Moving along....we need to come up with a way to keep track of what you have, and what you use. If you don't, you're likely to have groceries that expire. And when you're ready to make your shopping list, if you're organized, it should only take a couple minutes. Yes, you heard me right, no more than 5 minutes!!
I'm not sure why inventory is the hardest part for a lot of people. Maybe it's because we don't take the time before we run to the store to take stock of what we have, and then by the time we get home with screaming kids, we throw the groceries into any cabinet that has room, hoping it will close, and not even thinking twice about "rotating".
But I know there has to be some method out there that will work for you, in your situation. So I've been scouring the internet to find out how others do theirs. Here is what I have found....
How to Rotate Food - Sticky Note Method
Welcome to our series on how to rotate food! For the next 4-5 weeks, we'll dedicate Thursday's posts to showing you some different ways to keep your food up-to-date and ready to eat!
All the methods are easy - it's just a matter of choosing the one (or a few) that works best for you. This first method is very straightforward.
I keep most of my food storage in cupboards, and on some shelves in my guest room closet, and I have posted small pads of sticky notes on the inside of my cupboards (and on the sides of the shelves, not shown). Whenever I pull something out of my food storage to make a recipe (this happens all the time, for many different recipes), I write the item on the sticky pad. Then, whenever I go grocery shopping, I peel the top sheet off the pad and add those items to my list. If my budget won't allow me to buy everything that week, I just keep the items on my grocery list and buy the food when I can (especially when it's on sale!).
This method can work very well for anyone - whether you have your entire 3-month supply, or if you are building it now. I used to have a habit of getting lots of food in my food storage (1-2 month's worth or so), but then we would eat though it, which is GREAT, but I wouldn't be replenishing it as we went along. Using this method has allowed me to stay on top of the game, and I feel a lot more secure knowing what I have. Plus, since I have my three-month supply all planned out, I know I can make the meals I need to if the opportunity arises!
TIP: Don't forget to put your new food in the back of your storage, so you are always eating the food you've had the longest.
How to Rotate Food: Sticker Method
We pooled our family and friends for ideas to share for this series, so thanks to all of you who contributed. Food storage is not something that any of us can do alone, we all need support and LOTS of information to do it.
No one method will work for everyone, so keep looking for the method that works for you, and if you have any methods, ideas or tips, please share with us via email or comment so we can share with all our readers.
This was one of my favorite methods that came in.
Buy colored circle stickers for a couple of bucks at the grocery store/office supply store.
Assign a color to each year (make a chart for easy comparison) and label your food according to its expiration date. Then when you are looking in your closet/under your bed/on top of....whatever, all you have to do is look for the sticker to tell you the current year, or earliest expiration, you don't have to keep peering at the tiny date on the boxes/jars.
After I go through all my current storage, I am going to keep my stickers in a kitchen drawer, so as soon as my groceries come home they get a sticker before being put away.
When you label, think about where the food will be stored, and which part of the food item will be visible, and attach the sticker to that side. You want to be able to look in your "food storage area" and see at a glance when your food expires.
You would only have to do this for the 3-Month supply, because longer-term storage should last more than 10 years. When 2008 is over, the green sticker will then be for 2012.
As I was typing this up I had an idea. (I love it when that happens.) The circle stickers come in two color schemes, so you could buy both and then have two stickers for every year. One denoting the first six month, and the second the last six. That would be an even more accurate system. Well, I'm off to the store for more stickers!
No one method will work for everyone, so keep looking for the method that works for you, and if you have any methods, ideas or tips, please share with us via email or comment so we can share with all our readers.
This was one of my favorite methods that came in.
Buy colored circle stickers for a couple of bucks at the grocery store/office supply store.
Assign a color to each year (make a chart for easy comparison) and label your food according to its expiration date. Then when you are looking in your closet/under your bed/on top of....whatever, all you have to do is look for the sticker to tell you the current year, or earliest expiration, you don't have to keep peering at the tiny date on the boxes/jars.
After I go through all my current storage, I am going to keep my stickers in a kitchen drawer, so as soon as my groceries come home they get a sticker before being put away.
When you label, think about where the food will be stored, and which part of the food item will be visible, and attach the sticker to that side. You want to be able to look in your "food storage area" and see at a glance when your food expires.
You would only have to do this for the 3-Month supply, because longer-term storage should last more than 10 years. When 2008 is over, the green sticker will then be for 2012.
As I was typing this up I had an idea. (I love it when that happens.) The circle stickers come in two color schemes, so you could buy both and then have two stickers for every year. One denoting the first six month, and the second the last six. That would be an even more accurate system. Well, I'm off to the store for more stickers!
How to Rotate Food: The Two-Column Method
Please hang in with me on the pictures, I'm on vacation and had to raid my mother-in-law's pantry for the "photo shoot." Please pretend that all of these items are the same.
So we can all get on the same page, we have six boxes of "pasta." Obviously the number of items and the type would depend on you and your needs. I would probably not do this method with pasta because we have so many boxes on hand, but for items of which you need 6-10 total, this would be a great method.
I put them in two columns. Earliest expiration dates in the righthand column. When I need a box of pasta I will take it from the right hand column, first box first. Notice there are only two boxes on the righthand side. That's because I made Mac and Cheese for dinner. Hypothetically speaking of course.
One box left.
When the right hand column is empty, I move the lefthand column into the right hand column spot, and restock into the lefthand column.
Then we begin all over again. This way, items are rotated in the order in which they came in, and it's also easy to tell how many you have on hand.
So we can all get on the same page, we have six boxes of "pasta." Obviously the number of items and the type would depend on you and your needs. I would probably not do this method with pasta because we have so many boxes on hand, but for items of which you need 6-10 total, this would be a great method.
I put them in two columns. Earliest expiration dates in the righthand column. When I need a box of pasta I will take it from the right hand column, first box first. Notice there are only two boxes on the righthand side. That's because I made Mac and Cheese for dinner. Hypothetically speaking of course.
One box left.
When the right hand column is empty, I move the lefthand column into the right hand column spot, and restock into the lefthand column.
Then we begin all over again. This way, items are rotated in the order in which they came in, and it's also easy to tell how many you have on hand.
How to Rotate Food: The Rubber Band Method
My cousin tipped me off on this idea which is from this book by Marie Ricks. Funny that I didn't pick up on it while I was reading the book, it's a great idea.
Again, please forgive me for using snack size raisin boxes. I would never employ this method on these. Vacation, vacation.
The basic idea is that you have a certain number of the same items.
As you use them...
...You will come across the last one which is rubber-banded. This means: "Hey! Go to the store, I'm out of raisins!" Or whatever it is. Great reminder, especially for spices, bouillon and smaller items that are used up at a slower rate.
Again, please forgive me for using snack size raisin boxes. I would never employ this method on these. Vacation, vacation.
The basic idea is that you have a certain number of the same items.
As you use them...
...You will come across the last one which is rubber-banded. This means: "Hey! Go to the store, I'm out of raisins!" Or whatever it is. Great reminder, especially for spices, bouillon and smaller items that are used up at a slower rate.
I've used a method similar to this for my craft paints. I just put a black dot on the top of my last bottle of each paint color. Someone suggested putting the rubberband on the second to last box. That way you have one extra on hand, and then the one you intend to open.
Here are a couple other methods I've personally used:
Here are a couple other methods I've personally used:
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