Creative Places Where You Can Store Emergency Food

Whether you’re planning for an ‘end of the world’ scenario or simply like the idea of being prepared, having some emergency food stored is always a good idea.

There are many creative places where you can store emergency food around your home such as in your kitchen, basement, under beds and furniture, closet, garage, shed, and attic. Installing shelving and optimizing your space is the best way to maximize your quantity of emergency food.

It is becoming very common to have emergency food stored at home in the United States. This is a great practice to implement in every household as it never hurts to be prepared for emergencies when they arise.

There are a lot of different strategies that you can utilize to be ready for these situations but one of the most logical things that you can do is to simply have an ample amount of food stashed in various parts of your house.

With that being said, you can get really creative with the places that you choose for storing your emergency food supplies.

Some people opt for a simple approach and just choose a couple of spots. Whereas others like to go all out and utilize every available space.

To help you understand this further, we are going to take a closer look at creative places where you can store your emergency food.

As a professional survivalist who specializes in food storage, I have had an extensive amount of experience helping people find the best places to store their emergency food and supplies. My experience has taught me that the best places to store emergency food are those that will ensure the shelf life of your goods.

‍Creative Places For Emergency Food Storage

If an emergency situation occurs, the last thing that you want to be is unprepared for it. Disasters tend to strike when we least expect them to and, unfortunately, we often have little or no control of the incident itself. However, what we can control is our level of preparedness for the emergency by having a reasonable amount of food stored in various places around the house.

When emergencies occur, what we tend to see happen is people stampeding the supermarkets to buy up all of the supplies that they need. This poses a lot of issues as most stores are not stocked well enough for these kinds of events, which results in food and other goods being bought up and supermarkets ending up with empty shelves.

In recent years, we have observed emergency situations become ever more prevalent - with natural disasters becoming a standard in so many parts of the country, there has never been a better time to take the extra step to secure the safety of yourself and your loved ones. To ensure that your basic needs are met, you are going to want to stash some food in creative places around your property.

Before you begin stuffing food in every corner of your home, you should first select the appropriate kinds of food items that are suitable for survival situations. As much as we all like the idea of having our favorite foods available to us in an emergency, it would make sense to prioritize the things that are going to be the most beneficial for survival. This means goods that are either non-perishable or have an extremely long shelf life. Keep reading to learn more about the creative places where you can store emergency food.

Kitchen

Now, this one obviously comes as a no-brainer but you would be surprised by how empty some people’s kitchens are. This is by far the best place to have food stashed in your home at all times - for your regular, everyday food, but also for some emergency goods.

Your kitchen has so many useful areas within it that are perfect for storing emergency food items. Aside from the common foods that you eat throughout the day, which you probably keep in your fridge and primary cupboards, you can make use of so many different compartments and storage areas in this part of your home.

To start, you should have a look at your kitchen and take notice of all of the areas that are available to you. Looks can often be deceiving, as you may have cluttered cupboards with kitchenware that you rarely (or never) use. If that is the case, you are going to want to do some basic organization and cleaning. Clear out unused cupboards or at the very least organize them so that they are tidy so that you can make room for some emergency food.

Unless you are a total neat freak from the start, you probably were able to efficiently create a substantial amount of space within your kitchen cupboards. These are going to be great for stashing all sorts of different goods. I would recommend loading them up with things like rice, pasta, and canned goods solely for emergency goods.

In addition, if you have got a pantry, you should take a similar approach with it as you did your cupboards, as pantries are fantastic spots for storing emergency food. Once, you have cleared out all of the food and kitchenware that you do not use, begin stuffing emergency food items in your pantry. If you have used up your pantry space and see that there are still areas in there that are not full of food, you may want to consider installing some additional shelving to really cram as much in there as you possibly can.

If you are planning on keeping your emergency food locations to a minimum, you should prioritize your kitchen as a primary spot for your goods. On the other hand, if you want to be extra prepared and plan on using a lot of places around the house, don’t stress too much about relying on your kitchen as the main resource for your stash. Instead, load your kitchen up with your favorite foods, in addition to some emergency goods, so that you have got a variety of options for an emergency.

Basement

Your basement is really going to be your best friend for storing your emergency food. If you have got one in your home, you are in luck, as these rooms are perfect for keeping emergency food items.

The great thing about basements is that they are usually quite spacious but they also tend to stay quite cool, which means that you have a spot that is going to have a stable temperature for storing goods. Although you should be prioritizing non-perishable food items, adverse temperature conditions that get too hot have a habit of downgrading the quality of food or even having it go bad over time.

This makes your basement an ideal spot for stashing bulk loads of emergency foods. There are a number of different ways that you can go about this. If you want to take a basic setup with your basement, simply allocate a corner with cardboard boxes full of food that is going to last. You can easily store several months’ worth of food with this method alone.

However, I would advise taking a more advanced approach to your basement if you really want to be prepared. Instead, invest in some proper shelving to have in your basement. Create rows of bookshelves to maximize the amount of space that you can use in your basement. You can then create an organized system for your emergency food items.

Instead of having all of your goods boxed up, you can create an efficient system that has specific food items on each shelf that are easy to see and access. Once completed, the layout will look quite similar to the aisles of a grocery store.

You can take this even further by adding additional shelves that you can mount onto the walls of your basement for added storage. At the end of the day, if you have got the space for it, use it! When it comes to food that lasts a long time, the more the better. What you will want to be wary of, however, is choosing the right items that won’t go bad, as well as ensuring that they will not be subject to contamination.

It is easy to feel too comfortable with a huge stash of food in your basement storage, that you can easily forget to check up on it. Basements are often the first places that get contaminated due to things like household pests and leaks. To prevent your food from going bad from such things you should try to create a system that has your food secured properly. This would include the use of air-tight containers (when needed) and a lot of canned good items. Lastly, be sure to do routine checkups on your basement storage from time to time to ensure that all of your supplies are intact.

Closet

If you have got a couple of closets around the house, these are going to be great places for storing some of your emergency food items.

You likely have closets that you use for traditional things like clothes. While you can continue to use this space for such items, you can also approach your closets a bit more strategically by organizing them in a way to keep food as well.

Much like with your kitchen, take a look at your closet and try to organize the items that are in it to take up just the amount of space that they need - you may even find that you have got some junk in there that can easily be thrown out or donated. If that is the case, get rid of it so that you have more room for useful emergency goods. Once, you have made some room, start stuffing emergency food in there. You can do this by placing cardboard boxes full of food at the bottom of the closet space and on top of any shelving.

With that being said, you can actually get pretty creative with how you end up using your closet space. Many survivalists like to install additional shelving into their closets so that they can be used more efficiently. Hanging clothes like coats and jackets leave a lot of empty space unused which could be optimized by installing some shelves.

Garage

If you don’t happen to have a basement, your garage is going to be your next best bet for a nice cool place to store your goods. Depending on how you use your garage space, you might find that you have got a ton of areas in there to keep emergency supplies.

If you have got plenty of tools laying around, then you may need to plan your area out more strategically and work with what you’ve got. However, if you do not utilize your garage much and just use it for parking your car and keeping some basic things stored away, then you can make good use of the free space.

A great way to start is to simply have an organized system of cardboard boxes that you can use for storing various food items. These boxes can be stacked and placed on top of each other in various places around your garage. It is best to stay organized so be sure to label each box with its contents and place them neatly around the garage such as in corners and under table areas.

If you want to go the extra mile, you should install some shelves or maybe even some cupboards into your garage to maximize the amount of space that you have for storing emergency goods. Depending on how many shelves and cupboards that you were able to install, you may find that you can easily store 6 months’ worth of food in just your garage alone.

The great thing about having your emergency goods in your garage is that they will likely be kept at a nice balanced temperature all year long. Garages are known for being dry and cool, which means that you can rest easy with them being safe from contamination. With that being said, a wise survivalist should still check up on their garage occasionally to confirm that their emergency goods have not been sabotaged by household pests or leaks.

Under Beds

A fantastic space in so many people’s homes that rarely gets used for anything is the area under your bed. There are usually no designated items that people choose to keep under their beds which results in this space being stuffed with useless things - or completely unused at all.

If that is the case, you can cram a bunch of different emergency food items down there to fill it up. The space under your bed is great for storing small cardboard boxes that have things like canned good items and grains.

The area under your bed is generally a safe bet for keeping your food from getting contaminated. This spot should stay dry all the time so you know that your food is safe. What you might want to watch out for is your household pets (if you have any) getting into your goods. This generally should not be a problem if you are storing dry and canned goods.

In addition to your bed, you should also try to utilize all of the bed spaces that you have in your home. If you have got furniture or a bed in your guest room, your kid’s room, or even your living room couch with space underneath, these could prove to be excellent areas for storing emergency food supplies. If you want to maximize the amount of emergency food that you can store, it is highly advisable to use all of the bed and furniture space that you have.

Sheds

So many Americans have got tool sheds or landscaping sheds located in their backyards. These can make for some great spots for stashing some of your emergency food supplies.

Depending on how much stuff you have got stuffed in your shed, you should be able to allocate at least some room in your shed to store a box or two of supplies. However, if you have got plenty of room in there at your disposal, stuff in as much as you can.

What you are going to likely want to do before you start putting food into your shed is to clean it out first. Unlike most of the other places around your home, sheds that are usually kept outdoors can get dirtier much easier - with dirt building up and more chances of pests roaming around.

With that being said, if your shed is full or if you simply do not have one, to begin with, it could make sense to install a shed in your backyard specifically for storing emergency food and supplies. This is a great resource to have in case of an emergency and if you have got a clean slate to start with, you can organize the space and optimize it for food storage.

Get a shed that has an adequate amount of space for storing food. At which point, you can customize it will extra shelving and plastic lining so that it stays contained and organized. If you live in an area that gets quite hot during the summer or exceedingly cold during the winter, it may make sense to add some thermal lining to the walls to stabilize the temperature of the shed.

Attic

If you have got an attic in your home, you are in luck, as this is a fantastic spot for storing emergency food around the house.

Attics tend to have plenty of space which means that you should be able to squeeze a whole lot of emergency food in there. As always, give your attic space a good lookover before you start throwing food in it. Many people utilize their attics for storing all sorts of household items, which means that it would make sense to organize the space first.

Once you have organized your attic, create a system that is appropriate for the amount of food that you want to be able to store. If you are just storing a relatively small amount of food, then you should be able to get away with just using some cardboard boxes that you can place in the corners of your attic.

However, some attics have a considerable amount of space in them and you may even want to consider installing a shelving system to get as much food in there as you possibly can. Depending on the dimensions of your attic, you may be able to install rows of bookshelves that you can store your food in. If your attic has awkward dimensions, you should still be able to get away with mounting some shelves onto your walls for food storage.

What you may want to be wary of is that some attics can get especially hot during the summer months. If you live in this kind of region, you may want to be selective with what you store so that you do not risk any contamination issues later on down the line. To play it safe, you may want to prioritize food items that are completely dry and are sealed air-tight. In addition, storing canned food items is going to be one of your safest bets for your attic space.

If you want to minimize any issues with your emergency food items getting too hot in your attic, just like with an outdoor shed, you may want to consider installing some thermal lining in your attic so that you have better control of the temperature of the space.