Organize Storage by Date
Even though store-bought items generally have an expired date or best used by date on them, I don’t rely on it alone to rotate through my stock. I take a permanent marker (this is the one I use) and mark the date I put it into inventory, thus I can know better which ones to rotate through not only by the manufacturer’s date, but by how long it’s been sitting on the shelf or in a bin. This includes things in my freezer, that I dehydrate or make, and needs to apply to home-canned items as well.
Sometimes, I will find myself using freezer tape to put on containers that I don’t want to mess up with a permanent marker. It works better than masking tape in the freezer, but I find masking tape just fine for just about every other application.
Alternatively, you could put the “Best By” or “Expires By” date to help yourself know when it might need to be removed if you haven’t already used it. But remember … best by dates don’t mean the product is expired, just that it may have reached the peak of it’s best taste. You can find more info on that here.
I mark the top and the sides so that I can see whichever way the item is being stored.
STOCKPILING RULE OF THUMB:
First in — First Out.
This means that the things purchased first need to be eaten first, meaning you need to rotate through your stores well. Thus, dating is an important visual to let you see how much you are using, how quickly it is going, if you purchased too much, or when you need to restock!
What way do you use to help keep your stockpile organized?
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Dating non food items like detergents, foil, saran & such help me to keep track of how much we consume.
On our metal shelf units–when there is more than one row of the same item, I use magnets to designate which row to pull from. This makes it easier for the family to pull items in the right order.
Great idea CTY.
I too use the date method now. When I first started I would just mark it with a 1 and then the second month was 2. We only shop once a month and I thought this would be a good plan; until I realized that come February of the following year I still had a couple of 2’s in the cupboard. Now everything gets a month and year only. I have been known to use a magic eraser to carefully scrub off my marker dates so that I could add to a can drive here and there but only if the use by date is still good. I am fine with serving my family out dated cans because I can check them myself to make sure they are still good but not donate them. Most places rightly so will throw out items when they have expired.