How I Fixed My Horrible System for Canned Food Storage

Our canned food storage situation earlier this year was abysmal... We discovered a few key things that have made it so much better ever since. Several months after fixing the issues with our old setup, we're still completely organized!
This is the can organizer I use and definitely recommend. Shelf Reliance Cansolidator - amzn.to/4cssSck
Pantry Preparedness is a trademark of Income School LLC, an Idaho Limited Liability Company

[@melisalaughlin2751]

I use metal shelving & rotate. At the end of each year I’ll take all the cans that have a Best Buy date of that year and put them on a rack by themselves. When I “shop” in my pantry room I pull from that rack first. It’s time consuming but it’s only once a year. I wish I could afford what you’ve done.

[@dianaklien1560]

I just recently went through all my canned food, checking the dates. Found several that were close to the date or just past it. I put them together in a box. Then I went searching for recipes that would use them up. Through out the week I had so much fun discovering new meals, side dishes, and desserts. The whole family enjoyed having something different for supper. Some were great hits and some were so-so, but everyone thought it was nice to try new things. It was so enjoyable, I plan on making this a thing at the beginning of every season.

[@pantrypreparedness]

I love that idea!

[@compticny3138]

We store extra food in our basement on homemade shelves when we started a "few" years ago the shelving units were level, but then had the thought of having some of the shelves be tipped. We have a "library" system so the shelves can be loaded from the back. We do stack flats below the tipped shelves for refilling. Just as a heads up when filling the flats, and sliding them forward be careful that you don't push them too far or you could have a problem. After the first experience, I added a lip to the shelves.

[@pantrypreparedness]

Awesome! My mother in law has shopped shelves with a lip in her basement store room. I’d call it a pantry but it really is a store room and that’s what they call it. It’s a great way to do FIFO can storage for less cost than buying these store bought options.

[@KittyMama61]

I do stack cans, but I have a system. Take from the right, and when the right is gone, slide the boxes over and rotate, adding your newest cans on the left.

[@pantrypreparedness]

Perfect!

[@MispelledOnPurpose]

I suppose this is a good system if money is no concern but it's currently over $70 to organize 60 cans. I'm just not willing to pay that.

[@pantrypreparedness]

I totally get that. I got my first set from my parents but resisted buying more for years for the same reason. It was later when I had the financial ability to do it that I went with this more convenient option. But I agree that the pricing is steep!

[@Jules-740]

Sometimes you need to buy or build a system that works because it can pay for itself over time if food gets wasted for a lack of good system.

[@ritakus9871]

Growing up, my dad would use large doors, and slant them, for long lines of different canned foods. It worked great! Would I liked about the door, is that if you had a lot of food, it provided a long line, so not to take up space, so you could have a lot of variety of foods, even if they were only a few cans. Otherwise, if the shelves were shorter, it could take three or more lines, whereas a long door, usually only took one line.

[@catherinegatny1719]

Thank you so much for sharing your complications . This was a big help to me ❤ . I am going to take another look at this product

[@Whisperhollow]

I'm short enough that I lose items at the back on the top shelf of any cupboard, closet, or pantry. This is where I installed my can rotator so that it isn't wasted space for me and the cans roll forward. A couple levels clear to the ceiling. Then I created 2 shelves for bottled items. Under that, I put shelves strong enough to hold containers with slanted screw on lids intended for pet food, but I put dry goods in mine. Sugar, salt, rice, beans, dried peas, chick peas.... This is one of my favorite things in my home, an organized and fully utilized pantry. My kids call it a cantry.

[@pantrypreparedness]

That sounds really functional. Very cool!

[@tomcondon6169]

I have a favorite chair. It is a regular chair, bend down at one leg and unlatch it, (imagine a diagonal line from top back to front leg bottom), it unfolds into 2 parts from the bottom forward leg, pivoting at the backrest. It folds up, and it is a step ladder twice the height of the chair.

[@vijaynazari9246]

I have a similar can rotation rack system from ThriveLife. It had worked wonderfully for many years. But now I'm finding that vendors keep changing their can dimensions, even for the same quantity can. It is making it extremely challenging to maintain a can rotation in these racks, because some peas are in short fat 15oz cans, some peas in normal size 15oz cans, others in slightly taller slimmer 15oz cans. It's the same with many other vegetables. Our grocery stores here in Europe keep changing can sizes. So my can rotation system is falling apart.

[@pantrypreparedness]

That’s incredibly frustrating! I haven’t noticed the cans here in the US changing. There are a few standard sizes that haven’t really changed in my lifetime. Sorry to hear that!

[@timekabolden5309]

They have these at my grocery store for the Campbell's and spices.❤

[@tomcondon6169]

The Catsup shelf, open at the top, so you lose one shelf. Fine if you have plenty of room, but if you want that last shelf, make this from plywood, or out of heavy gauge sheet metal. (It would have been a great Metal Shop project in the past, bent sheet metal, joints spot welded or soldered. Do they HAVE Metal Shop anymore?) Each one is wide enough for as many rows you can carry so that it is not too heavy to have pulled out, still being carried by the shelf, and you support the cantilevered weight at the front. A shelf that sits on the shelf, with 1½ inch high rims back and sides. It may be wide enough for 3 rows, one Ketchup, one Mustard, another. You slide it out, support the weight from the front with one hand, it's low, so not hard, add from the back.

[@livingtx]

Definitely would like to see a pantry tour. My husband built a can rotator that is hung under our kitchen bar counter. I put the canned foods that I use most often there. The other foods that I don't use that often are in plastic containers in a cabinet with the date written on top.

[@pantrypreparedness]

That's a cool idea. I love can rotors. So convenient and helpful with the FIFO principle. I'll put together some tours. My mother-in-law has a great storage room with some cool stuff. My parents have a good setup too. And I would show what I've got going on at my place.

[@livingtx]

Oh, more video ideas -- how to build a homemade MRE (and testing different flameless ration heaters).

[@timekabolden5309]

I can see the ketchup at the top..and because the cans are heavy, and just to balance the weight distribution.

[@nopapersplease]

I just bought two Cansolidator pantry plus units that I will install in gondola shelving units in my basement. I found this video very helpful in avoiding potentially costly mistakes. I want to store multiple flavors of canned cat food, but I would need lots of extra vertical dividers to give each flavor an individual slot. I'm considering stacking 3-4 cans together and wrapping bundling wrap (from the U-Haul store) around them to create a single "can" that will hold together in a wider slot. As long as all the cans in a bundle have a similar expiry date I shouldn't have a problem with cans getting forgotten and going bad. It's a little more labor-intensive to store and retrieve them but it doesn't seem like it would be that bad in theory. Has anyone else tried this in practice?

[@pantrypreparedness]

That’s a really good idea. I’ll bet it won’t take too long and could save some good money.

[@nopapersplease]

@@pantrypreparednessI just did a proof-of-concept on my workbench. The bundled cans rolled through the rails beautifully. A few turns of clear bundling wrap will secure the bundle without obscuring labels. Not only does this save the costs of buying extra vertical rails for narrow cans, it also saves horizontal space because the cans are flush against each other. The trade-offs include having to bundle the cans before you put them in and unbundle them when you take them out. You may be able to push the unbundled cans back into the bottom spot; the center can(s) will rest on the shelf and the bottom brackets should keep them from rolling out onto the floor. Actually, you may be able to cut out just one can at a time from the wrap and put the rest of the bundle back in. If you have shelf space in front of the cansolidator, you could just stack the unbundled cans in front of the opening. Keep bundling wrap and a small utility knife nearby and handy.

[@melinajames5208]

Was it expired or you passed the best by date? I made chilli with best by date in 2015 in pinto beans found them in my cupboard in 2018. Made a big batch of chilli and everyone ate them, no one got sick.

[@pantrypreparedness]

That’s a good point. I think it may have been the best by date but most of it was like 3 years past.

[@ValerieT2023]

@@pantrypreparedness I give everything the sniff test if it's past the date on the can. I know I've used food a year past the date, but I know I've not used 3 years past the date. I'd still give it the sniff test & see what it looked like.

[@briank230]

@@ValerieT2023 @pantrypreparedness , Historically, canned goods never had an "expiration date" on the can because they have an indefinite shelf life. Many companies put a "Best By" date which has nothing to do with the safety of the food but rather the quality. Likely, all of the cans that you got rid of were perfectly fine to consume.

[@pantrypreparedness]

Yeah, I should have given it the sniff test. My wife is pretty cautious with expired food, much more than me.

[@kam2162]

I've only ever experienced a problem with a can of peaches, but I have heard of others having issues with old cans of tomatoes and other fruits. I think its the more acidic products that can eat away at the can over time. I use canned chicken that is 5 years past the BB date all the time.

[@AZCanner]

Your system is a good one. However, you still have the issue of making sure you eat the older cans first. You have to check each Best By date in each row to make sure a can doesn't continue to age while you're eating newer foods in other rows. Instead of trying to figure out which row to eat next, sort all the can by Best By years. Group them in years on different shelves. I do that and when I cook, I look at what I have on the 2023 shelf and create a recipe for the foods that are next to eat. If I still have 2024 cans in January 2024, I will continue with the 2023s until they are gone. It's very simple. I currently have enough shelves for 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027. That is only 7 shelves since some years take more than one shelf. Cans for 2028 are not available for consumers yet.

[@pantrypreparedness]

That’s a great idea if you have the space. I definitely want to work toward continued improvement.

[@tomcondon6169]

I didn't understand the bowing fix. It wasn't explained well, or 8 was inattentive. I considered a fix. It would require a better weighted system for gluing. Construct some sort of camber, like half inch plywood, laid on saw horses, and from the 4 foot side underneath, in several spots, I would say 3 or 4, hook those web ratcheting tie downs and pull an upward camber in the plywood. The 8 foot side is not constructed to flex as much. Measure the width from the bottom and the camber should match across the length. Then lay your particle board down on the camber, apply glue, maybe an epoxy glue, and clamp it well. This is just an exercise for me. I would never use press board for anything structural. I used to use a book, I understand it is now published by a different entity, we called 8t ICBO, International Council of Building Officials. You had different sizes and types 9f Lumber, from larch to Douglas fir, and grades, #2 and better, etc. as well as plywood. Modulus of elasticity, many factors. I recall requiring a minimum of 2 tables to establish the different live loads, for instance, for different spans and Lumber thicknesses.

[@tulsaprepperdad6674]

Bro you threw away canned food because it was past the expiration date????? That's wild....the expiration date means nothing in regards to the contents inside

[@pantrypreparedness]

I can’t get my wife on board with that… so we try to cycle through what we store so it’s always within a year of expiration. Most of what we threw out was several years past the date.

[@Lexma27]

How you gonna have a channel called pantry preparedness and you don’t even do pantry videos! No pantry tour nothing more than taking a name you heard by another creator

[@pantrypreparedness]

Keep watching, it's coming. And no, we didn't get the name from another creator, we actually thought of it ourselves. I'm not sure who you think we're ripping off... Anyways, have a nice Tuesday