More food downsizing and organizing

I’ve been having a horrible time working with the photos on my computer. I don’t have an issue getting the pictures into the computer. They are there. I can see them. However; when trying to copy the pictures into wordpress it doesn’t work. Very frustrating. The problem is that dang MS Clip champ app that doesn’t work. Some functions are missing. I’ve found a work around until I’m able to figure it out.

I picked up my USDA senior box on Thursday. I went to the outdoor food give away on Friday. I have pictures of what I received on the computer. Too late to take more pictures and can’t get them into wordpress. They gave us strawberries, sweet potatoes, onions, and apples that I’ll be canning over the next few days.

I worked for two days adjusting my food storage shelving units. I had forgotten how difficult and frustrating it was to take apart and put these things back together. There are tiny bolts in difficult to reach places. First I had to move everything off the shelves. I carried everything into the other room out of the way while I worked on them. That was a lot of steps back and forth.

If you look closely at the before picture above you can see the shelves were evenly spaced and go almost all the way to the floor. There is a lot of empty space above the food on each shelf and not much room for the store bought cans. It’s impossible to sweep up dust underneath. I’ve had these shelves for probably 12 or 14 years. They were cheap and had numerous customer complaints. I didn’t care. For $19 each I bought four because they fit canning jars very well. My daughter has one of the units and will be bringing it to me when she has the time.

I removed the bottom shelves to make it easier for sweeping. I moved the other shelves closer together so there is not as much empty space above the cans or jars. The unit on the left hasn’t been adjusted yet. The bottom shelves I removed are now in the unit on the right to hold more food.

I use cardboard boxes under the store bought cans because they act like drawers. Makes it easier to pull everything out and add newer cans behind for rotation. Several old worn out boxes went into the recycle bin and I’ll get newer ones next time I go to Aldi. The canning jars stay in their own boxes. I also store empty jars in their own space on the shelves until I need them. I never understood why people store empty canning jars in a remote place instead of where they would actually be located if filled with food. Isn’t that the goal of a home canner; to have every jar filled?

I used masking tape to create number labels for the spaces. These will be used for inventory locations. I divided the shelves into three sections because that’s how the cans and jars fit. I used masking tape because the numbers will change when I add the shelves from the other unit. I haven’t decided yet what to use for the permanent labels.

Across the top of the units are plastic storage containers. I bought those when I first moved here. I like these for keeping small four legged critters from getting into the grain products. I don’t have mice and I sure don’t want to attract them either but when I moved here I had just one. He drowned in the washer. I didn’t know he was hiding in there.

When going through my food storage I pulled out some to be given away. It’s food I can’t eat or is excess of what I have. Most of it came from the USDA senior boxes and the rest came from discount bin finds. I only get produce from the outdoor food give away.

There is still more sorting, cleaning, and organizing to be done. It feels good knowing where the food is when I need it. What’s not in the pictures are foods in the freezer to give away. I have four 2 pound boxes of cheese and six boxes of peanut butter & jelly Uncrustables. Once I get everything where it’s permanent home will be then I’ll do an inventory. Creating portion control meals is still my goal.

Saying prayers for those people impacted by the floods and tornadoes. Stay safe,

Anita