Prepper Pantry - Sizes, Measurements & Containers

 

I thought today I would go over why I am prepping things the way that I am.  In particular when it comes to the sizes of items I am prepping.  For starters I am prepping with the idea that I will always need to feed two people.  I know in my life from here on out there will always be me and one other person to feed so I want to prep accordingly.  Even though currently there are three of us in the house I am doing my prepping for two people long term.

I use a lot of canning jars for my short term food storage.  I like to use the half gallon Mason jars as canisters for rice, beans and pasta.  They are great for flour and sugar too.  Since I personally do not eat a lot of these items I am scaling my short term storage down to quarts, pints and half pint sizes depending on the item.  With that in mind I am prepping my vacuum sealed items in increments that will fit into those sized jars when opened.

Two cups of beans, rice or popcorn will fit very nicely into a pint jar.  Four cups will fit into a quart jar.  Two cups of chocolate chips will fit into a pint jar and provide me with enough to make two batches of cookies.  A pint of popcorn will yield four large bowls of popped corn, while a quart jar will give me eight.

Dehydrated foods are being stored in gallon, half gallon, quart and pint jars depending on their bulk and size.  While dried apples are my bulkiest item and fit best in my larger jars, green peas and blueberries are tiny and work very well in pint jars.  Some will be vacuum sealed for longer term storage but in measured increments to fit into canning jars once they are opened for use.

A lot of my dry goods are measured out into food safe paper bags, then tucked inside of the plastic bag before they are vacuumed and sealed.  This keeps the integrity of the bag intact minimizing the risk of a puncture, helps keep it clean so it can be reused and has the added benefit of keeping out light which allows the food item to last even longer.  I can also write on the paper bag, add labels, cooking instructions, etc.

I did not want to vacuum seal an entire ten pound bag of rice when I know it would take me a long time to eat that much rice and increase the risk of it going bad.  Smaller increments, although it takes much more time to prep it that way, seems like a much wiser choice for me.  While what I am doing may not make sense to some it might to others so I thought I would share it with you.  As long as it makes sense to me and feels right then that is the way for me to package my long term storage.