Before I can talk about the foods I like having on hand and the foods I purchase or preserve in large quantities, I think it’s best to let you know a little bit more about our family’s storage capabilities. God has blessed us with a large house that has a large storage room. We have (through the years) invested in not one, but three large freezers. We have a large pantry and a large kitchen and after you’ve typed the word large this many times in the same paragraph, it begins to sound funny in your head. Large. Large. Is it just me, or does the word large sound funny now? (It’s largely possible that it’s just me.)
I say all of that (in large part) to let you know that I’ll be sharing what works for our family – then you can take that information and do whatever will work for yours. Even if your house and storage abilities aren’t as large as mine, you still may be able to swipe some of my ideas (or learn something from all the brilliant minds who leave comments and share what works for them!). But make adaptions based on what God has blessed you with. If you have a small home with minimal storage, you’ll have to get more creative. For instance, you could sell your couch and build your own living room furniture from your bulk purchases. Fifty pound bags of wheat and oats would make very cushy chairs. Five gallon buckets full of rice and beans could serve as your end tables and you could use jars of coconut oil and canned peaches as book ends. Bags of pasta would be fine accents on your “wheat and oat couches” – you know, like pillows? Adorable.
Or not.
Don’t ever ask me to come help you decorate your home. It’s clearly not my strong suit. Moving on…
Why do we have three large freezers? Well, we’ve found that it’s an investment that has saved us hundreds of dollars each year. We bought them used, and if you recall, they are as ugly as can be – one of the reasons we got them for such a low price. Having them has enabled us to purchase high quality meat in bulk quantities. Even more exciting, when we’ve been blessed to get our hands on free strawberries or peaches – when our garden has been producing bumper crops of green beans – when we are able to get a great deal on a year’s supply of corn to put up for the winter – we’ve got the freezer space to handle the quantity. By the end of summer, our freezers are crammed full of produce, much of which we’ve grown ourselves or purchased for a very reasonable price from local farmers and gardeners.
So, what if you don’t have large freezers or a large pantry or storage space? I was kidding earlier (mostly) about building furniture with your bags of oats, but there really are some great and creative ways for you to make good use of the space you do have. Take a look at how beautifully Jodi has decorated her home with her canned produce.
I think this is gorgeous:
A colorful close-up:
Think about the usable areas of your home. Can you slide some food containers under your beds? Are there some closet floors that could house some buckets of dry goods? Can you think of a cute way to stack a few containers in a corner of your kitchen? Any chance you have an open wall somewhere that you could purchase an inexpensive shelf that you can decorate with food like Jodi did?
While you may not have the space to store 500 pounds of wheat (our year’s supply!) like I can, I bet you do have a few (or more) bulk storage possibilities in your home.
I’d love for you all to share your tricks and strategies for food storage in your homes. Share what type of home you live in and how you make good uses of your storage spaces.
And really, can’t you just picture the coconut oil jar book ends? Adorable.
I have a question. This is my first time planting a garden and I want to jar my tomatoes. Do you have to use a pressurized canner or can I just boil my jars? I am hearing a lot that boiling them isn’t safe. From what I’ve heard they said to only boil stuff like jams,jellies.
Yes, they are because they are high in acid. Get the Ball Blue Book of Preserving! It’s great!
I mean, yes, you can hot-water bath them.
Here’s how I can tomato sauce: https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/canning-tomato-juice-and-tomato-sauce :)
Julie, I’ve been canning for over 30 years and have always canned my
tomatoes using the hot water bath. I follow the instructions from the
Ball Blue Book, adding the amount of lemon juice required and have never
had any problems. I also use that book to can my chili sauce, tomato
sauce, relishes, fruits, jams and jellies. When I can my beets, potatoes
and other low acid foods, I use a pressure canner. Hope that helps. Teri
I’m not sure if this will reply to all – but maybe it’s good if it doesn’t, but I am curious to know why people can? I live in SoCal and so very few people here can. Does it save money? Is it for weather reasons? What??? Does the book you gals have give recipes and instructions? Enlighten me please :)
I’d say very few people anywhere do much canning or preserving anymore. Not many people do it here in Nebraska either, just a few of my friends that I know of.
I do it because it saves money, but mostly because I can preserve much healthier foods for my family – food that I know what’s in it and where it came from! I have an ebook that talks about many of the basics of canning and preserving: https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/heavenly-homemakers-guide-to-gardening-and-preserving-ebook
Hi Brooke, There are several reasons why I choose to can my own foods.
We have always grown our own garden, which provides us with fresh vegs
all summer plus extra to bottle, freeze or dehydrate. It does save
money but the main reason we have always canned food is because we know
where the fruit/veggies come from and it just tastes better. You can
control the amount of salt/sugar in your food also. The Ball Blue book
has lots of recipes, very good instructions and information. We also
buy fruits from local farmers. When our kids were young, I used my bottled
foods to make baby food with. I also canned plenty to share and use as
gifts. My husband and I were both raised in families who bottled food
for winter.
I don’t know how many people in our area can their own food but I’m
reading more and more about families who are starting to can.
You can usually find canning jars at thrift stores or yard sales, maybe
from family or friends and you might even find a friend or two who would
like to learn also. One more reason I like to have my own bottled food
is so I don’t have to worry about running to a store very often. We live
many miles away from big city grocery stores and have a local store 7
miles away. Hope this helps you. :) Teri
You can waterbath tomatos, spaghetti sauce, tomato juice/soup, etc.
BUT! If you want to add meat or other vegetables to your tomatoes you
will need to pressure can.
I have always waterbath my tomato stuff and never add lemon juice and
everything seals just fine!
We are beekeepers and one year we had a bumper crop. We didn’t know where to put all of the honey in our little home, so I stacked 5 gallon buckets of honey 3 or 4 buckets high behind doors that stayed open all/most of the time. Eventually we were able to sell and/or use up the honey and close the doors.
Right now I have a very small garden and freeze what we get, but I think I want to plant a huge garden next year and learn to can just so I can have a wall like Jodi’s! That is beautiful!
Oh, I love her wall of goodness! This reminds me of my grandmother’s house when I was little. I do can our produce from our garden, but I have a shelf hidden away in a closet. This makes me want to get it out and put it right in the kitchen where I can look at it all day!
I store some of our home canned goods on top of our kitchen cabinets and I get lots of compliments on how nice they look. I converted 1/2 our linen closet into storage of bulk foods/home canned goods. We added a shelfing unit to our living room that our stereo sits on that stores my canners and more home canned goods. We have some bulk food stored in 5 gallon pails in bedroom closets as well. I’m still trying to get creative for more storage space as we ran out of our home canned goods too early this year and I need to do more as well as wanting to purchase more foods in bulk.
I love Jodi’s big blue pot!!! Oh, I would love to have one of those! :o)
I store buckets of wheat behind my living room couch. My husband is abhorred! Before he built cabinets in our laundry room I kept canned goods under our bed. I’d love to have the set-up that Jodi has. It’s so beautiful. Mine would look like Christmas though as all I have right now is tomatoes and pickles (aside from the u-g-l-y canned chicken). I would never display that!
I’m very blessed to have a lot of cabinets in my kitchen for storage. I think Jodi wins the prize on most beautiful display of canned food. Way to go Jodi :)
I live in a townhouse right now, so our space is limited. I have shelves in the basement that sit beside my car in the garage that I use. :-) It’s not pretty, but it works. I always tell people, if you can get it at a good price, you can find a place to put it.
I think coconut oil bookends would be just delightful. :-)
I would love to have a LARGE storage room, 3 LARGE freezers, and a LARGE kitchen. However, that is not where the Lord has us right now, and I am content where we are. We used to do bulk storage–I grew up with parents who stored enough food to survive 7 years of tribulation (only slightly exaggerated). In our apartment, we just can’t store a year’s worth of food. 2-3 months, maybe. We still buy in bulk from Azure Standard, but only what can be consumed in 1-2 months. That includes mostly grains and cheese.
We live in a small home & I cannot buy my wheat & things in too much bulk, but I do buy 25lb sacks of wheat & beans from a co-op. I just only get 1 or 2 bags at a time. They are stored in 5 gallon buckets behind my bedroom door which usually stays open. We also have a small chest freezer on the same wall in our bedroom. It doesn’t take up too much space & it’s all white so it doesn’t look bad. (not many go in our room anyways)
I love reading your blog Laura. You are both funny and informative. We live in a small townhouse but fortunately have a large storage area in the basement with a small chest freezer and space for my 45lb buckets of wheat. Would never have thought to decorate as Jodi did. It looks great.
what is the hottest temp i can store my canned goods at and my wheat? i have a ton of space in my garage, but it gets to be above 100 where i live.
Most of my storage is in what used to be a garage, so it gets very hot and very cold, depending on the season. Canned goods and wheat are fine stored in hot temps. If the wheat was already ground into flour, I would say differently, but the wheat itself is very hearty!
We have a small house, but were blessed with a partially finished basement where we are able to store an extra fridge and a large deep freeze. I buy in bulk, and keep it all in a closet that runs under our stairs (which we like to call Harry Potter’s Bedroom!).
I have wanted to set my jars of canned goods out on shelves like the picture, but I was concerned that it might not be good for all those canned goods to be exposed to that much light. Any thoughts? At least when they are tucked in my cupboards it’s dark most of the time.
I guess I never thought about that so I’m not sure if it’s good or bad. Hmmm, we’ll have to look that up!
I’ve recently started couponing and although I have a small home I have found lots of storage in my house that I didn’t know I had. Most of this has been in our closets and linen closets. I do have two large linen closets and I use half of one for storing goods (canned food, cleaning supplies, deodorant, toothpaste, etc.) My husband also built shelves on the top of our closets (above the already existing shelves above the closet rod). Have you ever looked at the top inside of your closet? There is a lot of room up there. We also converted half of a closet into shelves and scaled down the amount of clothes that we hang.
I, also, buy a lot in bulk. I love all the ideas for using space so creatively. Jodie, your canned food looks great! I now have a food storage room in our basement and it is so nice to have everything in one room. However, I didn’t always have that space and we had shelves in every room holding our canned foods and buckets. I took two old sheets and made “curtains” for two of the shelves but I enjoyed looking at my bottles of food, so that shelf I didn’t cover! :) It’s nice to have extra food to feed my family, help others or not worry about running to the store! :)
I am blessed to have a pantry (5′ by 9′)- not huge, but sufficient for home-canned goods and two freezers (an upright and a small chest). I store buckets of wheat and dry goods in a storage space underneath my stairwell. I’ve heard that’s one of the most weasted spaces in a house, so it might be worth trying to carve storage space if you have stairs. It is open from my laundry room, so hidden from everyone else’s sight. A little tight to get buckets from the back, but I can store over 30 6-gallon buckets! I also have a pantry closet in my kitchen, a huge canning cabinet to store jars and supplies… we designed and built the house ourselves with lots of kitchen storage!
I have a very tiny home with nearly zero storage space. My bedroom doesn’t even have a true closet. However, I am crazy creative with storing stuff. Behind the arm chair in the den is where I store my bulk GF flour mix. And under the sofa- that small amount of space- is perfect to store large bags of dog food and extra printer paper.
I am very into couponing and something I had to quickly learn was to be realistic about what I use and don’t use frequently. If I don’t use canned soups much (I personally rarely eat canned soups because I prefer homemade), they I don’t need to be buying many/any. My storage space is so limited and I want to make sure I am able to stock up on items I do use regularly.
And to tag along to your freezer comments… My dad bought me a small chest freezer last year and it has easily paid for itself in a year with savings. I am able to buy meats on sale and freeze them. Ditto for yogurt, oj, cheese, milk,bread, veggies and more. They all freeze wonderfully. In a few weeks when I go raspberry picking (my favorite time of year!), I plan to bring home at least double my usual because I have the space to freeze them now.
Ditto Lanise’s comment, I assumed that bottled goods should preferably be kept in a dark place. But it’s true that they are SOOOO pretty displayed on shelves.
LOL at the “inexpensive shelving”… I think you’d need something pretty sturdy, and it looks like Jodi has Ikea cube-shaped ones, which are very strong but not what I’d call inexpensive…!
Laura, you and Jodi have totally inspired me. I love the canned treats displayed. That is fabulous! Good suggestions from everyone. I really appreciate all this information. Getting ready to start my next round of canning-jams and jellies for Christmas treats. Thanks everyone!
Hi. I have always bought in bulk..we were a family of 7.Then Y2-K preps sent me over the edge of buying tooooo much.Their were buckets in our home..where buckets shouldn’t be…lol I have tamed down my stockpiling..specially since it is now just the 2 of us.
We are in the process of moving into our 40 ft fifth wheel..and I have had to get really creative for storing and hiding things.
I have some vintage suitcases that I can stack in a corner..in them I have packets of spices…pancake mixes..seasonings..ect.
The bottom one holds bags of sugars..and tea bags.
I also have a cute milk can..I stack can goods in it.Because you can get mice in an rv pretty easy..argh..all food needs to be in something pretty sturdy. We started buying milk in old fashion looking jars..they are plastic tho..with a wide mouth opening. I sterilize them..let them air dry…and I put beans,oatmeal,rice in them..and they have red lids!They look cute in my little cabinets.All other large buckets will just be put into storage.
Toliet paper has been smashed down..I was able to get 72rolls in a flat rubbermaid to go into the storage under the RV storage bin.
I needed a little table / and a extra seating area for my grandchildren…wallala..2 -5 gallon buckets spray painted with plastic paint spray..handles removed…glued together on a side..board cut/sanded with rounded corners..and stained..and glued to the lids.A table or seating..and when needed to get into the buckets with rice in them to refill other containers..you just tug and lift to refill.
I hope this helps someone.
Cindy from Rick-Rack and Gingham
We’ve had to be creative with storage in the past, especially when we lived in a small mobile home. Then, we stacked canned goods by the case under the “bar” and I hung a curtain to hide it all.
Now we are blessed with a 2000 square foot house. We’ve built our own desks in our computer room store things under the desk and pushed back against the wall. I’ll “hide” it with curtains (haven’t made those yet). We also built a cabinet along one wall.
We stack buckets of grain in our closets and use one side of our “coat closet” to store #10 cans there. We’ve also stored #10 cans under our sons bunk-beds.
I think the most inventive storage that we have would be our “trash can” tables. We bought the metal garbage cans, cut a piece of wood to lay on top (instead of using the lid) and we cover it with one of the round table cloths. It looks like the “decorator” tables many homes have. I store fabric in one and blankets in the other. :)
I also use the space between the cabinets and the ceiling in my kitchen to store jars of preserved food. I think it looks so pretty with a couple of artfully displayed baskets and a couple of pretty glass pitchers.
I also use the top of our coat closet to store my flour, and a closet under our stairs for canned good and anything mice couldn’t get to (it is in our garage).
We are also blessed with two linen closets in our house. I store all of my linens for the house in one, and the other has become a pantry.
I am getting ready to clean out the tops of the closets in the kids bedrooms to store other items there.
We have NO cabinet space in our kitchen–it is tiny! But in being creative with our nooks and crannies, we have plenty of room to store!
Hi Laura, I hope you’ll share some ideas of storing spices. I’ve got a variety of sized containers and by these in bulk and it is such a mess!
I removed all coats and shoes from our coat closet just yesterday and filled it with full mason jars. Extra frig,4 Freezers and buckets in a shed help with large family in tiny trailer.
You are such a blessing! Can’t thank you enough for this amazing blog that inspires me to be the Godly wife and mommy Jesus created me to be!
My question to you is what about Costco?? Is buying bulk at Costco cheaper, the same or more expensive the Azura? Please help! How long does it take to get your bulk foods when you buy online through those companies? Thank you soooooo much for all your help!! God Bless
I don’t live near a Costco, so I don’t shop there to have a comparison to offer. Sorry about that! I usually get my food within a week of buying online.