You’ve worked hard to build your food storage. You have diligently added to it and met your family’s needs for a month or more. One day, you run down to the basement and discover a couple of holes in one of the bags. Looks like mice got into it, so you throw it away. Then you discover the flour is rancid and damp. There appears to be mildew on the outside of a package of oatmeal. What is going on?!?!

When you put this much time, money, and effort into something, these scenarios can be frustrating. Buying and putting away food for the future are two parts of the equation. The third part is learning to store food securely and correctly. Several things can affect your food storage and it’s up to you to manage this valuable investment.

Temperature and humidity are among the biggest problems in food storage. If your climate has wide temperature swings or high humidity, you will need to address this. Many people store food in the basement, which is cool and dark but also humid. Dehumidifiers help this situation tremendously. They pull moisture out of the air and store it in a container you empty. You can also run a hose from the dehumidifier to a drain so you don’t have to dump the container as often. Some basements require two dehumidifiers to stay dry. I also use a product like DampRid to help pull moisture and smells from the humid or moist area.

Keeping your food storage space cool and dark will also help keep the food in good condition. If your storage space has windows, consider room-darkening curtains or blacking out the windows to keep the heat and sunlight away from your food. If you store food in any room (including basements), keep it 2-3 feet below ceiling level, especially in heated rooms. Heat rises and can affect your food’s quality. If you know the room won’t freeze and doesn’t have pipes running in the walls, consider closing the vent in that room to keep it cooler in the winter. You will need to reopen the vents in the summer so the air conditioning can help with the humidity.

Another major problem with food storage is pests. They can chew through packaging, taint your food supply, and render your food storage unsafe and unusable. These pests include:

• Flies, ants, and pantry moths
• Beetles and weevils
• Cockroaches
• Mice
• Bats
• Rats

These pests infest homes and commercial food facilities. Keeping your home clean, your food storage area spotless, and your house maintained keeps these pests away from your food storage. Using rodent and insect repellents helps keep pests away from your food.

If you have an infestation, don’t hesitate to pull out all the stops to get rid of the pests. Poison, snap traps, glue traps, bug bombs, sprays, insecticides, borax, and diatomaceous earth can target different pests and help eliminate them. You can also call a professional to help rid your home of these unwanted guests.

Sealing your home keeps pests out and protects your food storage. It also helps keep your home dry and comfortable. Closing holes and fixing issues can also help lower your heating and cooling bills. Use caulk, expanding foam, steel wool, and copper mesh to seal off any small holes or gaps in your foundation, siding, around windows and doors, and under the eaves. Use weatherstripping on your doors to create a tighter seal.

Replacing windows and doors can help with pests and moisture issues. Roof repairs to seal up leaks also keep food dry. House maintenance makes a big difference to the quality of your food storage. While it can be expensive, it is well worth the work, money, and effort.

Lack of rotation is a common problem in food storage. The first-in, first-out (FIFO) system keeps food fresh, maintains quality, and helps you stay on top of food storage. One way to make this easy is to mark the expiration date in an easy-to-see spot. You can easily see which can or jar is the oldest and use that first. When you buy new food, mark it and put it in the back, then move the older food to the front.

Storing food you will not eat is also a problem in food storage. While this may not affect the quality of your food storage, storing food you will not eat wastes space, time, and money. Yes, the end of the world could come and you would be happy to have any food to eat. However, wouldn’t you rather have food you will eat?

Improper food storage is the biggest problem. When you buy food in paper or plastic packaging, it’s only designed to stay good until the expiration date. Plastic also loses quality and can affect the food’s taste and quality. Boxed food can become damp and attract pests. You need to repackage this food or store it carefully in totes and buckets with gasket-sealed lids.

I recommend repacking anything that comes in a plastic bag or box to keep it fresher longer. You can repackage food using a vacuum sealer machine, mason jar vacuum sealers, mylar bags, and oxygen absorbers. Oxygen absorbers will remove oxygen from the air surrounding the food in the package. They also keep food fresher longer and kill any eggs, larvae, or insects in your food.

After resealing your food, keep it in heavy-duty totes or food-grade buckets with tight-fitting or gasket-sealed lids to maintain food quality. If you store bulk foods that come in paper or plastic bags, also transfer them to mylar or heavy-duty resealable bags, then place them in the same kind of buckets. I find it easier to use bulk goods when I repackage them into smaller packages using mylar bags or vacuum-sealed bags.

While it is best to store food on shelves, you have to store it where you have room. If you are storing food on the floor, use heavy-duty totes, food-grade buckets with lids, and glass containers or jars to maintain food quality. This will keep pests and moisture out of the food.

Another tip: when you bring home any grain, rice, or flour, freeze it immediately for 2-3 days to kill any eggs or larvae in your food (Gross, I know!).

Spend time each month reviewing your food storage. Check cans for bulges or rust, and throw away any that are compromised. Check jars and lids for loose lids and mold inside, especially if you preserve your own food. Open buckets and containers to check for any pests (pantry moths are sneaky!). Clean and tidy the area to help keep pests away.

While we all like to take the easy way out or procrastinate on what needs to be done, food storage isn’t the place to do that. I have made all the mistakes and regretted not doing things right the first time. I have battled pantry moths, fruit flies, spoiled food, and throwing away old food. I was very frustrated with myself for not doing what I could do to keep the food in better condition. I lost time and money that I really couldn’t afford to lose. Since then, I have been diligent about my food storage and doing a better job of preventing food waste.

Related Articles:
8 Ways To Make Over Your Food Storage
30 Pantry Staples I Must Have In My Food Storage
How To Incorporate Meal Planning Into Your Food Storage

Thanks for reading,
Erica

This article contains affiliate links, including Amazon.

Sharing is caring!