2 Minute Preparedness Tip: Date Your Supplies

Dating your food and other rotatable preparedness supplies like batteries or cleaners, helps keep things fresh and usable in your storage. Here’s how I do it.

First, I use a Sharpie to mark the date or circle the expiration date on food items when I bring them home from the store so I can easily see which ones to use first in my storage room. Just keep the marker handy in your pantry or food storage room. You’ll never get stuck with super old food while you’re using fresher foods if the date you purchased them or the date they expire is clearly marked. This reduces the likelihood that your food will end up in the trash instead of being used.

Circling the printed expiration date also helps you use the items before they expire. While expiration dates aren’t a magic date when your food automatically goes bad, foods will have their highest nutritional value and best flavor before the printed expiration date.

Second, I use a Sharpie to mark the date I open a multiple use package. Things like a tub of shortening or a package of toilet paper or a bottle of dish soap that won’t be used all at once. By doing this, I can compare when we opened it to when we finished it and track how long it takes our family to use the whole package. Knowing that it takes us 2 months to use a large bottle of ketchup or 1 month to use a bottle of contact solution helps me calculate how many of those items we will need to have for a three month, six month, or year supply of them.

You can keep track of your calculations in a spreadsheet or in a notebook. Date your supplies, and you’ll get a good idea of how much you need for your family’s emergency supply and be able to keep that supply fresh.