One of the common battles with small spaces and food storage is “Where do I put it all?!” Back when I wrote my ‘Steps To Success‘ and talked about where to store the food, I gave a list of a bunch of ideas for places in your home that could be a possible home to your food storage. However, sometimes reading a suggestion and seeing a suggestion have two totally different effects on how well they inspire you. I recently did a food storage presentation for a friend’s ward and one of their requests was for pictures of ideas/examples for how and where to put their food. So I thought I’d share those pictures with all of you as well. So allow me to welcome you to my home (please forgive any messes ), and my solutions to storing my everyday food supply, along with my long-term food storage. {And on a side note: I do not have a large home. It is roughly 1750 sq ft. Larger than an apartment, true, but still small enough to put a premium on storage space. }

Alright… first stop is my little girls’ room for some long-term food storage. Notice any food storage hanging around? Any guesses where it could be? No… it’s not IN the armoire…

…it’s BEHIND it! TWELVE buckets fit behind that armoire! Can you believe it??

In the same room, here’s one of my little girls’ bed…

…with our year supply of milk stored underneath (roughly 20 #10 cans)!

In the master bedroom, an unassuming tv stand…

…with a whole lot of food storage behind it! {Note, we simply added a piece of black fabric to the back of the tv stand to prevent being able to see the buckets through the open back of the shelves. We also have about 40-50 #10 cans of long-term food storage underneath our master bed.}

And that about does it for the long-term food storage that we keep basically hidden away (although we do have a few more buckets stashed here and there in some small spaces).
And now on to the everyday food supply! In keeping with the suggestions mentioned in our Steps To Success, we keep our everyday food supply in easily accessible locations so that our system is functional and our supply is easily rotated through. We also tried to keep it in as few locations as possible and we try to logically organize what is in each location.

Our office/craft room also became home to all of our canned goods in our everyday food supply…

And here’s another wall in our office…

{As you can see, the cans here aren’t as nice and orderly as the other bookshelves. That’s because my little girls like to play with these cans and build towers with them and then knock them over. One of these days I’ll order more of those can organizers to get these shelves organized too. }

We keep just about all the rest of our everyday food supply in our master walk-in closet…

{The lower shelf was already part of the closet (and goes all the way around to the other side of the closet as well), but we realized we could just about double our space by adding a second level shelf. So Handy Hubby built one in. It’s not as strong of a wood as the lower level, so we try to keep lighter things on it. Looking back, I probably would have gone to the extra expense to use a solid wood. And yes, there are a few #10 cans in here as well, but they are ones that will need to be used within 10 years or so.}

These cupboards were already a part of our master closet when we moved in, and they immediately became home to food storage.

{spices, herbs, seasonings, baking supplies on top; prepared foods such as peanut butter, spaghetti sauce, salad dressings, sauces, etc. on bottom}

And that’s about it! We also have a small space in our laundry closet where I keep our pasta noodles and oils, and the tiny pantry in our kitchen actually has food it in it as well , but for the most part, this is how our system functions! And every time I get new items, I label them with the expiration date and put them at the back of the appropriate shelves and bring everything else forward so I’m always using the items closest to expiration first. I occasionally reorganize the shelves when things start getting tight in an area or perhaps even just because I’m bored and want to change things up but more or less I keep our areas consistent so that I always know where things are and I don’t throw Hubby off and frustrate the system.

Well, I sure hope this helps to spark some ideas of how a system may work in your home! Remember, in order to have a functional food storage, you are going to have to sacrifice time, money, and SPACE. It’s too important not to.
Good luck and best wishes!