Food Storage Scholar: Rotating Your Food Storage

I’m excited to introduce a new feature for the Shelf Reliance blog. This feature is a little something I like to call the Food Storage Scholar, and it will help answer questions that many people have when it comes to food storage. With so many new terms and new lessons to learn, it helps to have someone around to explain things as clearly as possible. That’s my job! Of course, I’m far from scholarly when it comes to food storage, but I’m eager to learn and ready to share. If you have any topics you’d like me to take on in a future post, please let me know by leaving a comment at the end of this post. With that, let’s get to it!

ROTATING YOUR FOOD STORAGE

Our first topic was a source of much confusion to me when I began at Shelf Reliance. I knew that we sold things called Food Rotation Systems, but what were they for? What was the good of rotating your cans? I have to confess, I was imagining something along these lines …

Somehow, I’d gotten it into my head that “can rotation” meant people needed to keep their cans of food constantly spinning if they wanted the food to last as long as possible. I had visions of ferris wheels and spinning tops.

Of course, this makes no sense. I don’t know where this misconception originated, because now that I reflect on it, it sounds so ridiculous. Try not to judge me too harshly.

“Rotating your food storage,” as it turns out, is really just code for “using food storage items in your regular cooking.” This means that you should look for opportunities to integrate your food storage supply into weekly meals rather than keeping it locked away for a rainy day or a natural disaster.

At first glance, cooking with food storage can seem a little counterintuitive. Won’t that mean that you have less food when you need it most desperately? However, rotating your food storage and using it often will actually lead to greater preparedness and peace of mind, and it can also save big bucks.

First of all, if you draw from your food storage on a regular basis, you’re sure to learn how to use it. You’ll find out how it works in your favorite recipes, and you may even use it to develop totally new dishes that you never would have come up with otherwise. Eventually, if and when you have to use your food storage as a primary source of nourishment, you’ll be prepared to make meals that you love without a lot of stress or confusion. Instead of thinking, “I can’t make this dessert because I’m out of sweetened condensed milk,” you’ll know just how to whip it up using the THRIVE Instant Milk, White Sugar, and Butter Powder that you already have in your pantry. Instead of looking at THRIVE Cornmeal, Cheese Blend, and White Flour without a clue, you’ll be able to take a quick glance and say, “Sweet! We’re having homemade cornbread with dinner tonight!” Rotating your food storage will prepare you to actually use and enjoy your emergency supply.

Another advantage of food storage rotation is the money it saves. Let’s consider canned corn, just as an example. A hypothetical shopper – let’s call her Marjorie – might buy a can of corn for her food storage and a can of corn for dinner that night. The first can sits in the pantry, and the second can gets eaten. Later, when she want more corn for dinner, she goes out and buys a few more cans. Marjorie does this for months and months and months, until – lo and behold – the can she bought for her food storage in the beginning is no longer as delicious or nutritious as it would have been if it had been eaten before its expiration date. The money spent on that corn was pretty much a waste. However, if Marjorie had rotated that can of corn into a regular meal, she would have enjoyed it thoroughly. The money would not have been wasted. She’d be able to replenish her food storage supply just as often, and every can of corn would have gone to good use. Using food rotation systems from Shelf Reliance help even more by making sure you can use the food you’ve had the longest. This cuts down on expired food and, therefore, wasted dollars.

Ultimately, rotating food storage items into everyday meals just makes good sense. Having a healthy supply of extra food won’t help very much if you don’t know how to use it. Luckily, new options like THRIVE Foods are great-tasting and extremely easy to work with, so rotating them and eating them often is no problem.

I hope this first installment of the Food Storage Scholar has helped! I doubt that anyone out there was more confused by the concept of food rotation than I was, but, as you can see, it’s actually a really simple concept and a very important one to understand.

What terms, ideas, or questions would you like to see in future Food Storage Scholar posts? Please let me know! No question is too big, too small, or too obvious. Just leave a comment here or send me an e-mail at sara.hanks@shelfreliance.com. Also, if you have any suggestions or insights into food rotation, I’m sure other readers would love to know about them, so be sure to leave a comment.

Thanks for reading, and good luck!