The ideal place to store food is in a cool, dry and dark basement, where the temperature is stable. The earth acts as an incredible insulator. The shelf life of food is extended in this environment. Here are some storage rooms in the basement from several different families to give you an idea of what is possible.
As you purchase the items from the pile, you must order them in an organized manner in the chosen storage location. Keep items with the closest expiration date on the front or top of your stack for first use. The best way to sort items is to keep all the items together in order from the earliest expiration date to the most recent. A great source of energy, peanut butter is packed with healthy fats and proteins.
Unless the bottle says otherwise, there is no need to refrigerate after opening it. Choose multi-grain cereals that are individually packaged so they don't go rancid after you open them. All dry ingredients or supplies should be stored off the floor in clean, dry and dark places, away from any source of moisture. Food will maintain quality longer if extreme temperature changes and exposure to light are avoided.
While you may want to keep some of your emergency food supply in your home, keeping a food supply in a secondary location, such as a self-storage unit, could provide an additional layer of protection. You now have a master list of what your family eats in one day or three days, but that doesn't mean you have to store all of these foods. You can clean the interior space to place shelves if you don't have any already, and then you can store food and other supplies there. Use this emergency stock checklist as a guide to see what foods are best for an emergency stockpile or survival food kit.
Make a list of everything in your reservations and check expiration dates every six to 12 months to keep things fresh. If you choose to store food for a longer period of time, divide the totals on your master list by 3 to get the number of servings the whole family needs for a day.
