Prepper mistakes and lessons learned. What have you done to fix them?

[ladyhk13]

The other day BWRR went to make his famous bbq sauce and we realized that one of his main ingredients had expired and gone bad. I thought we had more in our storage and searched everywhere. I was wrong and so he had to totally change his recipe and make it differently and needless to say he wasn't happy about it and all the time I spent searching pushed back making the other stuff for dinner since we have this thing down to a science.

I realized (and really have known) that my organization of all our preps are totally UN-organized. I have no idea anymore what we have, when it expires, where it is and it has become a monster. Everything is in closets and although they are huge and on commercial sized storage units, I cannot get to the backside of them in order to rotate to keep track of expiration dates. So, do I remove EVERYTHING from all of these shelves and try to reorganize, how do I figure out how long the stuff I canned myself is good for? At one point I kept a list but it became so cumbersome that there was no way to keep up with it.

I think the only way to fix it is to actually make a whole room a storage room but I don't think I can get BWRR to do that so I'm going to have to figure out a different plan. I realized though that this is a problem and I have to figure out a solution. SHTF comes and I don't want expired stuff around.....

[bacpacker]

Don't feel so bad about this. Just be glad you caught it now. Much better than when it was really needed.

We have ran into the same thing ourselves, still do to some degree. My problem is lack of storage space for everything. I have our food pretty consolidated and list of what is in each storage box with weights, dates, & quantities. But a lot of our other preps are scattered about the house, basement, & garage. Inventory on that stuff is not near as good. I am still working on settling on a good system for tracking everything, including where the stuff is.

[ladyhk13]

I have also noticed that some of the seed that I bought several years ago do not want to germinate now and I wish I had planted some of them before and harvested new seed to put up even though I wasn't really ready to have the actual item. I bought them for my preps and thought that I would have had them in the ground by now at our new property but things haven't worked out that way. I should have just planted some in pots or even just a few in the garden anyway so now I'm wondering how many I've lost since I have probably 100 different items.

Another lesson learned. Even if you aren't ready for what you buy, plant some just to keep the lines going each year instead of hanging on to them hoping that they will last until you need them or are ready for them. I went totally crazy buying and just wasn't prepared to do anything with them. Have a plan!

[LUNCHBOX]

I believe I am using the "Bacpacker organizing method" also. I have things everwhere, but....that is about to change. I am moving this week and there is a room that I am using only for prep items. My food buckets/tubs are labeled/dated but in the very near future they will be organized much better. I think maybe we (The Colony) do our prepping in such an everyday way of life that we just get relaxed about it all since we don't worry about prepping and just prep so we don't have to worry.

[bacpacker]

Thats a good way of describing things LB. At least in my case. It just drives me nuts having crap so unorganized when I know I can do things better.

[Onestep]

I write on each item the expiration date with a sharpie in a prominent location. On canned goods, I put a piece of blue masking tape and write the date on it. Lady, you are right about the seeds. I have a large supply but buy new ones every year as the germination rate goes down as they age. With the older seeds, I typically increased the number planted to compensate for the germination loss. Plus I try and plant some every year just to harvest seeds.

[The Stig]

Labels are a big key. Expiration dates, contents, special instructions, etc are all good.

I'm a big fan of excel spreadsheets. Kinda dorky but you can use them to both keep track of what you have, total up what you have and keep stock fresh.

You can also consider using a to-do list or calender on your computer/ipad/phone with pop up reminders triggered on a specific date. Clearly these won't be all that handy in the middle of a event but they can help you stay on track before any sort of SHTF event.

Organization is key IMO. Not knowing where your preps are, or their state, is only slightly better than not having them at all.

[realist]

In my organized chaos I know it is in here somewhere..........I saw it last year or was it the year before??? Oh I'll just go buy another. I got to get better organized!

[David Armstrong]

A hint for the rotation problem. Rather than a front to back stack we use a side to side. As an example, all the survival spam we buy this year gets put on the shelf and marked 2013. Next year the survival spam will be put on the shelf to the side and marked 2014. And so on. Now instead of going through the process of having to pull everything off the shelf, move it around, etc. we can just use the oldest year. When it is emptied, then we start refilling it with the newest stuff, so when the 2013 survival spam is gone and I start buying 2015 survival spam it now goes into the 2013 block and is re-labeled.

[Rumbleman1]

I am blessed with plenty of storage space. However, I am NOT blessed with organizational skills. Recently, I went into the storage room to finally put my preparation house in order. I was impressed with the stuff we had, but also disappointed with what was lacking. (The "ignorance is bliss" syndrome.) Just organizing it took a bit of the weight of the unknown off my shoulders. It has helped me to formulate a better plan for more complete preparation!

[The Stig]

Welcome aboard Rumbleman!

[Katrina]

I also am a bit disorganized, shame on me. With being off for the next 6 weeks(knee surgery) I am hoping to get things organized better once I can stand on two legs without the crutches. I have running list of things and where they are in the brain case and the shelves are old to new in rows but I don't have it written out.
DH says there's a method to my madness

[AlphaTea]

Labels are a big key. Expiration dates, contents, special instructions, etc are all good.

I'm a big fan of excel spreadsheets. Kinda dorky but you can use them to both keep track of what you have, total up what you have and keep stock fresh.

You can also consider using a to-do list or calender on your computer/ipad/phone with pop up reminders triggered on a specific date. Clearly these won't be all that handy in the middle of a event but they can help you stay on track before any sort of SHTF event.

Organization is key IMO. Not knowing where your preps are, or their state, is only slightly better than not having them at all.
Dude, we must be brothers.
Many moons ago, when excel first came out, yea THAT long ago, my first thought was what a great tool for organizing stuff.
I first started with ammo. I had stuff scattered all over the place and never really knew what I had.
Excel to the rescue. I made up a spreadsheet with separate tabs for each caliber, rifle magazine, pistol magazines, targets, accessories etc and a tab with ammo totals. I print out each tab on a separate sheet and keep them on a clip board.
Most ammo and mags are in ammo cans. I have a GTFOD can, an EDC spares can, spare desiccant can, the home defense can and a Zombie defense can. When I buy or or use anything I mark up the sheets accordingly. Anything in my range bag does not count. Anything in my current EDC loadout does not count. I update the database every few weeks and keep a copy on my phone. Works very well.
Wifey suggested doing the same with the preps. Good idea. It too works the same way only it is a single tab database and i dont have any expiration dates on it yet.
If you IM me your email address I am willing to share a copy to any one that wants.
Please note that the values on your evaluation copy may or may not represent anything I have in stock.

[Grumpy Old Man]

You just had to bring this up didn't you Lady? I am in a state of organized confusion. I'm lost in the dark, but making good progress after the move. My LTS is at least put away and organized. But other things are in disarray. I'll get it done in time but I do get frustrated easily. I need to remember it is a process; not an event!

[Socalman]

I wasa searching through threads trying to find a thread like this - - HOW TO ORGANIZE FOOD STORAGE.

The QUEST became real about 10 days ago when my wife needed a can of condensed milk. None in the pantry so she asked if I could take one from our storage, as she calls it. Now, I KNOW we had several so I go looking. After a few minutes I found it, but what was disturbing was finding my lack of organization and that some of my cans had "expired" a few years ago. Those have now moved up to first to be eaten in the regular pantry.

I am still trying to figure out a best way for storage. I think it may be quite different for everyone based upon what your space limitations are. While I estimate we have enough food for about 4 months and water for about 6 weeks, it is scattered around the house due to space limitations. Some here, some there, etc. I am thinking that I may begin to store things in different areas based upon the "expiration" dates. That way we can rotate the older storage out into daily use and then store newer foods in that area.

I don't know, just don't know.

[Illini Warrior]

I wasa searching through threads trying to find a thread like this - - HOW TO ORGANIZE FOOD STORAGE.

The QUEST became real about 10 days ago when my wife needed a can of condensed milk. None in the pantry so she asked if I could take one from our storage, as she calls it. Now, I KNOW we had several so I go looking. After a few minutes I found it, but what was disturbing was finding my lack of organization and that some of my cans had "expired" a few years ago. Those have now moved up to first to be eaten in the regular pantry.

I am still trying to figure out a best way for storage. I think it may be quite different for everyone based upon what your space limitations are. While I estimate we have enough food for about 4 months and water for about 6 weeks, it is scattered around the house due to space limitations. Some here, some there, etc. I am thinking that I may begin to store things in different areas based upon the "expiration" dates. That way we can rotate the older storage out into daily use and then store newer foods in that area.

I don't know, just don't know.


an EXCEL program for sure for keeping an inventory - there's all kinds of prepper programs for everything from ammo to food - some even have suggested food and the suggested amounts for the group number ....

if you store cans individual vs a case lot you should look into a can organizer/dispenser rack - available to buy or DIY - best I've seen use the wall stud cavities for storage ....

[Sniper-T]

I'm still battling this demon as well, my biggest problem is that the Mrs, takes at will and doesn't let me know until we are out of things.

This quashed all attempts at lists/excel.

What I have been moving towards is Primary and secondary locations.

The kitchen/Pantry is the primary location, where I keep just enough of everything to 'usually' not run out.

Closets/crawlspace/garage/etc are all secondary locations, that have certain items in each. When the pantry runs out, then I get from the secondary location to re-populate the pantry, and then restock the secondary if necessary.

Seems to be working the best so far...

[Illini Warrior]

https://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/finding-storage-space-building-rotating-cannedfood-shelf/

this article came up the other day but I couldn't re-find this posting - decent DIY build info on the can rotator ....


here's an associated article .... https://urbansurvivalsite.com/signs-canned-food-spoiled/

[Sniper-T]

yeah, that works for a dozen or so cans... but when you're rotating cans in the pantry and cases in storage, not so much.

[Domeguy]

I guess I’m luckier than most because I have the space set up for extra food storage. But then I’m also a fat lazy old man with ADD issues who can’t remember to do shit that needs to be done...so I’m severely lacking on my food storage rotation. I’ve purposly let a lot of canned goods go low so when we restart the fill back, I can date properly and keep a good rotation going. I’m using a lot of canned chicken that expired 3-4 yrs ago. No rust, still looks and tastes good, but it still should be rotated better. I’m a bad, bad man.

[Illini Warrior]

yeah, that works for a dozen or so cans... but when you're rotating cans in the pantry and cases in storage, not so much.



the correct rotator will help keep the pantry cans organized for a family - not necessary for me - bulk of my canned stuff is thru preserved case lots ....