Emergency Shelter Tips - Proper Food Storage Tips

If you live in an area susceptible to hurricanes and general inclement weather, you already know to keep a good pantry of emergency food supplies on hand in the event you lose power. If you are just moving to a city near the shore, or to a general region known for harsh winters, it's good to stay informed of how you can prepare properly to keep your family fed and protected.

You probably already have the essentials in a good place - long shelf-life canned goods, necessary medications and pet supplies where needed. If you're not sure how to stock an emergency pantry, here are a few tips to get you started.

1) Choose items that will last a while. Foods like peanut butter, dried fruits, nuts, and granola are good to have on hand. Not only will they sit for a while but they are more likely to fill you up so you can spread out the rations for a period of time if necessary.

2) Keep bottled water. Store plenty of fresh drinking water. In the event of a power outage, you may not wish to use what is coming out of the faucets until you can be assured it's safe to drink tap again.

3) Use airtight storage for perishables. If you want to keep things like cereal, certain vegetables and dried meat, it's good to have a gadget that will remove the air from storage bags and lock in freshness. Remember, during an outage you won't be able to use the refrigerator, so for some items you don't want growing stale these types of storage bags are helpful.

4) Keep some canned heat handy. With the power gone, you won't be able to cook, but if you must have that cup of coffee in the morning you may be able to boil water with a non-electric device like canned heat or something similar that you would find in a camping store.

5) Most importantly, don't overbuy. You might think better safe than sorry, but as you anticipate how weather acts in your area you'll know how much emergency food is enough. You don't want to stuff your pantries with food you will never eat.

Take care to create a good emergency pantry during the hurricane season, the height of winter, or whenever you expect the risk of storms and bad weather where you live. You can keep food safe and fresh indefinitely if you know what to do.

Kathryn Lively is a freelance writer specializing in articles on food storage bags and freezer storage bags.

Holiday Hoarding Means It's Time to Change Your Storage

The Fall and Winter months are approaching, and if you own a garage or detached storage facility, you know you're going to spend quite a bit of time in there rooting around for holiday lights and displays. In recent years, we've seen this isn't necessarily limited to Christmas - people go all out for Halloween as well, erecting spooky statues and even lining the eaves with lights suitable for the occasion.

Whether you opt for simplicity in your holiday design or go full Grizzwold, you should be able to get what you need without fuss or the threat of everything else in your garage falling on you. At Garage America, we specialize in thorough Virginia Beach garage organization. We don't build garages, we take what you have and maximize your space. We set up better shelving, a safe floor for when you're working on the car, and we'll help you with those holiday storage blues. We can recommend bins and racks for keep lights strings so they don't tangle and tear, and we'll make them more accessible for you, along with everything else you keep.

Call on us today at 757-306-0500 for your free garage makeover consultation. Don't let another Christmas go by where you haven't been able to find everything you want to put out.