It’s important to consider where you’ll keep your family’s emergency food supply before assembling it. The last thing you want is to find out that your supplies were harmed because of how they were kept if anything were to happen and you needed to utilize those emergency supplies. It is often advised to store enough food for a month or more when assembling an emergency food stockpile, but this may take up a lot of room that many people simply do not have.
Basic Instructions for Storing Emergency Food
There are several locations in your house that are perfect for keeping emergency food, some more visible than others. There are a few rules to follow while debating where to put your survival goods.
Temperature Store your food in a cool, but not freezing, environment. What does the temperature feel like to you when you enter the space where you want to keep your food? If the temperature is pleasant or just a bit cold, the food should be safe; a little warm is also OK, although that will shorten the food’s shelf life. The food or its containers may get harmed if the environment is uncomfortable hot or cold. Finding a location with a steady temperature that is consistently higher than 32°F and lower than 70°F is ideal.
Humidity
Food may get moldy if the place is damp, and some of your containers may become harmed. High humidity may harm materials like cardboard, paper, and other things. For your survival supplies to stay fresh, you need a humidity level of less than 50%.
Sunlight
To keep your goods, choose a dim location. The food and containers may be harmed by excessive sunlight, which also runs the risk of encouraging the development of undesirable organisms like molds and algae.
Airflow
Good ventilation increases the likelihood that a space will remain dry and cool.
Animal Control
You should keep your food in a location that is difficult for pests and rats to get. They will soon damage your goods if they are able to obtain access to them.
Where to Keep Emergency Food
Here, we’ll examine some of the most typical locations for storing emergency food and discuss why those spots may or may not be wise.
in the cellar
One of the obvious locations for an emergency food storage is the basement. Although the basement is often chilly and dark, it is often too humid for an emergency supply. If you decide for the basement, be careful to have a dehumidifier running and check on your supplies often to make sure they are all still in good condition.
If the basement is your preference, avoid storing your supplies there since it is more humid and there may be problems maintaining a consistent interior temperature. Additionally, there is always a chance that your basement would flood, which would damage whatever food you have on the floor.
Build some sturdy shelves to place everything on while keeping emergency supplies in the basement. Pallets should be laid down first if you must place some of it directly on the floor. Also, make sure you don’t keep anything down there in cardboard or paper wrapping; instead, remove the food from the packaging and place it in airtight containers.