relatively inexpensive old book shelves could be repurposed for storing food.
I would not think storing meds above w/d where you have heat and humidity are hi?
Retired RN here. That was the first thing I thought of. Will expire much sooner than due dates.
Just what I was thinking unused spot under my stairs
SAME HERE..
I live in a 2 bedroom mobile home with very little cabinet space. The only additional space I can use is the deacon’s bench. I am partially disabled & getting down on the floor to get things under the bed is basically not an option. Any other suggestions? I have a small shed. What can I safely store out there? Thank you
Ellen- you could buy under-bed storage bins with wheels, and then tie a rope to the handle on one end to pull it out easily. These could also be used under a couch, a tv cabinet, a credenza, etc. You could also store food in plastic totes with lids behind couches, next to beds, and in closets. Good luck to you!
as you have shown the wall cabinet pantry for storage you also might move that cabinet ( It MUST be an INSIDE WALL) and remove the drywall exposing an open 4in deep cavity to store items. do a quick repair to the drywall and if someone breaks in to steal your food they probably won't take time to move cabinets. For long term foods and preps ONLY. you do not want a leaking can..
You have helped me!!! Thanks!!!!
Do you evet have problems w/bugs and critters?
I bubble wrapped my canning jars side and bottom.
Hello! Great video! Can you tell me where those cases of oats and wheat etc (that i see in so many of your pictures) are from?
Wow. Great to know! Thank you so much! I’ll see what i can get. :) i love you videos. They are all so helpful. And this one was good for me. I am storing food all over my house. We have a lot of cabinets but they are spread all over all the bedrooms. I wish i have one nice room to keep everything in but no pantry until this big house. It was a shame they never put one in. All my food is spread out everywhere. It could be a good thing i guess but it’s hard to manage it all with dates and keeping items grouped together to track what you have stored. Oh well. Having the cases would help me a ton with storing in a closet!!! Thanks again!
LOl...just came back from the store with 10 lbs of rice and more beans, etc. My son is aggravated with me because 'where you going to put it mom?!' And my spouse...well, he's good with me prepping as long as I don't disturb him too much and he doesn't have to make space in the garage.....even though most of what is down there are piles of junk he has brought in. There's a question for you....what do you do when you want to prep and your spouse/partner doesn't?
Run out ofoilet paper in a pandemic! ;) Seriously though, you have homeowner's or renter's insurance, and auto and life insurance, and retirement savings. Being supplies for storms, unemployment, earthquakes, interruptions in the trucking supply chain is kind of the same thing. I know it got us through a couple of months of unemployment. You never know.
I have that same spouse problem, I do what I can and still maintain marital harmony. I will drop subtle hints from time to time. Also talking about the TP shortage and the Texas power outages has helped my position some. Mentioning other scenerios as they happen would help too. Start with what ever natural disasters are the most likely in your area. Whether it's power outages, flooding, snow storms, whatever is most likely for you, then slowly expand on those things. I can't guaranty success but that's what I do. I'll even talk about some small thing I might like to do and discuss it openly. I do take advantage of every inch she gives in, plus take a few more. Good luck, maybe some other folks will pitch in on ideas too.
Year supply is ideal but 3day to 2 weeks good just do what you can the ant and grasshopper story .
Also, I have slid an old metal file cabinet under the deck and filled it with food.
What a great idea. I never thought about using metal file cabinets for food storage. I've used them for craft storage, so why not food. Thanks for the idea.
Wow you guys are amazing!! I'm so. Under prepared! Looks like you have been doing this for sometime!
Again, I'm alone in a very small apartment and plus my health is not good to do all this cleaning out and so forth. I have started and put food away. Under my bed is storage bins with table clothes and lines. I need help and don' t have it. And it's October 2020. And the Election is just a couple weeks away. Plus Winter. I have so many things that need to go. I do have bins under tables put not with food. I need to think this out. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. As I said, under the bed my end tables and coffee table and kitchen table I have bins full of things but not food.
I have 3 bins I do have food. You are very Blessed! I will need to pray and ask God to help me figure this out and this short bit of time!-- Thank you for your advice and information!
What I am concerned about is rotation of canned food (store bought). Canned food only lasts about five years. That means you would have to be eating it & continually rotating it. So I don't want too much canned food, and only what we like to eat. Dry food makes more sense to me, although you do need water to prepare it.
Exactly. I have been stockpiling pasta because wheat will soon be unattainable, but it has occurred to me that the amount of water and heat to make it may be unavailable to me.... 😢
I HV my tea bags fried milk in small Otamans
It's ironic this video popped up on my 'recommended' page. I just made to window box storage units for our house.
I just got started prepping this year, so I’m supper new to this thing. I’ve put food supplies in large rolling husky tubes. So far I have five filled with food tucked in my pantry. I figured if I need to bug out I can probably take a few tubes with me. I surely agree with getting rid of stuff, which I’m currently doing, I feel like I’m being suffocated by things, especially things I don’t need.
8:27 what a great way to store somthing that is really close!
I have a spot on one of my top shelves that is on the lower end of a vaulted ceiling so there isn't much room for stuff so I put a cardboard flat of the small cans of tomato sauce there where they fit just right under the ceiling.
Love the hiding places
I put the dresser on risers.
not everybody has closets. I live in a studio, and there is no closet only open shelving and hanger bars
What is considered the right temperature for the "cool" place?
Do you put the rings on after u have vacume sealed the mason jars? Many people say to not put the rings on
Would a bedroom be to warm to store long term foods under the bed
due to the heat in the room?
With my toilet paper and paper towel long term storage I guess silica gel packs And I vacuum still each package individually to heat the moisture other paper probably for long term especially if you are a store them in a bathroom where there's a shower lots and lots of moisture in bathrooms also because if things go sideways we may not be able to wash the dishes due to water conservation so I buy lots of paper plates and just for the most civil war and I store them in the same way heat from moisture out of them
The under the bed storage looks like my bed, got emergency supplies stored under there.