Stockpiling Secrets: Part 2 - Expiration Dates

The question has been asked about how to stockpile without losing items to expiration dates.

That's one of the tricky parts of stockpiling. You hope and pray you'll never need to use the items you stockpile (using them could be due to natural or financial disaster - and none of us wants that!), but you don't want your hard work and money to go to waste.

Here are my tips:

First, keep a journal or log book with an inventory of items you stockpile. Include expiration dates for each item or batch of items.

Take a look at your canned goods. Most have a 2-4 year shelf life. I just bought a can of corn that has an expiration date of December 2011.

Items like drinking water and canned or bottled juices should be replaced about every 6 months (or sooner if expired).

Keep items stored in a place where the room temperature isn't extreme. Under the bed in a plastic underbed box or cardboard box is great.

After you've recorded expiration dates, make yourself a note somewhere about those dates: A reminder on your PDA, cell phone, email calendar, the wall calendar. Remind yourself about one month before the expiration date to replace those items with new and use the old ones before they expire.

I've stockpiled stuff before and not paid attention to the dates, then opened up my box later only to find that most of the items had expired!

Frustrating - and wasteful!

In the next installment of Stockpiling Secrets I'll discuss what to stockpile - so keep reading!