How To Rotate Your Food Stock

As promised, this article is all about stock rotation strategies. Combined with a good item organization, rotation is the key to keeping your stockpile fresh and nutritious. And it`s actually quite easy, once you know the simplest rotation methods people have been using for years now. Here they are:

Food Rotation In Your Fridge

Rotation Strategy: Rotate your food from back to front

This is the classic rotation strategy that all supermarkets and stores use. This principle is called First In First Out (FIFO).

Here`s how it goes: whatever you`ve just bought you`ll place in the back of the fridge, while moving the older items up front. This way, you`ll eat all the food you store before it reaches its expiration date (and thus avoid wasting money on stuff that goes bad before you get to eat it).

You can use this strategy to rotate food in your freezer as well.

Food Rotation In Your Pantry

Rotation Strategy #1: Rotate your food from left to right

If you don`t have much storage space, this one is perfect for you. It goes very well with narrow shelves, where the classic back to front rotation system doesn`t work.

Here`s what you need to do: whenever you need something from your stock, you take the first item on the right. When you restock, you place the new item on the left and push the other ones to the right.

This is a simple and natural strategy and it guarantees you won`t make any mistakes. It`s easy to remember: just take the items on the right every time you go into the pantry.

Rotation Strategy #2: Rotate your food from back to front (FIFO)

This is pretty much the same as described above, for the refrigerated items rotation. Whenever you restock, put the fresh food in the back and push the older ones in the front.

If you find it a bit difficult to move all your items from back to front, you can easily build yourself a slanted rotation stack that allows cans to roll to the front by themselves. All you have to do is roll down the newly purchased items down the shelves and they will automatically push the older ones up front. It`s really easy and it won`t cost you anymore than $85.

Rotation Strategy #3: Buy One, Store One

This strategy is extremely simple, but you should know it will take a bit longer to build your stockpile. Basically, every time you go tp the store to buy something, you get two pieces of the same item. One goes in your meal and one goes to your stock.

This way, you`ll get something like this:

Shopping spree 1: Wheat 1 + Wheat 2

Eat: Wheat 1

Store: Wheat 2

Shopping spree 2: Can 1 + Can 2

Eat: Can 1

Store: Can 2

Shopping Spree 3: Oil 1 + Oil 2

Eat: Oil 1

Store: Oil 2

Stockpile after Shopping Spree 3: Wheat + Can + Oil

When you`ve got enough stored items, you don`t need to buy 2 items of the same kind anymore. You just start eating from your stock and buy whatever needs to be replaced. Easy and affordable!

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