Pantries and Preparedness. Progress report! Rotating.

It is now over two years since I started working on building up my pantry and preparedness generally. I had made it a goal to rotate all the food items in the cellar this year and each week I have been doing that.  It is a big job!  This is a learning experience.  I need a system where I just do this regularly and it is part of life.  But I have discovered how fast time goes by and that you really need to keep on top of this and an eye on everything.
This is the natural next step, using and replenishing supplies.
As I do it I am trying to organise things into groups, make things easier to find and know exactly where everything is.  So the end result will be an improvement on what I have anyway.
I have discovered the only way I can keep good supplies of powdered milk is to use it regularly in my cooking and keep rotating it this way.  I need the habit of using it every time I make pancakes, mornay etc.

My photos today are your cooking. 

This is Maria's Magic Slice. It looks delicious.

That first year when I stocked my empty cellar I did get a long way, it just needs organising now.
Between then and now we established extra ways to cook and now have the back ups of a gas BBQ and always keep spare gas, a portable camping cooktop with cans of gas and an electric frypan which the generator will run.
With all of these I can cook pretty much anything and heat water.
I have a plastic tub that is my mini bath to wash in and it has worked well.
We got our generator and got good at using it.
We built up good first aid kits in the house and both cars plus first aid books.
Water is stored for drinking and we have a lot stored for washing etc.
Security is something we have added too as well with things like sensor lights around the house.
Now I have a bike as an alternative source of transport.
We have solar chargers and battery chargers.
We keep spare sheets, towels and bedding.
Pets have back up supplies as well as us.
We have good supplies of garbage bags, toilet paper etc.
There are boxes of batteries, candles, matches etc.
Plus plastic sheeting, tarps, masking tape etc you could need in a storm.
We are ahead of medications and have good supplies of over the counter medicines.
Both of us have battery radios and spare batteries.
All phone numbers and important documents have copies.
We have all emergency numbers written in the kitchen, wallets and phones.
I have an action plan in the kitchen. If something happened and I cant think straight I have my plan that is well thought out.
Our food supplies have enough protein and I can make pretty good meals from what we have on hand.

Mel K made Cookie's bread with great success! 

We also have plenty to do if the power is out. You need this... once you have done everything you can then it is a case of keeping things going and waiting. I have plenty of supplies of yarn, books, various crafts to keep me happily occupied. This is serious actually as waiting around nervously isn't good, it is better to be happily busy.

Kelley made Peppermint Creams!

Recently I did a course with Patsy at W Working Pantry and by the end of this I had a fresh list to work on.  I keep this list on the fridge and weekly we report in on how we are doing.  Most of the things I found I needed are easily remedied like more drinking water, more larger sized batteries and disposable plates and cutlery.
The hardest thing is communication.  If the power is out any length of time we found that having been clever (we thought) and had our phones fully charged and alternative ways to charge them all comes to naught when the phone towers themselves have only a few hours back up plan and they go down. So you need up with working phones with no reception. I did not know that prior to our big blackout!   If there is someone you would want to be communicating with this you need something else.
This is a bit like how you can have a generator but if you have no fuel stored you can't use it.  Fuel does not pump when the power is out. So what we have stored is what we have when we need it!

Janine also made Cookie's bread! It looks like another success!

Many of the ways we are better prepared are skill related.  We know a lot of things we didn't know two years ago! 

So it is all progress. And I would have missed many things here that I should have mentioned!

How do you keep on top of rotating your food storage? How long do you allow for canned goods? Milk Powder? Dry goods like rice and pasta?  Flour? 

As we build up our supplies this is a bigger and bigger issue! Many of you are much more experienced than me in this area and I would love your advice.

Jane's Sourdough keeps reading new heights! 

Thank you for all the beautiful photos and sharing your cooking everyone! 

This is an encouragement to others.

I am finding it good to do a review, tidy up/organise and incorporate things that need using up into the weekly menu.  It is all a learning curve and I want to go forwards not backwards!

Have a good week! xxx