Easy Food Storage Start

 As I have been doing some research on food storage I found a great site that has guest authors post ideas and in one particular post I found I thought would be greatly helpful in starting food storage in a very easy way. The author is Frippery Farms blog. I want to give full credit to her for the idea and the pictures. We no longer drink soda so I might be in search of bottles from friends that still do for this idea.
I don't know what her real name is but she has some great ideas.

Frippery Farms says:

I started my food preps with the simple basics.

Beans and rice. (I have since added wheat, oatmeal, and many other items, but today, lets stick to basics)

Even #10 cans or 5 gallon buckets of beans and rice can cost you a small fortune when you are storing anywhere from 3 months to 1 years worth of food. When you get into prepping for a family of 4 or more, the costs really skyrocket!

I get around the high cost of food prep by buying in bulk and packaging the food myself.

It is easy to do, you only need the simpliest of supplies and an afternoon of effort to get your own food storage started.

First, you need 2 and 3 liter soda bottles. If you don't drink soda, ask neighbors, check at a local recycling center, scronge through a trash bin here or there.

Why yes, that IS my bathtub! The reason they are all in my bathtub is because of my next step...scald out the bottles with the hottest water that will come out of your tap. If you have your water set kinda low, you may have to heat up water on the stove. About halfway full will do, Shake it until all soda residue is gone, then pour out. If the soda residue is dried, you may have to repeat the procedure. Remember to scald the bottle tops, too!

Next, you need to dry the bottles out. Depending on the humidity and heat of where you live, this can take from 1 day to almost a week.

I set mine out on our screened in porch. Since I live in the hottest, driest section of Texas, it only takes a day to dry. (Lucky me!) Yes, that is my yard, yes that is sand. Yes, it sucks when I try to garden, hence the box in the background.

Next you will need your rice or beans and BAY LEAVES. Very Important...don't forget the Bay Leaves! Bay leaves will repell and kill all sorts of bugs and kill their larvae if they are present in your rice or beans (or wheat or oats, or...well, you get the idea!)

You'll need a funnel, but I make mine from posterboard. That's a 50 pound bag of rice behind there, btw. Under 20 bucks. Bay leaves cost 2 dollars.

Put a couple of Bay leaves in the bottom of the 2 liter bottle and then funnel in your rice or beans.

When you get almost to the top, shove another Bay leaf or two in that bottle and seal TIGHTLY. If you have it, dip the top in bees wax to compleely seal out oxygen.

Two liter bottles are remarkedly easy to store in small spaces. Under beds, in a closet, where-ever. Cool, dry place.

This is a very small closet. Only 24 inches wide. It currently contains 200 pounds of rice and 100 pounds of beans!

I have been storing beans, rice, oatmeal, wheat, barley and many other grains and dry goods in this manner for several years. I have cooked rice stored this way 15 years after the storage date and it was as good as the day it was stored. cooked up fine and fluffy! Similarly, beans cooked after being stored for several years in this manner also cooked up fine.

This storage method keeps out rodents, insects and other vermin. It also keeps out moisture, so there is no mold or rot of the contents.

It is easier than #10 cans or the 5 gallon buckets (and cheaper!). Opening a 2 or 3 liter bottle with an easily resealable cap is more convenient than lugging around a 5 gallon bucket and you'll probably use up the 2 liter bottle much faster , leading to less spoilage and waste.

So, don't despair if you can't afford to order the latest and greatest from a food storage supplier online. You can have food storage on the cheap for your family! 

 If any of you have done this or have further ideas I would love to hear from you. Hugs, Bobbi Jo