How are you storing and organising your Brexit stash?

[TeaByTheSeaside]

I started prepping before Christmas. I had a Brexit box in the garage. The problem is, as I've run out of stuff, I've borrowed from the Brexit Box so now have to buy it again.

I'm also struggling for space of where to store it all. Is it in your normal food cupboard or somewhere else entirely?

Somewhere else entirely. I have an unused cupboard in the garage. And some shelves. I'm on a mission to record it all in a notebook/on a spreadsheet.

Ours is in the loft

I've only started this week and I have cleared space in a wardrobe where out of sight out of mind.

I've made a list of what I have and expiry dates and what I still want to have in stock.

I've got sturdy 35 litre boxes and a list of what will get us through a week, i.e. tinned fish, jar of pasta sauce, pasta couscous or rice, tinned veg x 7 days, plus breakfast biscuits and lunch crackers and pate. I can just about fit a week into one box (toilet roll etc stored separately).

That means I can take one box out at a time when they're needed, and I can store each box anywhere - under the bed, in a cupboard, under the stairs etc. The first ones I filled are at the top of the house and I worked downwards, so I know where the shortest expiry dates are.

OMG you're all so organised! I'll definitely be using some of your ideas.

I just have a 2 cupboard system and put things in date order as I buy them: it doesn’t take long. So I have a cupboard with stuff I use and a “store”: when I have used something I stock up from the store and then shop to re-stock the store. I don’t have lists or anything, I just have 1/2/3etc of everything depending on how much I use on average and how important they are to me (so things like tinned tomatoes I may have 10 of, but chilli powder I only have 2 of, and dishwasher salt just 1).

Don’t try and do what other people do, do what’s going to work for you. If you are too busy trying a method that doesn’t suit you, you are liable to not stick to it and then it won’t work :)

I store most things in the food cupboards. But I have some hiding places too. We have a wicker lidded basket in the living room that used to be the toy box. When they grew out of it I stored cushion covers and tablecloths in there. Everyone in the house still thinks I do... it’s actually full of the ‘treats’ chocolate, cereal bars, Pringles etc. When I major decluttered the draws under my bed were empty.. they now hold all of the toiletries. The bottom of the airing cupboard is toilet roll. Just use the space you have. And think outside the box.

Kitchen cupboards nearly full. Spare room wardrobe- tins on a shelf and plastic storage boxes for flour, cereal etc. Just ordered a new bigger freezer, ours is 18 years old and I’m worried it’ll die at a bad time.

All the food is in boxes in a large cupboard on the upstairs landing along with toilet paper and toiletries. Kitchen stuff, ie kitchen roll, washing up liquid etc are in the garage with a spare sack of dog food. My cupboards are very well stocked and my freezer is full. I plan to replace what we eat and get £5 of extra bits each week.

In the space under the stairs, mainly. It used to be an abandoned space, with random stuff all jumbled up. I cleared it up last summer, put up some sturdy storage shelves, some hooks on the wall, and it's my "pantry" now (it's in the kitchen, so works well). I also cleaned and reorganised all our kitchen and bathroom cupboards, so there's more space for stuff we use now, and I know what's where.

Mines is similar to @ElyElyOy

I've got 2 large kitchen cupboards - one for things in use and one for things I'm storing. I also don't have a list of what I have but have, for example, the bag of pasta I'm using in the one cupboard and 3 or 4 bags in the store cupboard.

There's only me and my 2 year old at home so we don't need as much as those with partners or more than one child.

If I had a bigger family then I could see myself writing everything down and trying to find extra storage, but in my case it's quite easy to just open the cupboard and see what's there.

Do what works for you.

I now have 36kg of dry Royal Canin cat food with an expiry of -April 2020 to find a home for. Any ideas?

Hope you got a good deal. Under your bed ?

I’ve filled up my normal kitchen cupboards, to overflowing.

Plan to go,to,Costco in the next couple,of weeks, and will,buy toilet rolls etc. Dh thinks that prepping for Brexit is going over the top, so I plan to do a big shop in Costco - bulk buying discreetly without dh realising. We have some storage space in the garage.

We have a divan with drawers and they have our bedding and towels in.
We have an unused dustbin with lid so may pile unopened bags in there in the garage.
Deal was the usual- we use Zooplus- but I am concerned that they are an E.U. company and cat food will not be a priority whereas my babies are a priority to me!

@ClanoftheCaveBear - just as a complete aside Clan of the Cave Bear - book or film? Which do you prefer?
Totally get it about the cats, by the way

Books definitely.
I haven’t seen the film!

Mostly in a big upstairs cupboard. Some other spaces around the house. Have reorganised a few storage spaces to fit more in, throw out any expired items, etc.
Been getting large plastic stackable boxes to store it in. Every time I fill a box, I go through it & do an inventory. I need to start doing some BBE dates though. Some are pretty good - tinned fish etc are mostly 2022 or 2023. Pasta, dried beans etc will keep for several years, quite happily ignore what the pack says. I have a big pile of toothbrushes etc on my desk which need sorting out...

@ClanoftheCaveBear , I'm not sure if the film has the same name but Darryl Hannah was in it.
But I digress...

To be fair the first 4 books are great and then she lost the plot ( or had a really bad ghost writer). Will look up the film!
TBH it’s a latest NC and I wasn’t feeling very inspired!
BTW Bellini I feel a bit star struck charting to you- loving your work

Chatting

@ClanoftheCaveBear . I had a lovely US auntie who loved the books and once said to me "here, try this". You've just given me a lovely reminder of a fab lady. Thank you.

I have tins stored under / in bottom of the wardrobe, and packets things that might be vulnerable to mice etc in a box with a lid.

Thinking of getting some long life juice and uht milk if things ramp up in the next week or two - things I wouldn't usually buy. I've got a good spot under a cabinet where they'd stack well. Do people think those tetrapaks will be okay like that? Or would you want to put them inside a storage box too?

Somewhere else entirely.

Mainly in some spare furniture that came with the flat - bookshelf, TV table and cupboard. Also on top of the wardrobe, in the wardrobe, on top of a freestanding freezer and under the table for the hamster cage, and in a couple of plastic crates. Further supplies could be stored under the bed, on top of kitchen cupboards and behind the TV.

DH has dug a large hole in the garden and we have lined it with pond liner. Now filled to the brim with 6months of supplies including water for drinking. Dog kennel built over the top should keep it secure when the rioting and looting starts.