Our first prep challenge in August is to buy food storage containers like canning jars, plastic containers, buckets, or plastic zip storage bags. Storage containers keep your food free from air and bugs, and improve shelf-life. Transfer everyday pantry foods like flour, spices, breakfast cereal, and pasta into food storage containers. Or gather canning jars to can fruits and vegetables this summer. If you have space, store grains, sugars, and dry beans in buckets. Let’s look at various containers.
Buy Food Storage Containers
Food storage containers may be bought new or used.
- Decide which containers work best in your pantry, kitchen cupboards, basement, refrigerator, or freezer.
- Store yeast, vital wheat gluten, wheat flour, oat flour, almond flour, nuts, etc. in jars or other storage containers in your refrigerator or freezer. Many of these items lose nutritional value or go rancid if not refrigerated.
- Glass Mason jars are also a great choice for your fridge or freezer.
- Plastic food storage containers, plastic zipper bags, or reusable storage bags work well for everyday food storage too.
- If you enjoy canning your own food, make sure you store your canned items in the boxes they came in to prevent bottle breakage on shelves. And if you find used jars, make sure they’re free from chips.
- Jelly jars are the perfect size for some of my smaller baking supplies. I use them on a lazy Susan for my oatmeal mix breakfast station. The oats, dry milk and apples are all from the Latter-day Saint Home Storage Center. Visit this article to see the recipe that I use for my oatmeal.
- Labels help organize your food. I love my Brother P-touch, PTD210 label maker!
- My long-term foods come in cans from the Latter-day Saint Home Storage Center, but you can store some foods in buckets or Mylar bags. If you need help canning your own long-term foods, go to Utah State University Extension for their food storage booklet. It’s a great food storage resource!
- I store sugar in 5-gallon buckets with Gamma twister lids in my pantry. A 25 lb. bag of white sugar fits in a bucket. When I buy 2 lb. bags of brown or powdered sugar, I stack the bags in a bucket and restack them every time I add a new bag using FIFO (First In, First Out).
It’s nice to keep your food organized in safe food storage containers. Good luck finding them!
Best wishes and stay focused.
Valerie Albrechtsen
The Food Storage Organizer
Purchase my food storage and emergency preparedness items in my Etsy shop.
