Time To Rotate!

How often are you supposed to rotate your storage? Every 6 months is a good rule of thumb. Normally I would say do it at daylight savings time, but the last couple of years have changed that. Darn March to November time change. But still, think April and October. This is the perfect time to use up the items that are getting too old and replace them. This is also a great time to replace your smoke detector batteries. Mine have been chirping at me recently. They know it's time.

Quick side note- Did you Know???? Smoke detectors are only guaranteed for 5 years? I found this out from our local fire department at Pack Meeting with my Scout group a few months back. Scary, huh? AND if you have natural gas in your home you need to have a CO (carbon monoxide) detector too. One is also required in garages now by code law in new construction homes (as of last year? built homes). This is to help prevent deaths from cars running in enclosed garages and/or a leak from the furnace system.

OK, back to food storage. As I've stated before in other posts, you don't have to have number 10 size cans of wheat packed for a 30 year shelf life to call it good. You need to have what your family regularly eats stocked on those garage shelves (or where ever you store it). Use coupons to save money and stock up when something is on sale. Don't forget the non-food items too. It can be very easy to get a year supply of toothbrush/toothpaste and deodorant when it's on sale, and for super cheap! A few months back I got our year supply of these items (for a family of 5) by shopping some good sales and spent about $15 total for the whole year! There are many blogs out there for getting grand deals with coupons and utilizing the store sales. Here's the one I like the best.

I know it sounds tedious, but for 2 weeks, keep a log of every disposable and consumable item (non-food) you and your family uses. These need to be in your food storage reserve. Also make sure you have batteries for flashlights, flashlights that work, am/fm radio, and a camping stove with fuel. These are very minor items that make a major impact if you don't have them.

So... rotate, restock, and plan! You can do it!