Will another harsh winter damage my stockpile?

Molly41

I store a lot of cleaning stuff and tins in my garage. I have noticed that over the winter my Ecover washing up liquid separated but when brought inside it warmed up and reformed. We also had to chuck some tins of pilchards away as for some reason they didnt survive either. All other stuff did including boxes of tissues. I think the key is to keep it well aired. I have my tumbler in there with outside vent which is in use in winter so think that helps too.

The other thing is to use up your stocks as it simply isnt money saving. You have a lot of money tied up in the items and the true purpose is lost if you dont use them.

GreyQueen

Barneysmom wrote: »

You could keep an eye out on freecycle or ask if anyone has a filing cabinet? I've got one in my garage now a massive 2-man lifter with 4 big drawers. There's nowt in it yet as all my stuff at the moment is in the box bedroom, but it's mostly for chemical stuff such as bleaches/loo cleaner and washing stuff. If it gets really cold I'll put bubble wrap round it but don't think anything will be harmed.
The food will stay upstairs in the dry.

To confirm Barneysmom and LittleBrownFrog's advice, I have come across metal filing cabinets in a book on long term foodstorage by some American guy as being mouse-proof as long as they are standing on a level floor. Must admit to not understanding the last but my experience of filing cabinets is purely putting files in them in the olden days at work. He suggested keeping tinned food in them.

I have several packets of toilet roll in an unheated concrete-floored shed which are wrapped in their own plastic (12 packs) and then grouped together in a heavier-duty sealed plastic wrapper. I intercepted a Mr T shelf-filler as he was about to open the outer plastic and shelve them and asked if I could take them like that, and it was OK. THey seem to have gone up a lot since I bought them and I wish I'd got more but should get thru the stock in the next few months.

I guess storage raises multiple issues of pest control (rodent and insect), temperature variations, humidity and possibly pressure damage if things are stacked too high.

I do think it's an excellent idea to stock up as much as you can and to observe FIFO (first in first out) rotation. Having had to get a mouse of of Nan's pantry I'd say never underestimate the little blighters' ability to get into any space, chew thru almost any packaging and pee and poo over it all. If you need to bait a mousetrap, I can confirm that Elizabeth Shaw Mint Choc Crisp chocolates are more effective than cheese.........:rotfl:

helen_jelly

Hi
We use our garage for storing non food items such as Washing Powder, dishwasher stuff, loo roll etc, we've never had a problem with mice or rats [yet!!] and everything is on strong shelves and well away from the floor. We also keep a freezer out there and never had any probs with that either

Helen

ItMightBeUsefulOneDay

London_Town wrote: »

Thank you all for having taken the time to reply so far, I really do apprecite the feedback and ideas

Back in the day, we all had a cellar. Sadly garages are not cellars but we try and use them as such (cause they're only built big enough for a mini) which means compromise. Heating a garage is a bit non-MSE:money: because of the total lack of insulation (metal doors, thin roof) and drafts everywhere. However if you add some freezers to store more bargins grabbed from supermarket shelves, these should prevent the garage actually freezing even in the coldest of winters.


Stock rotation is important and needs the KISS :kisses3: principle. When you need to nip out to the garage for a quick jar or tin of something you WON'T check each use by date. Instead you'll grab the nearest / easiest to get to. :cool:


A row of 30 tins in a neat row across the whole shelf is going to mean random selections so stack narrow (3/4/5 across) by many deep. New stuff added to the back pushes the older ones forward. Stack layers of this if needed but the top and front should always be the oldest.


I should add here that stacking two layers of 12/16 tins in piles several times along a shelf is quite a weight. Nothing worse than your entire collection of pasta sauces mashing itself into the concrete floor of your garage. :mad: :mad:

Greenqueen_2

I just had an idea! How about getting an old fridge or freezer from freegle (does not need to work) to use as storage. Mice/insects/weather extremes would be hard pushed to nibble through.

London_Town

Thanks again for the comments and ideas. I hope alot of us are finding this thread useful. Molly41 makes an interesting point about actually using the items you've bought.

Not that we'd buy stuff we don't want, it just leads me to that eternal question over stock piling, when should you stop buying? It's all very well to say you'll buy enough to fill a certain number of shelves or boxes. However, as the main driver is to save money and costs are always rising, how do you stop getting carried away?!

lulu650

Greenqueen wrote: »

I just had an idea! How about getting an old fridge or freezer from freegle (does not need to work) to use as storage. Mice/insects/weather extremes would be hard pushed to nibble through.

We had an old fridge/freezer in our garage where the freezer was in use but the fridge was used as storage for crisps, biscuits and pasta.

Our mice run up a wooden plank nearby and ate through the fridge at the back to get to the biscuits!!