Saturday, September 10, 2011

Where Do I Put My Food Storage--Crystal's Under the Stairs Storage



As you know September is Emergency Preparedness month, I’ve been thinking about what I wanted to blog about for a while and I asked my Facebook followers what “what emergency prep topic they wanted me to cover”  

I got an response I was not expecting:
Sharon  I live in the deep south which equals no basement and HOT garages and attics. I need more help figuring out where to put stuff. All my shelves and under the beds are full already.

Well Sharon and everyone else looking for new ideas, I have decided to start spotlighting different creative ways to store food storage each Saturday.
 
For many of us that are dedicated to preparing,  the issue of where to store things is a BIG DEAL.

I am currently lucky enough to have a decent sized cold storage room that is ideal for food storage. But before we moved into this house I lived in a very very small house, with no basement, no attic, not extra rooms and no garage.  Finding a place for my food storage was difficult task.  I’ve been collecting ideas and I’m going to share them on Saturdays. 

I hope that they will be helpful to you. 



Note:  Where you put your food storage depends A LOT on your home.  Since ever home is different you might need to adapt these idea for your situation.  Not every idea will work in every situation.   

Crystal's Under the Stairs 
Food Storage Solution
Crystal and Jake have agreed to let us have a peek inside their food storage.  Thanks so much!
 
Crystal lives in a split level home, when she bought the home she had no area for food storage.  There was no cold storage, no garage, no attic.  Crystal and her very handy husband Jake converted the space under the stairs to hold their food storage.
   
1.  Water Storage: North Side of the Stairs 
       Crystal added some an opening under the stairs to access some of the dead space.  In this space is where she stores her water.  
Water Storage Under the Stairs
These Cabinet doors were added so the water storage could be accessed.

       2.  Long Term Rotating Storage:  West Side of the Stairs
At the other end of the stairs there was an existing closet.  They converted this closet to store their long term food storage that was stored in number 10 cans.  These shelves’ are on an angle so that the cans roll down. Helping them keep their food storage rotated.
These custom built rotating shelves use all of the available room maximizing storage area.  They are hidden behind the door.
 
   3 . Short Term Food Storage: South Side of the Stairs
Because of how the stairs are in Crystals house there was an existing closet using some of the are under the stairs.  They expanded the closet using all available room and built in shelves to store their short term food storage.  They added a light to make finding what they had easier. 
Adding a light to a dark closet make storing much easier
Using the space on the door maximizes their storage, and is a great place to store smaller items such as bulk spices.


 If you have a great place that you store your food storage I would LOVE to know about it.  Please fill out the form below.  I’d love to share you ingenuity with everyone.