Advice on how to get organised

[grenfell]

The spreadsheet mention is a good idea but only if you're a bit organised in the first place. I've never really used that type of thing and old dog new tricks type of thing I probably won't . MrsG is much more inclined in that respect coming from an administrative background. You could try something very simple for things like food storage. . Remove tins or packets from the shelf left to right. Restock the empty space on the left with new but leave a small gap and only take from the right of that small gap. That way you work across the shelf using stored products but you shouldn't hopefully overlook anything only to rediscover somdthing a decade later.

[Nurseandy]

But the 10 year old tins that the labels fallen off add a certain frisson to supper time

[grenfell]

Very true and even the most organised I reckon have a ten year old tin somewhere. I may have mentioned before but some years ago on site in the winter we hit on the idea of a shallow aluminium dish of sorts that we put hot water into and stood it on top.of the baby burco boiler. Pop tins into the dish and by lunch a nice piping hot meal ..Then some wag took the labels off. We learnt to.mark them after that...

[Frnc]

The spreadsheet mention is a good idea but only if you're a bit organised in the first place. I've never really used that type of thing and old dog new tricks type of thing I probably won't . MrsG is much more inclined in that respect coming from an administrative background. You could try something very simple for things like food storage. . Remove tins or packets from the shelf left to right. Restock the empty space on the left with new but leave a small gap and only take from the right of that small gap. That way you work across the shelf using stored products but you shouldn't hopefully overlook anything only to rediscover somdthing a decade later.

My food preps are mostly a corner kitchen unit, which is wide, but awkward to reach the far side. I try to keep things I need to use soon on the top shelf, and things with over a year on the botton. But some things like cereal only fit on the bottom. I just check everything once or twice a year and if anything has a date looming it goes to the front of the top shelf.

But for things like first aid I prefer to use a spreadsheet, so I can keep an eye on things. I just use one that come with a Mac and iphone. They are pretty simple. In fact some are just notes, not even spreadsheets.

[tarmactatt]

Some good ideas so far, I've awkward cupboards in my kitchen, I don't store nearly as much food as many on here, I aim to be resilient for a week or so.

Its been said before, but it's important to store what you eat! You don't have to build stocks from day 1, just buy some extra tins of things you actually eat each time you go shopping. I like to buy in bulk where possible, more to save money than anything else, for something like rice, I decant a reasonable amount into a nice jar then reseal the bag with tape etc and put it at the back of the cupboard. Jar lives in a cupboard readily to hand, Once the jar is getting a bit low, I'll top it up and check the "stock level" of the main bag, if there is a deal on, the bulk bag will be replaced sooner than if there is no deal.

Decanting method done for flour, oats, rice, pasta, cereal, pulses etc.

Gnerally, on the shelves, I try to put new tins at the back and take from the front. I bought a "first in -last out" can organiser on Amazon some years ago, it is extremely useful for storing 10ish tins of the same thing in a neat way, the new cans are loaded in the top and roll towards the back, then drop down and roll towards the front to be taken from the lower shelf. After I bought it I thought a second might be good, but unfortunately they disappeared from Amazon.

If the kitchen ever gets remodelled, I'll probably build/buy more substantial can organisers to help keep the tins from disappearing to the back of the cupboards to be forgotten! I've seen kickboard drawers on this site somewhere, might give them a go under some of the units, the shape would be good for storing tins on their side, in order of use-by-date.

As part of time/cost saving, I like to batch cook, especially in the cooler months of the year; one "kitchen hack" I did was to throw/give away my mis-matched tupperware and just bought a load of sets which had identical lids. This has helped immensely with the irritating task of matching lids to boxes. Write on the lids with whiteboard marker what the contents are and when you cooked it.

For gear outside the kitchen, I'm a fan of toolboxes, I have a couple of large, inexpensive toolboxes, they have compartments in the lid and a lift -out tray, I find them ideal for storing camping gear when not in use (spare tent pegs, camping stoves, repair kits, dry bags, thin sleeping bag liners, spare gloves, AAA to AA and AA to D battery adapters etc).

Likewise in the shed, a medium toolbox contains bike specific tools, plus spare inner tubes, puncture repair kits, small spare parts. Also in the shed are camping gas cylinders and meths for the camping stoves and a large, clear plastic box with butane lighter refills, various chemicals, solvents, thinners, adhesives etc for DIY that I don't want in the house.

First aid kit is well stocked but not inventoried, it's highly likely I have some ancient antihistamines and ibuprofen lurking in there... This thread is good motivation to write it as a list with expiry dates!

[grenfell]

If the kitchen ever gets remodelled, I'll probably build/buy more substantial can organisers to help keep the tins from disappearing to the back of the cupboards to be forgotten! I've seen kickboard drawers on this site somewhere, might give them a go under some of the units, the shape would be good for storing tins on their side, in order of use-by-date.

Under cabinet storage is useful but I'd say don't go to the expense and fuss of actual kickboard drawers. The kickboards are only clipped on to the legs of the base units and will pull off easily unless they've been sealed with mastic of course. We have storage there but to access we just pull off the boards , no expense and also it's far less obvious that there's anything behind them. I made simple shallow ply boxes that just slide in. Be aware that the drawers/boxes will be narrower than the units because of the legs being around 2 inches in from the edge. When I rebuilt our kitchen there was a wall jutting into the room where the original window was and the worktop wrapped around it and extended by about 7 or 8 inches. That was enough to form what I call the bean cupboard , just a shallow cupboard with shelves set out to hold tins and nothing else really . Just making the most of the space.

[Frnc]

I don't keep anything under my units, but I have removed the kickboards a few times. I use a suction cup that is easy to use one handed, to pull them off. Also some quality knee pads.

[grenfell]

To a degree it depends on the units. I've fitted some ( sorry can't remember the make) that have a central leg which if fitted seriously restrict the space . The height underneath is also restricted. We have ours set quite high but it's still tight to have tins standing uprightas they really need putting on a sled of some kind to facilitate pulling out. And all that assumes a certain level of flexibility to actually make use of the storage. Useful but not worth spending any money on it.

[MistiqWood]

After trial-and-error, I now use heavy-duty stackable bins with colour-coded labels (blue = water, red = calories, green = medical) and a simple 'front-back' rotation system: new supplies go at the rear, pushing older stock forward for immediate use (like warehouse FIFO rule).
Critical addition: silica gel packs taped under every lid—stopped mould

But I have a house and a lot of space to organize such things

[Peter]

We too use stackable crates for food, medicines and first-aid etc, we try and keep their
weight to 30 lb, 15 kg, or less for easier handling as we are in our eighties.

Similarly we are changing from 20 lt to 10 lt potable water jerrycans, as we change we
pass the 20 lt cans to a younger friend.

We are lucky that we’ve not had any problems with mouldy packs or rusty tins, but we
rotate food stocks and water twice a year, we are prepped for a six month collapse.z