What food pantry mistakes have you made over the years? Please comment down below as well as how you resolved those mistakes. Thank you all for sharing! *This Article from the USDA discusses canned food dates and highlights the indefinite "shelf life" point I made in this video. www.usda.gov/media/blog/2013/06/27/you-toss-food-wait-check-it-out#:~:text=Most%20shelf%2Dstable%20foods%20are,or%20develop%20an%20off%20flavor.
@@spaceprepper3657 I have used plain vegetable oil, olive oil and crisco. Sometimes I have used my infused oil. Sometimes I use a marinade. It usually depends on how I plan to cook the meat. The main idea is to lock away the meat from the air that causes freezer burn. 😸 GOD bless
I keep an oscillating fan going 24/7. The air movement helps keep dead air spaces from collecting mold and mildew. It helps keep the room at a more even temp so no hot/cold spots. Also, spiders don’t like the moving air, so the fan helps there too.
Afternoon Grey. Years ago, after we finished on building a plastics plant, the job wearhouse had a couple hundred shelving units. Heavy duty, 24"x36", 6' high with 4 shelves. I was fortunate to have been given 50 of them. I put several in the garage and stored the rest. Recently I also revamped my storage pantry and was able to utilize several more of the shelves. My mistake, i had kept a record of everything, but when i went through it all, I found things i forgot to list or overlooked in rotation. My point is we really need to keep and actually physically do an inventory of foods and food stuff. ✔️
That's awesome, I ran into a similar situation. A friend closed down a business and I picked up their metal pantry shelves for pennies on the dollar and had them stored in my storage unit. And absolutely doing a physical inventory at least every couple of months or so is a great idea. Thank you for sharing. 🙏😁
Nice! That's a great, too, sturdy shelving is really a must if you intend to store enough food to survive on in case the worst happens (no matter what that may be).
Oh boy could I make a list. We live on a small homestead and initially we had a barn that we stored things in and the mice would clean us out then we built a small root cellar and have had success with that. My mother God bless her soul, used a root cellar when we were growing up and I should have known mama knows best ☺
I'm guilty of thinking the #10 cans are all 25 years going to check my cans thanks Grey. When I first started and heard prep what you eat I stuck to that. I have a spread sheet where I keep track of my long term preps like rice, beans, etc. Thanks for the reminders and helpful ideas appreciate you!
I made the same mistake with the #10 cans and things from those companies. Was a bit pissed when some things were only 18 months old- even from Nutrient Survival. Sure it might last longer but dang it was expensive
My food pantry mistakes are… Crackers don’t last long (even when vacuum sealed) Never put food in a tin shed (even in tote & covered with a tarp) Mice can and do eat thru almost everything Don’t buy junk you won’t eat Sparkling flavored water eventually tastes like Alka-Seltzer Don’t leave wheels on your metal shelves, then add a bunch of canned goods (it will fail) Buy extra food for when hungry teenaged grandkids move in with you Rotate, Rotate, Rotate Stack it to the rafters people!!!
Thank you for taking the time to share your tips 😁 I'm not sure if you have heard of these but they are called pilot's crackers they have a shelf life of 30 years. If interested I'll put a link here. Have a great weekend 🙏 amzn.to/4261MEm
What experience did you have with an outdoor metal shed? I just purchased one and planned to put my long term #10 cans and buckets that contain mylarred dry goods.
@@Kris-Marie The metal cans rust and the paper labels molded. I had everything in heavy totes, covered with a blanket, then a tarp over all that. Nothing takes the place of storing your goods inside. I thought water bottles would be safe in the tin shed but mice got in the building and chewed into my water bottles.
Another channel I watch, Rain Country, says since they live in a very wet climate, the first thing they do is make sure where the storage area is dry. One mistake they made when storing stuff in containers outside while their shed was being built was having one of those lids (for the plastic storage tubs) that opens in the middle like a door. Water dripped through and ruined everything in that tub. That is something I think everyone should be mindful of whether we live in wet climates or not.
When I started in the 80's as a much younger man I built all my shelves by hand in my basement, now this may not pertain to some but when we moved I had to start over because those shelves weren't coming out 😂I know use shelves like you have, we don't ever plan to move again but as a precaution I can take those with me.
Thanks Grey. I remember one time back before the turn of the century I put my 50 pound buckets of corn and wheat on wire shelves without a solid base under them. We went on an extended vacation and came home to corn and wheat scattered all over th floor. Mice had chewed into the buckets and had a feast. That was an expensive lesson even back then before the prices got crazy. Now I always make sure to mouse proof everything. Even with cats I have the occasional mouse that slips past them so I have Victor Mouse Traps in all my storage places. They will chew into plastic totes and will also eat your soap and candles. I have most things in glass jars and the bulky 3 or 5 gallon buckets are always set on solid surfaces. Much Love
Side note, I recently learned from an older couple here locally that they use peppermint oil in their pantry "Rodents hate the smell" from using a diffuser to using a spray bottle with peppermint in certain areas of the room. I'm currently working on my own experiment using dried peppermint "mint" leaves inside a food bucket. In between the bucket wall and mylar bag. I'm trying to see if the mint "flavor" transfers to the rice. Also thicker mylar bags due help in some cases as mice/rats hate metallic tastes. That being said a determined rodent in some cases is unstoppable. Luckily we use our pantry daily and keep an eye out for any type of pests/insects. Not sure if this paragraph helps or not lol 😆 but figured I'd share.
@@GreyManPreppingI've tried all the peppermint deterrents. I've had the best luck with a drop or 2 of peppermint oil on a cotton ball. It has to be refreshed about once a week. I wish I could get peppermint to grow for me. I wanted to plant a border of it around my house but it's just too hot and dry here. So the best method for me is to catch them in traps. I can hear the trap when it snaps and my cats love the unexpected treat 😹
My biggest mistake was improper shelving and not paying attention to the weight that I was adding, hence a catastrophic failure. Lots of glass jars destroyed and food, time and money lost. But I did learn a major lesson. Great tips by the way Grey!
Thanks for sharing! Yeah my plastic shelves weren't the best idea hence I caught it prior to running into any issues with them 🙏 still found a use for them. 😁
Must freeze rice,flour, flour(pancake,cake flour) products, return to room temperature before sealing them up for long term. Even if you don't see a rodents, make sure you always have traps set.
Ñot true. I have never frozen anything. If you are vacuum sealing the items, any pest eggs cannot hatch without oxygen. Vacuum sealing removes the oxygen. Good idea to keep traps set.
I used to use the freezing method and now I use chamber sealer "vacuum sealer on steroids" lol with O2 absorbers and have had zero issues. I can't remember what channel went over this but it definitely saves a lot of time.
For some reason, I only recently heard about freezing grains and flours and such before storing (like a year ago; I'm 40, don't know how no one told me prior). I guess it doesn't really matter much if you eat rice every day and go through it quick. I do store opened bags of rice in my fridge though. But man, I found out the hard way (thankfully with just a small bag) that you need to freeze them to kill the eggs. Thankfully my chickens love both rice and larvae lol
Planning always seems to be the speed bump for many and like you, I'm a reduncer. So, for my plan of attack & how I teach others is to start with four 30 day Menus, based on each season. Humans are predictable eaters, Summer is Picnic/BBQ Food, Chicken, Fresh Fish, Hamburger/Hot Dogs type meats; Fall is increase in Carbs/Pastas/Rices, Vegetables & Fruits, Hunted/Red Meats; Winter is more Stews, Soups, Pasta/Rice, Casserole Food, Fatty Meats for keeping warm, Fruits/Beans/Winter Squashes, Potatoes, Onions, Root Corps; Spring is transitioning back into Fresh greens, vegetables, Berries and ligther meats/proteins. Humans eat accord to available Food during the seasons. I preserve when things are in season and at their lowest prices. Once you have your four 30 day Menus, break them down as to how many cans, boxes & items you need in your pantry inventory to make that menu and multiple each seasonal menu times 3 (months). All this thinking, planning and writing will take you about 14-20 hours over week. Sales schedules in the USA are biweekly, so a buying example would be if, you need 26 lbs. of Pasta for the year and every other week it's on Sale for 5/$5 by the end of 8 weeks you will have 20 boxes. One more 2 week Sale cycle and you will have 25 of the needed 26 lbs. At this point you switch your shopping strategy to replacement buying once every 4th week. Within one year you will have a buildup and only have to shop once every 6 months to replenish your pantry. This saves, time, gas and because you can plan ahead, you will save $$$ buying Sales, Bulk & Deals. Everything I stock in my pantry is in different formats: Dehydrated, Fermented, Waterbathed/Pressure Canned, Jams/Jellies/Chutneys/Preserves, Juices, Fresh & Frozen. Some is stored in original containers, processed into Cans, Jars, Refrigerated/Frozen, Mylar or Bulk containers. Example: Dehydrated Apples, Apple Juice, Apple Sauce, Apple Butter, Canned Apple Pie mix, Apple Jelly, Apple Fruit Rollups.
I admit that I date everything that goes into the prep room but have let things go past the date. So far, everything has been fine but I need to keep better track. Recently, I found #10 cans of eggs and milk have gone past the best by, by a year. The milk tastes fine so now we need to try the eggs. Your room looks so neat and clean. I need to spit shine mine again. Blessings.🙏
I made the mistake of dehydrating my veggie crumbles, they didn't rehydrate well at all. I'm not a vegetarian ( anymore) but they were on sale and I thought I'd try it out, maybe I did something wrong who knows. I've got a good amount of Venison canned this year so I'm good with that, Thanks Grey as always!
Great tips and information👍. Some of the issues we had with mylar bags is having them come unsealed because some of ours have lost the seal after a couple of weeks or months sitting in tote and buckets.
When I vacuum seal things like rice, beans or pasta, I leave them in their original packaging, snip a small hole in it and then vacuum seal it. That allows the air to be removed from the package plus gives it added protection against punctures. You could also use brown paper bags or canning jars.
Not one I've done myself, but have seen others fail at this one - a good supply of manual TIN OPENERS!! The supermarket I use has good sturdy ones at £1, so I add a couple on to my order most months - also useful as a barter item, or just to help folk out; keep them in the pantry.
YES! Mine actually just broke so I need a new one. But my mom (who lives with me) insisted on electric/battery-powered ones for the longest time until I insisted we really manual everything in the kitchen and (all the current economic events) is why. Progressive countries are so spoiled when it comes to appliances.
It's not always a case of being spoiled - I think that electric and powered gadgets can have their place; for example for those with reduced strength, dexterity, disability etc. I remember years ago having to defend someone who bought ready grated (shredded) cheese - bad arthritis in her hands and other difficulties prevented her from using a grater. The same argument goes for pre-prepared vegetables, etc - not everyone is physically able to safely use knives etc. Anything that helps them to continue cooking/baking is very much welcomed by those who enjoy it and/or see this as part of their independence. Sadly, they will be most affected in things like this when shtf and there's no power. I've just had a look and I see that battery operated openers are available though, so that's an option while there is access to batteries/recharging.@@homesteadgamer1257
@@homesteadgamer1257 Agreed! I've been collecting a lot of hand-powered tools, appliances like hand mixers, grinders and so on. Usually great garage finds 😁
RAIN CHECKS!!! Knowing if your grocery store has them and how long they last. Here in Connecticut Stop & Shop, they don't expire. Mayonnaise, parmesan cheese, ranch dressing, and box cereal. I have had to throw out. We all have overbought things. I write the best by date on the front and top of everything. Planning a meal by oldest food helps. Also knowing the sales help. Like McCormick's vanilla go's on sale before Thanksgiving and Christmas. I use 6oz a year so I buy 8oz. Haft before each holiday but only on sale. The list of items is to big to put here. Greyman, you made me feel better about my temperature in my pantry. This time a year it's 55⁰ to 60⁰ and the summer it's 71⁰ to 75⁰. My pantry is in a basement. You covered alot and the video is on point. I would love to send you a picture of my pantry. Thank you for the video ❤
Absolutely sound advice brother! And I truly appreciate the support🙏 You can email me at any time. I get pictures of gardens, recipes, and so on. It's always nice to see that folks enjoy and are proud of what they do 😁
No worries about freezer thawing here in winter. One tip for cans... don't use pop top cans for long term storage, they frequently fail. For chili I use Wolf brand. Blessings
Yes, I try to avoid the pop top cans as well but it's getting harder to avoid them. The one benefit of living in a cold climate is the entire garage can be used as a freezer in the winter. Handy to keep drinks chilled as well 😂
I spend my time and jars on proteins mainly as jars are getting difficult to find. After canning pork, chicken, beef, fish, beans, etc I will scramble the jars in the box and stack the boxes to the ceiling. This will allow us to have a variety in each box and the next box won’t be pulled until the first box is empty. It saves huge space but you must be careful of the placement of the boxes so they don’t fall. I started in the corner and placed a shelf next to the stacks so if they tilt it will tilt into the shelf.
Nice that you use your food storage as a daily thing and keep it rotated and allow your family to use it. If and when times get tough your family won't have to feel like they are suffering because you have no surprises and you are eating normal for your family and they like what's available.
With a freezer full of meat, it is good to know how to can those meats and have the cans amd pressure can needed, in case a long term power outage say and EMP or CME.
Food grade Diatomaceous earth has kept our long term food storage bug free. Mistake made: left a few cans of food in our bugout location through extreme cold of winter and heat of summer. After 12 months the rims were starting to show rust. Opened the cans and they were fine, but the texture had changed and the tuna, beans, veggies were mushy. Temperature control is essential.
Absolutely. I used to look at pictures or videos of filled pantries of home canned stuff, and I'd look at mine with very little (comparatively) home canned foods. But what I've canned has gotten us through, and when I was low on money last month, all my canned meats + some veggies supplemented my cats and dogs and chickens, and it was enough to get us through till pay day. That sort of stuff absolutely matters. As long as it can work for you and your family, or at least supplement your weekly shopping budget, it is good enough.
I kno not all my #10 cans are 25yrs but i still treat them as such. I do use them but not at a fast enough rate. Eggs, butter, biscuits/ breads. I also bought more bread mixes on auguson pouches discount prices this year as well as a coupke years ago. Guess i better get to making them.
I try to keep an eye on certain products especially now having a better understanding of how some freeze-dried foods dates differ. They just don't go bad after the day but they do degrade in taste, texture, and nutrients. Almost like certain canned foods do.
We like Velveeta Mac and Cheese Shells so I bought a bunch of boxes and put it with our preps. They sat for quite some time. When my wife and I got Covid we had to dip into our preps. The pasta had absorbed a very strong cardboard taste. They were literally inedible. Since then I’ve stayed away from storing pasta packaged in cardboard boxes.
I've made that mistake as well, I keep some in boxes that are in rotation for weekly to monthly use, If for long-term I use jars or mylar for bulk pasta. So far, over the past 10 years or so, I've had success with that method of storage with my pasta varieties.
Yeah, it can be a bit hard sometimes, look at me I'm on UA-cam lol 😆 but as a rule of thumb I only let folks see about 10% I built this pantry for my channel still have lots of work to do, but I've been using it as a tool for educating others. I remember when I did the first video on putting up shelves. 😁
My biggest mistake was putting off buying what I personally needed. I bought thinking of my family first. When it came time to need to get into my food storage, there wasn't much for me.
@GreyManPrepping at least now we know! It just takes practice! I love your idea of the whiteboard. I use my home control binder for all that but it's so much simpler to see what's needed the most on the white board.
Just finished testing my pantry. We had 8 inches of snow and our water froze. No water and 8 inches of snow with some of the coldest temps I could remember and it all lasted for 8 days. We not only survived, we thrived. If we had lost power we would have had to change up a bit. Now you have presented me with something I need to look into. My dates on my freeze dried goods are going to be checked. I had just assumed that they were all 25 to 30 years. Thanks for the info. As always, you are a great source for knowledge on prepping.
I started putting up food in #10 cans for long term food storage. My mistake was not using it. A few years ago i opened cans of flour from 1999, and they stank!!! I dumped them. Since then I found out you can aerate the flour and it will still be usable. That's good because I found some canned in 2011 that I hope to salvage
Definitely buy what you like to eat then there's less waste for sure, this week has been my take stock, reorganize, move older items forward, and plan a shopping trip for add-ins
I live in the Florida Panhandle and you are so right about the humidity. I am also using a spare bedroom for this and am just starting, trying to learn and get things that I need to do right. Thank you for your info. It's appreciated.
Something I made a mistake at long ago was having a freezer and refrigerator in my storage pantry. They created heat that kept the room to warm. Now I keep those things separate to maintain temperature in pantry. I also had issues with canned goods in my basement rusting. I ended up using drylock paint on walls and building insulated walls with plastic barrier under sheetrock to help stop moisture. It works really well. But I do have plans to rig up a dehumidifier in my pantry. I bought a small cheap dehumidifier but it was more of a pain that a help. Always needed dumping out water catch can. My next one will remove it's own water through tube going outside. It seems like trying to safeguard your pantry is a full time job at times.
Yeah for me it's like a job away from another job lol I have my freezers in the garage plugged up to my powers stations. So far everything has been running pretty smooth 🙏🤞
Thanks so much for this info I too have some Augason can food along with butter, went to check it good to know so I can use it up by 2027 and I do try to rotate my can good along with food that I can myself! This was very valuable info to me! Thanks again for all you do to help us!
2. New here… Wherever I go I denote that I am still a very novice prepper… However I am a veteran in healthcare & the fitness industry! The most underrated & important aspect of preparedness is your HEALTH & FITNESS! Let’s gooooo!
Absolutely! Coming from the Army as a Combat Medic I am a huge advocate for medical preparedness when it comes to health it is something I'm working on every day. I've had ups and downs with my physical fitness but I still keep pushing forward! Also, welcome to the channel I truly appreciate the support brother.
Im currently actively doing two things that could turn in to mistakes. I am at terrible FIFO and my garage is my main storage area. No issues yet, but with my area's extreme weather, I could be setting myself up for them.
Well atleast your doing what you can, and now you have more information to work with. Hopefully, some of the tips were helpful. 😊 Have a great evening.
Really good video. I do a lot of prepping and we’ve been doing it for quite a few years. We use our basement which is climate controlled with temperature and humidity. We do a lot of the same things. Thanks for showing your your pantry. I have used and still continue to use grocery store shelves that I bought from Store close out they work very well for me in that respect. I like the fact that they are adjustable. Our 5 gallon buckets we keep on pallets just makes it a little easier and safer in case we ever do have any flooding sump pump as redundancies etc. etc., we do a lot with our freezers. We have two refrigerators and two freezers that we use and cycle through and that has worked very well for us as well as having generators and fuel to run for weeks continuously if we had to. I like your suggestions I’ve heard about you, but I’ve never subscribed. Thanks for the ideas. You have a good day.
Thank you GreyMan , very good information 👍❤️✝️,I have trouble figuring out what exactly I will need since I'm no longer raising a family, im guilty of over buying some items😐
My biggest mistake was not checking dried goods for bugs and not freezing dried goods before sealing and storing. Weevils were bad and it felt so demoralizing to throw stuff away. I was a beginner and didnt know that the bugs could be in there from the store, especially cat and dog food. Now i look on the shelves at the store to see if there are bugs. I find them frequently at Walmart and alerted managers but I dont think they care. Learning how to can is also something that takes time to learn to troubleshoot mistakes. I had a 50% loss rate in the beginning and now it might be 5%. I was so discouraged at first. Give yourself props for learning all of your prepping skills. These have been intentionally deleted from achool curriculums and practiced at home to make us dependent. We are learning lost arts and that is a huge deal!
Hello all. I had a problem with mice. Got into some of my dried soups and such... Made quite a mess before i fogured it out... Resolution was to puth those items into. Good heavy duty tubs with latching lids...
Great video. Just saw you on a live with the Alaskan Prepper. Glad to find your channel! I have a stock of Keystone meats...guilty of not actually using them. Going to search out some recipes but would love to hear what others are doing with them.
Awesome & Thank you! I Have come up with some pretty creative ideas with them, from shepherd's pie, sloppy joes, spaghetti, and various other pasta dishes. I've also made my favorite Cuban dish which is picadillo. 😊
@@GreyManPrepping My DH said we can get an air conditioner if I want to. The type you can just put on a shelf or table. I am a reseller also and a lot of my listed inventory is out there also but does well. The air unit will benefit both.
My biggest mistake was not getting enough shelving when it was cheaper. I kept everything in totes stacked up and it made keeping inventory and rotating a bit of a pain. Now I have everything on shelves and easy to grab so I can see what I need and get to it easily.
I did the tote thing as well, much harder to keep track of things and like you said rotation can get complicated. I'm glad to hear you have resolved those issues and are moving in a positive direction. Have a great day Jackie 😊🙏
@@GreyManPrepping I still have a couple of the clear totes with gasket lids that latch to keep my short term groceries in like crackers, cereal and pasta. Living in the South for five years gave me a healthy respect for pantry critters so anything that doesn't fit in a tin or glass ball jar gets placed into an assigned tote and put on the shelf.
I have pantry envy. Look at those gorgeous shelves, and organized vibe. Thanks for the info and "food for thought". :D Yes, definitely stock what we eat. Ok so I will eat pretty much anything so sometimes I add stuff to my pantry that I havent tried before but the price was right, and so I bought in bulk. Usually not a problem. Recently, I purchased an 8 can case of Hormel beef tamales. Never had them before, looks like a food that I would love, decided to try a can, and was.. rather disappointed. My husband didnt care for it. I have 7 more cans that I will eventually go through, but I should have bought one to start. I dont totally dislike anything, but was sad not to love this. Now I try before I buy in bulk. The being said, the opposite is also true. I really never thought about spam before. Always have a few cans kicking around, tucked away.. but finally decided to eat some. OMG I love the stuff. Cold, warm, fried, whatever.. all good. Wish I had stock piled some when it was cheap. Now I look for sales. Did not expect to love it. Now I try so I can buy as much as I can if I really love it. I absolutely dont bat an eye at "best by" dates. But I am remiss on marking the cans. I find that that would benefit me more for quickly finding which I should use first rather than searching the can and squinting my eyes to read the tiny print. I am not in habit of grabbing my newly-ish prescribed reading glasses, so maybe I will keep a magnifying glass on the shelf while I get my can marking can rotating act together😆 Yes! Spices galore! Back in the day I never thought about spices as part of long term pantry. Thought it a nice addition but not a must have. Over the past several years I find them to be as important. I like flavor, I like variety, AND I like how so many spices add nutrients, and can possibly be used therapeutic/medicinally. Always have a simple soup if have some spices and water (and scraps of leftovers). So I make sure to keep up with my spice inventory, especially those that I use often but also those that serve other purpose just in case.
I miss having a woodstove going in the winter, one of the things a miss about living in Michigan. I do have a scaled down version in my storage unit as a just in case scenario 😊
I only can or buy canned ingredients rather than can or buy chili, soup and whole meals in jars due to limited space. I have a limited number of pre-made items but I'd rather have just ingredients that I can throw together. I love watching how created people get with dehydrating and canning. They can desserts, bread and other things. It's nice to know that if I ever wanted to, I could go fancy.
I don't know if i've made "mistakes" so to speak, but organization would have to be my biggest flaw. Because I live in a small apartment my food is spread between closets, suitcases, under beds, etc. That makes the "first in - first out" almost impossible. I still haven't figured that one out yet. Also when I started purchasing freeze dried foods I had no idea how to prepare meals with them. I don't have freeze dried all in one meals but individual types of food only. I have created a notebook of easy to prepare recipes that uses the ingredients I have. You have a can of chicken, now what do I do with it? Look in your notebook!!!
Having a notebook, ledger, journal anything of a sort is very helpful. I like the idea of having a recipe idea notebook for the foods & ingredients I have in my pantry 😊👍
Pretty much same. I live in a good sized house, but havent a room that I dedicate to pantry storage. I would love that on an organizational level, yet at same time I dont want it advertised to anyone who may see it. So I do what you do-- have stuff tucked away everywhere, including odd spots where folks normally dont put food. I actually think that is very smart from a security perspective even if one has a basement or room to work with. That being said, remembering what I have, where I put it, how much I have, how accessible it is is a challenge. I had started with some notebooks, but didnt keep up. I think I need to address this by perhaps at least keeping similar foods together. So one closet is canned meats, one suitcase (haha, love that) is packets of flavored noodles, one closet for freeze dried foods, etc. That'll be a chore! Really good idea on the notebook of recipes for individual ingredients. Thanks!! Like you, I dont really have freeze dried meals, but instead the individual components. There is a learning curve of preparation, and most need more time and patience that what is described on can.
I stored canned goods on a shelf under my ac ductwork. Condensation 'rained' on my stash. Tomato cans rusted and breached and the acid flood damaged even more product. Fortunately the lower shelves were holding totes. Isolate acidic products and watch for condensate.
One of the biggest mistakes I made was putting rice into a heavy duty plastic. I put it in the back room and the mice ate through the plastic. Now I use large tins that used to have popcorn in the
Luckily here in my area, we have never had issues with mice. But I have had them in previous homes I've lived in. I have found some workarounds, luckily this is a working pantry so we are in and out of it daily and always keep an eye out for pests like rodents and insects.
Yeah, mayo is a hard one, my solution is making my own. My recipe for homemade mayo is eggs, mustard, white wine, kosher salt, grapeseed oil, & lemon juice. I'd like to try it using freeze-dried eggs one day. Storing these things separately gives me the option to have mayo in the apocalypse lol 😆 I probably should do a video on making your own mayo!
@@GreyManPrepping i started making my own mayo after I had to toss a few off the shelf. We have lots of eggs having a small farm. I've been experimenting making with different oils and flavors 😋
Hi Grey. To add to your video I've noticed some cooking channels that use basic ingredients and they're not really meet one for example is Spain on a fork. Check him out. He uses chickpeas tomatoes and of course seasoning
I get what you're saying about buying and eating the foods you and your family like but when things go south in the world and that's what's left to eat, I guarantee you, if you're hungry you'll eat anything whether you like it or not!
I agree 100%. I have stated this before, and some folks just don't get it. In a shtf scenario, people will eat just about anything if starving. My reference here is that if you're building a pantry, it's best to stock with food you prefer and enjoy. While you have that opportunity.
Not always true with kids. We went to Mongolia for a summer when my daughter was 7. She was almost grown out of her jeans when we left. When we came back she wore them for the whole next winter. She was not an overweight kid to begin with so we got worried about her. Thank goodness for peanut butter and Russian ice cream. We had 4 kids and she was the worst. Some kids would rather waste away than eat. So having food as normal as you can would be the best to have on hand. Just something to think about.
@saversavvy2670 This was a very informational story. Thank you for sharing a real-world situation. Definitely gives you food for thought when building out an emergency food pantry. 👍
I’m even guilty of buying stuff and not trying it then buying another one later on when it’s on sale but looking at my shelf I’m not sure if my family will like this stuff because I never tried it so now I have 3 number 10 cans of something that might not be very good. I’m sure I could give it to somebody if we don’t like it but I’m not spending our money to shop for others in case of a bad situation, I want to make sure my family has food we like!
Family first! I've thought about using some of the foods I got that we didn't like to much as barter items, but then I figured if things were to get really bad most folks would eventually eat just about anything. Or I thought I could trade a like minded family who maybe liked it more than we do for foods they wanted to trade. Food for thought 🤣
I put rice in smaller repurposed jelly jars with oxygen absorbers and they didn’t seal all the way and I got a jar of those mealy moths. I was smart enough to examine the jar before opening it and saw the tiny bugs in it and tossed the jars. Seals are really important. That was a waste of effort.
I've made several mistakes with rice myself easily lost about 30lbs or so learning what worked and what didn't and this was really before UA-cam was a thing, I guess I'm showing my age a bit lol but information 15 years or so ago wasn't as readily accessible as it is today. 😊
Great video! I've had canola oil go rancid about 2 years past its bb date. Also popcorn seasoning (kernals brand white cheddar) go bad. Smelled like barf😆
@alyssacampbell1958 I think it may depend on the type of oil possibly, like I know you can use olive oil It doesn't smoke and is decntly bright, and if you use used olive oil or rancid oil from older pantry storage, it is very cost-effective.
What food pantry mistakes have you made over the years? Please comment down below as well as how you resolved those mistakes. Thank you all for sharing!
*This Article from the USDA discusses canned food dates and highlights the indefinite "shelf life" point I made in this video.
www.usda.gov/media/blog/2013/06/27/you-toss-food-wait-check-it-out#:~:text=Most%20shelf%2Dstable%20foods%20are,or%20develop%20an%20off%20flavor.
What do you like to do with the canned keystone beef? I bought some to try.
Getting bugs in my noodles
Can we get a link to the video that you got the speech by Dr. Meryl Nass that you shared in the live stream you did with Alaska Prepper
@@pantryonlyrecipes I've made chili, sloppy joes, sheapards pie, used it in spaghetti and tacos 🌮 😁
@@debrabendickson241 if you have a good vacuum sealer and an an O2 absorber put them in the nag seal it and bugs can't live without oxygen.
I remember a few years back I had a nasty winter storm hit us and realized I didn't have hot sauce for my eggs 😂 never again brother!
Yep! Been there as well 🤣👍
Condiments are seriously underrated. They can really transform any dish to make it seem almost gourmet and like a treat.
Life would end if I didn’t have hot sauce or red pepper flakes. So, I feel you.😜
That reminds me, I need more cholula and jalapeño tabasco
For the last 4+/- years I have avoided freezer burn by coating my meats with an oil before freezing.
Great tip Denise, thank you for sharing. 😊
Oooh that is great to know. Thank you so much for sharing!
What kind of oil ? 😊 God bless
@@spaceprepper3657 I would imagine something like coconut oil or general vegetable oil
@@spaceprepper3657 I have used plain vegetable oil, olive oil and crisco. Sometimes I have used my infused oil. Sometimes I use a marinade. It usually depends on how I plan to cook the meat. The main idea is to lock away the meat from the air that causes freezer burn. 😸 GOD bless
I keep an oscillating fan going 24/7. The air movement helps keep dead air spaces from collecting mold and mildew. It helps keep the room at a more even temp so no hot/cold spots. Also, spiders don’t like the moving air, so the fan helps there too.
Very interesting, thank you! I have a fan that I'm not using I'm going to put it their and see how it works for me 😁👍
Afternoon Grey. Years ago, after we finished on building a plastics plant, the job wearhouse had a couple hundred shelving units. Heavy duty, 24"x36", 6' high with 4 shelves. I was fortunate to have been given 50 of them. I put several in the garage and stored the rest. Recently I also revamped my storage pantry and was able to utilize several more of the shelves. My mistake, i had kept a record of everything, but when i went through it all, I found things i forgot to list or overlooked in rotation. My point is we really need to keep and actually physically do an inventory of foods and food stuff. ✔️
That's awesome, I ran into a similar situation. A friend closed down a business and I picked up their metal pantry shelves for pennies on the dollar and had them stored in my storage unit. And absolutely doing a physical inventory at least every couple of months or so is a great idea. Thank you for sharing. 🙏😁
Nice! That's a great, too, sturdy shelving is really a must if you intend to store enough food to survive on in case the worst happens (no matter what that may be).
@@GreyManPrepping it's always nice when you can get things cheaper than buying them out right. 😊
@@aliwatterson5582 Absolutely!
Oh boy could I make a list. We live on a small homestead and initially we had a barn that we stored things in and the mice would clean us out then we built a small root cellar and have had success with that. My mother God bless her soul, used a root cellar when we were growing up and I should have known mama knows best ☺
Yeah my mom was an avid canner and I wish I had the mindset I have now, she had these great big wooden shelves filled with jars.
Oh no! Mice are seriously pesky. I hope you've been able to save up again since then.
@@homesteadgamer1257 That we have and things are much better now
@@MildredEasyHomesteader Good to hear! Glad you guys didn't give up when things got rough.
@@MildredEasyHomesteaderThat's great to hear! 🙏
I'm guilty of thinking the #10 cans are all 25 years going to check my cans thanks Grey. When I first started and heard prep what you eat I stuck to that. I have a spread sheet where I keep track of my long term preps like rice, beans, etc. Thanks for the reminders and helpful ideas appreciate you!
My pleasure and that's really great to hear, starting that early on is truly beneficial. 😊
I made the same mistake with the #10 cans and things from those companies. Was a bit pissed when some things were only 18 months old- even from Nutrient Survival. Sure it might last longer but dang it was expensive
The reality is that in a true SHTF situation you'd be lucky to have enough for a full year or 2.
My food pantry mistakes are…
Crackers don’t last long (even when vacuum sealed)
Never put food in a tin shed (even in tote & covered with a tarp)
Mice can and do eat thru almost everything
Don’t buy junk you won’t eat
Sparkling flavored water eventually tastes like Alka-Seltzer
Don’t leave wheels on your metal shelves, then add a bunch of canned goods (it will fail)
Buy extra food for when hungry teenaged grandkids move in with you
Rotate, Rotate, Rotate
Stack it to the rafters people!!!
Thank you for taking the time to share your tips 😁 I'm not sure if you have heard of these but they are called pilot's crackers they have a shelf life of 30 years. If interested I'll put a link here. Have a great weekend 🙏
amzn.to/4261MEm
What experience did you have with an outdoor metal shed? I just purchased one and planned to put my long term #10 cans and buckets that contain mylarred dry goods.
@@Kris-Marie The metal cans rust and the paper labels molded. I had everything in heavy totes, covered with a blanket, then a tarp over all that. Nothing takes the place of storing your goods inside. I thought water bottles would be safe in the tin shed but mice got in the building and chewed into my water bottles.
Good notes.
Another channel I watch, Rain Country, says since they live in a very wet climate, the first thing they do is make sure where the storage area is dry. One mistake they made when storing stuff in containers outside while their shed was being built was having one of those lids (for the plastic storage tubs) that opens in the middle like a door. Water dripped through and ruined everything in that tub. That is something I think everyone should be mindful of whether we live in wet climates or not.
Great tip! Thank you for sharing it with the community 😊🙏
I love Rain country she's awesome
Love her channel as well 😁
LOVE Mrs Heidi 💕💕💕
@@kmiller6002 She's the best. I think everyone wishes she was their aunt growing up
When I started in the 80's as a much younger man I built all my shelves by hand in my basement, now this may not pertain to some but when we moved I had to start over because those shelves weren't coming out 😂I know use shelves like you have, we don't ever plan to move again but as a precaution I can take those with me.
🤣 At least you did a great job on building them 🤘 yeah I love the metal pantry shelves, they'll probably out last me lol
Wish my preps were as organized and neat as yours! Need more shelving. As always, thanks for the great tips, advice and passing on your knowledge.
You are so welcome!
haha I was thinking the same! Mine are pretty disorganized I tend to just stuff things where there's room lol
Sam's Club has those wonderful metal shelfing on sale right now for around $100. (Phx.)
Thanks Grey. I remember one time back before the turn of the century I put my 50 pound buckets of corn and wheat on wire shelves without a solid base under them. We went on an extended vacation and came home to corn and wheat scattered all over th floor. Mice had chewed into the buckets and had a feast. That was an expensive lesson even back then before the prices got crazy. Now I always make sure to mouse proof everything. Even with cats I have the occasional mouse that slips past them so I have Victor Mouse Traps in all my storage places. They will chew into plastic totes and will also eat your soap and candles. I have most things in glass jars and the bulky 3 or 5 gallon buckets are always set on solid surfaces. Much Love
Can you expound on how a solid surface prevents rodents chewing into buckets?
Thank you so much, Jan for sharing your experience 😊🙏God bless you, and have a wonderful weekend 💛
@@hoosierpioneer
I was wondering the same thing.
Side note, I recently learned from an older couple here locally that they use peppermint oil in their pantry "Rodents hate the smell" from using a diffuser to using a spray bottle with peppermint in certain areas of the room. I'm currently working on my own experiment using dried peppermint "mint" leaves inside a food bucket. In between the bucket wall and mylar bag. I'm trying to see if the mint "flavor" transfers to the rice. Also thicker mylar bags due help in some cases as mice/rats hate metallic tastes. That being said a determined rodent in some cases is unstoppable. Luckily we use our pantry daily and keep an eye out for any type of pests/insects. Not sure if this paragraph helps or not lol 😆 but figured I'd share.
@@GreyManPreppingI've tried all the peppermint deterrents. I've had the best luck with a drop or 2 of peppermint oil on a cotton ball. It has to be refreshed about once a week. I wish I could get peppermint to grow for me. I wanted to plant a border of it around my house but it's just too hot and dry here. So the best method for me is to catch them in traps. I can hear the trap when it snaps and my cats love the unexpected treat 😹
My biggest mistake was improper shelving and not paying attention to the weight that I was adding, hence a catastrophic failure. Lots of glass jars destroyed and food, time and money lost. But I did learn a major lesson. Great tips by the way Grey!
Thanks for sharing! Yeah my plastic shelves weren't the best idea hence I caught it prior to running into any issues with them 🙏 still found a use for them. 😁
I'm So Sorry.... That must have been devastating 😞🥺🤗🙏 Kendra
@@kmiller6002 It was but I did learn a big lesson.
@@GardeningWithCrystal we all really learn from our mistakes. God bless you 🙏
Great advice. My biggest problem is rotating items out of the freezers. I am getting better at this.
You and me both! Lol the wife helps by giving me friendly reminders 😆
Must freeze rice,flour, flour(pancake,cake flour) products, return to room temperature before sealing them up for long term. Even if you don't see a rodents, make sure you always have traps set.
Thanks for sharing
Ñot true. I have never frozen anything. If you are vacuum sealing the items, any pest eggs cannot hatch without oxygen. Vacuum sealing removes the oxygen. Good idea to keep traps set.
I used to use the freezing method and now I use chamber sealer "vacuum sealer on steroids" lol with O2 absorbers and have had zero issues. I can't remember what channel went over this but it definitely saves a lot of time.
For some reason, I only recently heard about freezing grains and flours and such before storing (like a year ago; I'm 40, don't know how no one told me prior). I guess it doesn't really matter much if you eat rice every day and go through it quick. I do store opened bags of rice in my fridge though. But man, I found out the hard way (thankfully with just a small bag) that you need to freeze them to kill the eggs. Thankfully my chickens love both rice and larvae lol
Ive been living iff my preps since June. Gotta make room
We did the same in late 2020 into 2021. Things of course were a bit crazy. I was truly glad we had them 🙏
Great tips! I've made my share over the years as well 😅
Haven't we all 🤣
Planning always seems to be the speed bump for many and like you, I'm a reduncer.
So, for my plan of attack & how I teach others is to start with four 30 day Menus, based on each season. Humans are predictable eaters, Summer is Picnic/BBQ Food, Chicken, Fresh Fish, Hamburger/Hot Dogs type meats; Fall is increase in Carbs/Pastas/Rices, Vegetables & Fruits, Hunted/Red Meats; Winter is more Stews, Soups, Pasta/Rice, Casserole Food, Fatty Meats for keeping warm, Fruits/Beans/Winter Squashes, Potatoes, Onions, Root Corps;
Spring is transitioning back into Fresh greens, vegetables, Berries and ligther meats/proteins. Humans eat accord to available Food during the seasons. I preserve when things are in season and at their lowest prices.
Once you have your four 30 day Menus, break them down as to how many cans, boxes & items you need in your pantry inventory to make that menu and multiple each seasonal menu times 3 (months). All this thinking, planning and writing will take you about 14-20 hours over week. Sales schedules in the USA are biweekly, so a buying example would be if, you need 26 lbs. of Pasta for the year and every other week it's on Sale for 5/$5 by the end of 8 weeks you will have 20 boxes. One more 2 week Sale cycle and you will have 25 of the needed 26 lbs. At this point you switch your shopping strategy to replacement buying once every 4th week. Within one year you will have a buildup and only have to shop once every 6 months to replenish your pantry.
This saves, time, gas and because you can plan ahead, you will save $$$ buying Sales, Bulk & Deals.
Everything I stock in my pantry is in different formats: Dehydrated, Fermented, Waterbathed/Pressure Canned, Jams/Jellies/Chutneys/Preserves, Juices, Fresh & Frozen. Some is stored in original containers, processed into Cans, Jars, Refrigerated/Frozen, Mylar or Bulk containers.
Example: Dehydrated Apples, Apple Juice, Apple Sauce, Apple Butter, Canned Apple Pie mix, Apple Jelly, Apple Fruit Rollups.
Lots of great information! Thank you so much for sharing! 😊🙏
Great plan, thank you!
You are an inspiration. I also have diversified my pantry, I just need more space. Thank you
@@patriciacooke886 Thank you for visit Patricia ☺🙏
I am so jealous of your organization. Wow. Good job. Thanks. 👍
Thank you, Diana. It's almost like a part-time job, but I enjoy it and know it will benefit me long-term 😊
haha same here! I pretty much just stuff everything where there's room and then it takes a while to find out I even have what I'm looking for lol
I admit that I date everything that goes into the prep room but have let things go past the date. So far, everything has been fine but I need to keep better track. Recently, I found #10 cans of eggs and milk have gone past the best by, by a year. The milk tastes fine so now we need to try the eggs. Your room looks so neat and clean. I need to spit shine mine again. Blessings.🙏
Ironically I plan on doing more organizing and restructuring a bit lol 😆 I'm way to OCD lol
hey JT! Good to know about the milk. Keep us updated on the eggs if you can
I made the mistake of dehydrating my veggie crumbles, they didn't rehydrate well at all. I'm not a vegetarian ( anymore) but they were on sale and I thought I'd try it out, maybe I did something wrong who knows. I've got a good amount of Venison canned this year so I'm good with that, Thanks Grey as always!
My pleasure! I've never tried to dehydrate something of that nature as well.
Dry it grind it into a powder for like a soup, wonder if that would work?
Glad you are feeling better!
Thank you! 🙏
Great tips and information👍. Some of the issues we had with mylar bags is having them come unsealed because some of ours have lost the seal after a couple of weeks or months sitting in tote and buckets.
Thanks for sharing brother. I've had some not hold their vacuum as there were micro punctures in the material
When I vacuum seal things like rice, beans or pasta, I leave them in their original packaging, snip a small hole in it and then vacuum seal it. That allows the air to be removed from the package plus gives it added protection against punctures. You could also use brown paper bags or canning jars.
Not one I've done myself, but have seen others fail at this one - a good supply of manual TIN OPENERS!! The supermarket I use has good sturdy ones at £1, so I add a couple on to my order most months - also useful as a barter item, or just to help folk out; keep them in the pantry.
Great tip! Thank you 👍
Especially the bigger sturdier ones that work best on the #10 cans.
YES! Mine actually just broke so I need a new one. But my mom (who lives with me) insisted on electric/battery-powered ones for the longest time until I insisted we really manual everything in the kitchen and (all the current economic events) is why. Progressive countries are so spoiled when it comes to appliances.
It's not always a case of being spoiled - I think that electric and powered gadgets can have their place; for example for those with reduced strength, dexterity, disability etc. I remember years ago having to defend someone who bought ready grated (shredded) cheese - bad arthritis in her hands and other difficulties prevented her from using a grater. The same argument goes for pre-prepared vegetables, etc - not everyone is physically able to safely use knives etc. Anything that helps them to continue cooking/baking is very much welcomed by those who enjoy it and/or see this as part of their independence. Sadly, they will be most affected in things like this when shtf and there's no power. I've just had a look and I see that battery operated openers are available though, so that's an option while there is access to batteries/recharging.@@homesteadgamer1257
@@homesteadgamer1257 Agreed! I've been collecting a lot of hand-powered tools, appliances like hand mixers, grinders and so on. Usually great garage finds 😁
RAIN CHECKS!!! Knowing if your grocery store has them and how long they last. Here in Connecticut Stop & Shop, they don't expire.
Mayonnaise, parmesan cheese, ranch dressing, and box cereal. I have had to throw out. We all have overbought things. I write the best by date on the front and top of everything. Planning a meal by oldest food helps. Also knowing the sales help. Like McCormick's vanilla go's on sale before Thanksgiving and Christmas. I use 6oz a year so I buy 8oz. Haft before each holiday but only on sale. The list of items is to big to put here.
Greyman, you made me feel better about my temperature in my pantry. This time a year it's 55⁰ to 60⁰ and the summer it's 71⁰ to 75⁰. My pantry is in a basement. You covered alot and the video is on point. I would love to send you a picture of my pantry. Thank you for the video ❤
Absolutely sound advice brother! And I truly appreciate the support🙏 You can email me at any time. I get pictures of gardens, recipes, and so on. It's always nice to see that folks enjoy and are proud of what they do 😁
Thank you for the great info and help
Glad it was helpful!
No worries about freezer thawing here in winter. One tip for cans... don't use pop top cans for long term storage, they frequently fail. For chili I use Wolf brand. Blessings
Not a pop-top fan myself, seems like a lot of manufacturers have been going in that direction, I'll have to give that chili a go, thank you!
Yes, I try to avoid the pop top cans as well but it's getting harder to avoid them. The one benefit of living in a cold climate is the entire garage can be used as a freezer in the winter. Handy to keep drinks chilled as well 😂
I spend my time and jars on proteins mainly as jars are getting difficult to find. After canning pork, chicken, beef, fish, beans, etc I will scramble the jars in the box and stack the boxes to the ceiling. This will allow us to have a variety in each box and the next box won’t be pulled until the first box is empty. It saves huge space but you must be careful of the placement of the boxes so they don’t fall. I started in the corner and placed a shelf next to the stacks so if they tilt it will tilt into the shelf.
Very smart thinking, I made an error years ago and had some jars break on me on a flimsy shelf
Nice that you use your food storage as a daily thing and keep it rotated and allow your family to use it. If and when times get tough your family won't have to feel like they are suffering because you have no surprises and you are eating normal for your family and they like what's available.
Thank you 🙏
Awesome vid brother! I am with you when I started this path there was no UA-cam lol lots of trial and error
Yeah I had a few survival books, but nothing on building a food pantry 🤣
With a freezer full of meat, it is good to know how to can those meats and have the cans amd pressure can needed, in case a long term power outage say and EMP or CME.
Absolutey! 😁👍
Food grade Diatomaceous earth has kept our long term food storage bug free.
Mistake made: left a few cans of food in our bugout location through extreme cold of winter and heat of summer. After 12 months the rims were starting to show rust. Opened the cans and they were fine, but the texture had changed and the tuna, beans, veggies were mushy. Temperature control is essential.
Thanks for sharing your experiences 😁👍
Early on, I made most all of the mistakes.
🤣 at least your honest brother 🤘
My mistake is not rotating properly.
Been there myself 😊
Be glad for what you have this takes care of envy.
Thanks Gray for this segment.
My pleasure Brenda, thank you so much for the visit. 🙏😊
Absolutely. I used to look at pictures or videos of filled pantries of home canned stuff, and I'd look at mine with very little (comparatively) home canned foods. But what I've canned has gotten us through, and when I was low on money last month, all my canned meats + some veggies supplemented my cats and dogs and chickens, and it was enough to get us through till pay day. That sort of stuff absolutely matters. As long as it can work for you and your family, or at least supplement your weekly shopping budget, it is good enough.
Love the pantry
Thank you 🙏
Great video , I need to check my #10 cans as well appreciate that info .
Truly appreciate ya stopping by brother 😁🤘
I kno not all my #10 cans are 25yrs but i still treat them as such. I do use them but not at a fast enough rate. Eggs, butter, biscuits/ breads. I also bought more bread mixes on auguson pouches discount prices this year as well as a coupke years ago. Guess i better get to making them.
I try to keep an eye on certain products especially now having a better understanding of how some freeze-dried foods dates differ. They just don't go bad after the day but they do degrade in taste, texture, and nutrients. Almost like certain canned foods do.
Great video!
Thank you 🙏
We like Velveeta Mac and Cheese Shells so I bought a bunch of boxes and put it with our preps. They sat for quite some time. When my wife and I got Covid we had to dip into our preps. The pasta had absorbed a very strong cardboard taste. They were literally inedible. Since then I’ve stayed away from storing pasta packaged in cardboard boxes.
I've made that mistake as well, I keep some in boxes that are in rotation for weekly to monthly use, If for long-term I use jars or mylar for bulk pasta. So far, over the past 10 years or so, I've had success with that method of storage with my pasta varieties.
I already broke this rule, but letting other people know how much foods you have in stock.
Yeah, it can be a bit hard sometimes, look at me I'm on UA-cam lol 😆 but as a rule of thumb I only let folks see about 10% I built this pantry for my channel still have lots of work to do, but I've been using it as a tool for educating others. I remember when I did the first video on putting up shelves. 😁
My biggest mistake was putting off buying what I personally needed. I bought thinking of my family first. When it came time to need to get into my food storage, there wasn't much for me.
Ironically it was opposite for me. When I first started I was just doing like rice & beans and figured everyone would like it lol 😆
@GreyManPrepping at least now we know! It just takes practice! I love your idea of the whiteboard. I use my home control binder for all that but it's so much simpler to see what's needed the most on the white board.
Just finished testing my pantry. We had 8 inches of snow and our water froze. No water and 8 inches of snow with some of the coldest temps I could remember and it all lasted for 8 days. We not only survived, we thrived. If we had lost power we would have had to change up a bit. Now you have presented me with something I need to look into. My dates on my freeze dried goods are going to be checked. I had just assumed that they were all 25 to 30 years. Thanks for the info. As always, you are a great source for knowledge on prepping.
My pleasure as always and thanks for the visit Libby 😊🙏
I started putting up food in #10 cans for long term food storage. My mistake was not using it. A few years ago i opened cans of flour from 1999, and they stank!!! I dumped them. Since then I found out you can aerate the flour and it will still be usable. That's good because I found some canned in 2011 that I hope to salvage
I've been there as well, most folks make the assumption that #10 cans last 20+ years. I lost a bunch of powdered milk I had in #10 cans.
Definitely buy what you like to eat then there's less waste for sure, this week has been my take stock, reorganize, move older items forward, and plan a shopping trip for add-ins
I'm getting ready myself to do some reorganizing my pantry and do a bit of fine tuning 😁
Great video! Love all the wonderful tips, Grey! ❤
Thank you Ali!
I live in the Florida Panhandle and you are so right about the humidity. I am also using a spare bedroom for this and am just starting, trying to learn and get things that I need to do right. Thank you for your info. It's appreciated.
My pleasure 😊 My brother lives in the Fl Panhandle. I hope you have a wonderful day! 🙏
Good info Grey. 👍
Thank you AP 😁🙏
Pantry pests. Didn't store packaged food in glass or freeze before putting in pantry
I have had several issues early on with Weebles in my rice. 😔
Pantry envy alert
🤣 thank you, it all takes time. Have a great evening 🙏
😂
Something I made a mistake at long ago was having a freezer and refrigerator in my storage pantry.
They created heat that kept the room to warm.
Now I keep those things separate to maintain temperature in pantry.
I also had issues with canned goods in my basement rusting.
I ended up using drylock paint on walls and building insulated walls with plastic barrier under sheetrock to help stop moisture.
It works really well. But I do have plans to rig up a dehumidifier in my pantry.
I bought a small cheap dehumidifier but it was more of a pain that a help. Always needed dumping out water catch can.
My next one will remove it's own water through tube going outside.
It seems like trying to safeguard your pantry is a full time job at times.
Yeah for me it's like a job away from another job lol I have my freezers in the garage plugged up to my powers stations. So far everything has been running pretty smooth 🙏🤞
Thank you!!! Just found you and am definitely a fan. Appreciate your advice!!!😊
I truly appreciate your support, Dawn, and I'm really glad you found this video helpful. I hope you have a wonderful day! ☺️🙏
Thanks so much for this info I too have some Augason can food along with butter, went to check it good to know so I can use it up by 2027 and I do try to rotate my can good along with food that I can myself! This was very valuable info to me! Thanks again for all you do to help us!
Glad it was helpful! Thanks so much for the visit 😊
The Augason farms bread cans have a shorter shelf life as well
@@br2080 Thank you for the added info 👍
2. New here… Wherever I go I denote that I am still a very novice prepper… However I am a veteran in healthcare & the fitness industry! The most underrated & important aspect of preparedness is your HEALTH & FITNESS! Let’s gooooo!
Absolutely! Coming from the Army as a Combat Medic I am a huge advocate for medical preparedness when it comes to health it is something I'm working on every day. I've had ups and downs with my physical fitness but I still keep pushing forward! Also, welcome to the channel I truly appreciate the support brother.
Yes sir. Thx
Im currently actively doing two things that could turn in to mistakes. I am at terrible FIFO and my garage is my main storage area. No issues yet, but with my area's extreme weather, I could be setting myself up for them.
Well atleast your doing what you can, and now you have more information to work with. Hopefully, some of the tips were helpful. 😊 Have a great evening.
For sure! Thank you!
@@skiptomylou22 My pleasure 😊
Really good video. I do a lot of prepping and we’ve been doing it for quite a few years. We use our basement which is climate controlled with temperature and humidity. We do a lot of the same things. Thanks for showing your your pantry. I have used and still continue to use grocery store shelves that I bought from Store close out they work very well for me in that respect. I like the fact that they are adjustable. Our 5 gallon buckets we keep on pallets just makes it a little easier and safer in case we ever do have any flooding sump pump as redundancies etc. etc., we do a lot with our freezers. We have two refrigerators and two freezers that we use and cycle through and that has worked very well for us as well as having generators and fuel to run for weeks continuously if we had to. I like your suggestions I’ve heard about you, but I’ve never subscribed. Thanks for the ideas. You have a good day.
My pleasure and it sounds like you have a great pantry setup 😊 Thank you for sharing 🙏
1. Great information. Very thorough. Your pantry is one of the best I’ve seen on UA-cam.
Glad it was helpful and thank you 😁🙏
Thank you GreyMan , very good information 👍❤️✝️,I have trouble figuring out what exactly I will need since I'm no longer raising a family, im guilty of over buying some items😐
You are very welcome and we have all been there 😊👍
Good point to keep in mine that sometimes we totally don't thing about. Thank you Greyman for help us to think about this 🫶 Love your Shares
My pleasure! 😊🙏
I keep disposable dehumidifiers in my pantry. Thank you for sharing
Great idea!
We went through most of our cases of bottled water. Took a year, but I need to start the restock now.
I'm working on a new project myself for some of our water needs. 😊
My biggest mistake was not checking dried goods for bugs and not freezing dried goods before sealing and storing. Weevils were bad and it felt so demoralizing to throw stuff away. I was a beginner and didnt know that the bugs could be in there from the store, especially cat and dog food. Now i look on the shelves at the store to see if there are bugs. I find them frequently at Walmart and alerted managers but I dont think they care. Learning how to can is also something that takes time to learn to troubleshoot mistakes. I had a 50% loss rate in the beginning and now it might be 5%. I was so discouraged at first. Give yourself props for learning all of your prepping skills. These have been intentionally deleted from achool curriculums and practiced at home to make us dependent. We are learning lost arts and that is a huge deal!
Absolutely! Very great advice 😊🙏
Hello all. I had a problem with mice. Got into some of my dried soups and such... Made quite a mess before i fogured it out... Resolution was to puth those items into. Good heavy duty tubs with latching lids...
I'm sorry to hear that. Thanks for sharing your tip, David
Great video. Just saw you on a live with the Alaskan Prepper. Glad to find your channel! I have a stock of Keystone meats...guilty of not actually using them. Going to search out some recipes but would love to hear what others are doing with them.
Awesome & Thank you! I Have come up with some pretty creative ideas with them, from shepherd's pie, sloppy joes, spaghetti, and various other pasta dishes. I've also made my favorite Cuban dish which is picadillo. 😊
@@GreyManPrepping All great ideas. I'll look into it. Thx!
@@katherinenicholas7116 My pleasure 😊
Very organised man!!!😊
Thank you 😊🙏
Hey there @GreymanPrepping, Keystone processing plant is about 90 from my house. I stock up a them quite a bit. Great product. Keep up the good work.
That is awesome! In a shtf event I know we're my first stop would be lol 😆 and thank you for stopping by 🙏
Great video are you gonna do the rice flour video??🕊️🕊️
Thank you and yes it's on my list just a bit behind on things at the moment.
We are in Central Florida and most everything in in our garage. Really don't have anywhere else to store it. It gets very hot here in the summer.
I've pondered using a Ductless Mini-Split Air Conditioning System, I hear they work very well. I guess I would still have to insulate my garage door.
@@GreyManPrepping My DH said we can get an air conditioner if I want to. The type you can just put on a shelf or table. I am a reseller also and a lot of my listed inventory is out there also but does well. The air unit will benefit both.
Excellent vid. Thank you!
Thank you, I truly appreciate the feedback. 🙏
Cool new intro, Grey!
Thank you, wanted to try something new and showcase some of the things on the channel 😁
My biggest mistake was not getting enough shelving when it was cheaper. I kept everything in totes stacked up and it made keeping inventory and rotating a bit of a pain. Now I have everything on shelves and easy to grab so I can see what I need and get to it easily.
I did the tote thing as well, much harder to keep track of things and like you said rotation can get complicated. I'm glad to hear you have resolved those issues and are moving in a positive direction. Have a great day Jackie 😊🙏
@@GreyManPrepping I still have a couple of the clear totes with gasket lids that latch to keep my short term groceries in like crackers, cereal and pasta. Living in the South for five years gave me a healthy respect for pantry critters so anything that doesn't fit in a tin or glass ball jar gets placed into an assigned tote and put on the shelf.
my biggest mistake was not dating it when i got home with it and keeping track of it with the other things i buy today
I made that mistake as well, things got a bit crazy until I was able to get things back in order.
I have pantry envy. Look at those gorgeous shelves, and organized vibe. Thanks for the info and "food for thought". :D
Yes, definitely stock what we eat. Ok so I will eat pretty much anything so sometimes I add stuff to my pantry that I havent tried before but the price was right, and so I bought in bulk. Usually not a problem. Recently, I purchased an 8 can case of Hormel beef tamales. Never had them before, looks like a food that I would love, decided to try a can, and was.. rather disappointed. My husband didnt care for it. I have 7 more cans that I will eventually go through, but I should have bought one to start. I dont totally dislike anything, but was sad not to love this. Now I try before I buy in bulk.
The being said, the opposite is also true. I really never thought about spam before. Always have a few cans kicking around, tucked away.. but finally decided to eat some. OMG I love the stuff. Cold, warm, fried, whatever.. all good. Wish I had stock piled some when it was cheap. Now I look for sales. Did not expect to love it. Now I try so I can buy as much as I can if I really love it.
I absolutely dont bat an eye at "best by" dates. But I am remiss on marking the cans. I find that that would benefit me more for quickly finding which I should use first rather than searching the can and squinting my eyes to read the tiny print. I am not in habit of grabbing my newly-ish prescribed reading glasses, so maybe I will keep a magnifying glass on the shelf while I get my can marking can rotating act together😆
Yes! Spices galore! Back in the day I never thought about spices as part of long term pantry. Thought it a nice addition but not a must have. Over the past several years I find them to be as important. I like flavor, I like variety, AND I like how so many spices add nutrients, and can possibly be used therapeutic/medicinally. Always have a simple soup if have some spices and water (and scraps of leftovers). So I make sure to keep up with my spice inventory, especially those that I use often but also those that serve other purpose just in case.
Thanks so much! 😊 Also thank you for leaving such a detailed and informative comment. 🙏
I have been without a furnace for 2 months and grateful I have a lodge wood stove
I miss having a woodstove going in the winter, one of the things a miss about living in Michigan. I do have a scaled down version in my storage unit as a just in case scenario 😊
I only can or buy canned ingredients rather than can or buy chili, soup and whole meals in jars due to limited space. I have a limited number of pre-made items but I'd rather have just ingredients that I can throw together. I love watching how created people get with dehydrating and canning. They can desserts, bread and other things. It's nice to know that if I ever wanted to, I could go fancy.
There's a lot of really cool videos on pressure canning interesting items. That's a skill I've been working on myself for the past year or so. 😊
Thank you for sharing 😊
My pleasure 😊
I don't know if i've made "mistakes" so to speak, but organization would have to be my biggest flaw. Because I live in a small apartment my food is spread between closets, suitcases, under beds, etc. That makes the "first in - first out" almost impossible. I still haven't figured that one out yet. Also when I started purchasing freeze dried foods I had no idea how to prepare meals with them. I don't have freeze dried all in one meals but individual types of food only. I have created a notebook of easy to prepare recipes that uses the ingredients I have. You have a can of chicken, now what do I do with it? Look in your notebook!!!
Having a notebook, ledger, journal anything of a sort is very helpful. I like the idea of having a recipe idea notebook for the foods & ingredients I have in my pantry 😊👍
Pretty much same. I live in a good sized house, but havent a room that I dedicate to pantry storage. I would love that on an organizational level, yet at same time I dont want it advertised to anyone who may see it. So I do what you do-- have stuff tucked away everywhere, including odd spots where folks normally dont put food. I actually think that is very smart from a security perspective even if one has a basement or room to work with.
That being said, remembering what I have, where I put it, how much I have, how accessible it is is a challenge. I had started with some notebooks, but didnt keep up. I think I need to address this by perhaps at least keeping similar foods together. So one closet is canned meats, one suitcase (haha, love that) is packets of flavored noodles, one closet for freeze dried foods, etc. That'll be a chore!
Really good idea on the notebook of recipes for individual ingredients. Thanks!! Like you, I dont really have freeze dried meals, but instead the individual components. There is a learning curve of preparation, and most need more time and patience that what is described on can.
Homestead corner has meals in a jar- made with freeze dried food. And she shows how to make it as well.
@@alyssacampbell1958 I just love her channel! She does have wonderful ideas as does Jara from Wicked Prepared on UA-cam.
I stored canned goods on a shelf under my ac ductwork. Condensation 'rained' on my stash. Tomato cans rusted and breached and the acid flood damaged even more product. Fortunately the lower shelves were holding totes. Isolate acidic products and watch for condensate.
Thank you for sharing your experience. Many folks can learn from some of the mistakes we have made. 😁👍
👍👏🏻💚🤗thank you!
You are so welcome 😊🙏💛
I need some hot sauce! I have basalmic and red wine vinegar for salads, soy sauce, sweet and sour sauce and lots of terriyaki😊
Hot sauce & eggs yum! 😆
Looks like your market shelves are stocked well.
Do you provide shopping bags or do we need to bring our own?
🤣🤣 funny enough my wife calls it Grey's Market lol
One of the biggest mistakes I made was putting rice into a heavy duty plastic. I put it in the back room and the mice ate through the plastic. Now I use large tins that used to have popcorn in the
Luckily here in my area, we have never had issues with mice. But I have had them in previous homes I've lived in. I have found some workarounds, luckily this is a working pantry so we are in and out of it daily and always keep an eye out for pests like rodents and insects.
Thankyou for the video. I learned mayo/miracle whip and many salad dressings start to taste funny 10 months -1year after rhe date.
Yeah, mayo is a hard one, my solution is making my own. My recipe for homemade mayo is eggs, mustard, white wine, kosher salt, grapeseed oil, & lemon juice. I'd like to try it using freeze-dried eggs one day. Storing these things separately gives me the option to have mayo in the apocalypse lol 😆 I probably should do a video on making your own mayo!
@@GreyManPrepping i started making my own mayo after I had to toss a few off the shelf. We have lots of eggs having a small farm. I've been experimenting making with different oils and flavors 😋
I've made it successfully with dried eggs.@@GreyManPrepping
One of my mistakes was purchasing canned goods with pop-tops. Seems they don't last nearly as long as can-opener cans.
My perspective as well. I've noticed more companies going to pop tops.
Hi Grey. To add to your video I've noticed some cooking channels that use basic ingredients and they're not really meet one for example is Spain on a fork. Check him out. He uses chickpeas tomatoes and of course seasoning
Interesting! I'll definitely check out the the channel, thank you for sharing 🙏😊
The 10 year stuff is usually dehydrated not freeze dried.
If investing in long term foods, invest in a quality storage location. Cool, dry, & dark will extend food storage time.
Very true! 🤘
I prefer sometimes to make my tuna fish salad using mackerel.
It's definitely a great idea! 😁👍
How about putting things into the mylar bags. I would want to do that to make smaller portions sizes.
That's a great point, something I've started doing myself with my rice, pasta, and beans "portionable sizes" 😁👍
May the good Lord watch over you and your family and friends. Peace and Love 😊
Thank you 🙏
Store mayonnaise/miracle whip etc upside down. It will last longer.
Very cool tip! Thanks for sharing 😁
About Augason bread and scone mix, it is soft wheat flour. I have found it isn’t well suited for bread.
Thank you for sharing that info 😁👍
Good information😊
Thank you 😊🙏
I get what you're saying about buying and eating the foods you and your family like but when things go south in the world and that's what's left to eat, I guarantee you, if you're hungry you'll eat anything whether you like it or not!
I agree 100%. I have stated this before, and some folks just don't get it. In a shtf scenario, people will eat just about anything if starving. My reference here is that if you're building a pantry, it's best to stock with food you prefer and enjoy. While you have that opportunity.
Not always true with kids. We went to Mongolia for a summer when my daughter was 7. She was almost grown out of her jeans when we left. When we came back she wore them for the whole next winter. She was not an overweight kid to begin with so we got worried about her. Thank goodness for peanut butter and Russian ice cream. We had 4 kids and she was the worst. Some kids would rather waste away than eat. So having food as normal as you can would be the best to have on hand. Just something to think about.
@saversavvy2670 This was a very informational story. Thank you for sharing a real-world situation. Definitely gives you food for thought when building out an emergency food pantry. 👍
trader joes beef chili is pretty good
Really, I'll definitely have to give it a try. Thank you for the suggestion 😁👍
I’m even guilty of buying stuff and not trying it then buying another one later on when it’s on sale but looking at my shelf I’m not sure if my family will like this stuff because I never tried it so now I have 3 number 10 cans of something that might not be very good. I’m sure I could give it to somebody if we don’t like it but I’m not spending our money to shop for others in case of a bad situation, I want to make sure my family has food we like!
Family first! I've thought about using some of the foods I got that we didn't like to much as barter items, but then I figured if things were to get really bad most folks would eventually eat just about anything. Or I thought I could trade a like minded family who maybe liked it more than we do for foods they wanted to trade. Food for thought 🤣
great video
Glad you enjoyed it 😊🙏
I put rice in smaller repurposed jelly jars with oxygen absorbers and they didn’t seal all the way and I got a jar of those mealy moths. I was smart enough to examine the jar before opening it and saw the tiny bugs in it and tossed the jars. Seals are really important. That was a waste of effort.
I've made several mistakes with rice myself easily lost about 30lbs or so learning what worked and what didn't and this was really before UA-cam was a thing, I guess I'm showing my age a bit lol but information 15 years or so ago wasn't as readily accessible as it is today. 😊
Great video! I've had canola oil go rancid about 2 years past its bb date. Also popcorn seasoning (kernals brand white cheddar) go bad. Smelled like barf😆
🤣 the nose is one of the best tools they say. Thanks for sharing. Have a wonderful evening. 😊
I heard old oil can be used in oil lamps.
@alyssacampbell1958 I think it may depend on the type of oil possibly, like I know you can use olive oil
It doesn't smoke and is decntly bright, and if you use used olive oil or rancid oil from older pantry storage, it is very cost-effective.
I write the expiration date of every food. then I keep all food with 2024, 2025, etc... in different areas. I always look at the 2024 area 1st.
Great idea! Thank you for sharing your process 😊🙏