Taking Inventory

I have a garage full of supplies and I haven't taken an exact inventory of the amount of supplies I have.  I lost count in some areas.   I was wondering if everybody has an exact inventory count of exactly how much they have of each item.   

Does everybody have a detailed list of exactly what they have  in their supplies - down to the last item? 

 

I've kept track of most things. I know how much food and supplies are in the larger boxes I have, but some things I  bought over the last few days are still in bags. I need to start to count those things soon.

Albert, I was full of good intentions. Even started a spreadsheet. Then I realized, I'd be amending it everytime I added something. Decided life was too short (ummm...ougtha come up with a better phrase!)

Have decided to count (in food) # of man meals. Not bother with extras that may be adjuncts (like canned fruit, sugar, jelly, etc.) .  

Figure if I get bored, I'll do it after the pandemic begins!

The first thing I put on my to do list was ORGANIZE. No matter how much stuff you have, if you can't lay your hands on it, it's useless.

I made a detailed list on excel of how many of each item we keep, how many we use daily, and weekly, after two months of closely tracking what we use, I added up how much to stock up of each item.

With the info on excel, it's so easy to track what you use and need to restock. Organizing is cheap, and will keep you from buying stuff you may not ever use.

I went to the container store on saturday , got boxes , got home and started a realy good inventory : In a papper  Qty , product , Exp , weight  ,made copies,  then I taped each corresponding papper to it's own box , and keept the copy , my plan is as I keep getting more , I will keep updating the boxes and the list.

In three weeks time, I have stored 6 months of food, 3 months of water, meds, vitamins, wood, alternate energy, gun, staples, cash, home security, car care, etc..

Cost: 3K.

Value: immeasurable if it hits, if not, all will be used eventually.

MK

Edited by Mary Kay

Speaking of stale crackers I have an interesting story.

I asked our emergency management coordinator what was the location of my neighborhood's fallout shelter.
He took me to a tiny shelter, a basement,... that might hold 100 people. It was damp, bug and mice infested, and smelled like mold, it didn't even have a bathroom.
I asked to see the emergency staples. They did have them! We opened one of the many boxes labeled crackers,...........they were dust, pure dust.
They were dated over 30 years old.

Did you know all underground trains stations are shelters in all major cities in Russia? Complete with firedoors, bathrooms, cots, food and water.

America is not prepared for any emergency.

And we would be more than stupid to think that it can organize anything of this magnitude. We're talkin' government employees here folks. sigh*

If you doubt my word ask yourself what the heck are they doing since Katrina. Whata mess!

I have been through five hurricanes, and pal,....you're on your own.


MK

What metal shelves are you all using?  Home Depot has a semi-cheesy one for like $65. It isnt big enough to begin holding long term preps though. 

I've been buying 2x4s, #10 screws and two sheets of 1/2" MDF board to make a shelf.  My shelves are 7 feet wide, 7ft tall and 23 inches deep for the same cost as the tiny metal shelf.  

I use the 5 shelf chrome units.  Each shelf is good for 300 lbs.

Between my preps and my crafts my house is furnished in the post modern utility shelving motif.  Very fashionable these days.

Hi. I don't keep a list either but everything that comes into my house gets a sticker. One of those 3/4" round dots. I write down on it the date and place I purchased the item. I guess it was the lingering effect the tylenol tampering episode had on me from so many years ago. Here I was spending all this money (back in 2002) much to my husband's disapproval (and he didn't know the half of it!) and I was worried that if it came out on the news that there was a problem with a can of soup or beans or whatever from a particular store that I had no way of knowing which items may be affected and then I would have to get rid of all my stuff because I couldn't identify what I bought where. Besides, the man. date codes were making me crazy and varied so much from product to product that I just thought it was easier just to  see date of purchase at a glance.  Anyway, at first I used to use multi-colored stickers I took home from my husband's office but then I decided that I would stick to one color each year. 2004 was yellow, 2005 was day- glow green, and now 2006 is neon red. (Maybe I should've taken that as a sign!) Anyway, I can look at a can, without using my glasses even, and know which is the oldest.  Which doesn't mean that it has the oldest exp. date of course, but I like having the info. anyway. Sometimes I get a new product and I end up liking it alot and 2 months later I can't remember where I bought it and I am very happy to have the sticker.  What I do is bring all the bags into the house and then after I put away all my weekly refrigeratables I sit down (in front of the tv ususally) and write my little button stickers. It takes 10-20 min. depending on the amt. of food I bought.

By now many of you might be thinking......this chick is off her rocker.... but I have put so much $ into my preps I just wanted to have this info at my fingertips and for me this way works. :>}

All of my preps are eighter in boxes or plastic totes and each of them is labelled ont he outside of the items that they contain.....When I go and purchase it is usually 6 of each of something and they get boxed and labelled..I had just done up a full inventory...Me thinks me does not need anymore rice or flour..lol....going to do more canned stuff..our no frills has their dollar days this week..so i will se what I can get for the preps..

Sorry, I didn't even post the site I found the list on.  See how worried I am.

The site is www.planforflu.com

Here is the list...

Emergency Pantry: The List

Baking mixes (Pie crust mix plus canned pie filling =cobbler)
Baking powder
Baking soda
Barley
Bay leaves (delicious in beans, and insects avoid foods like flour with a bay leaf stored inside the bag)
Beans-dry
Bottled drinks and juices (not refrigerated type)
Brown Sugar
Bullion, concentrated broth
Butter flavoring, like Molly McButter. Freeze for storage if you can.
Candy
Canned beans
Canned broth
Canned chicken breast
Canned chili
Canned diced tomatoes, other tomato products, and sauces
Canned French fried onions for green bean casserole
Canned fruit
Canned milk, evaporated milk
Canned pie filling (don't overlook, great item)
Canned pumpkin
Canned Salmon
Canned soups
Canned stew
Canned sweet potatoes
Canned Tuna
Canned veggies
Cans of lemonade mix, other canned dry drink mixes
Cheese dips in jars
Cheese soups, like cheddar, broccoli cheese, and jack cheese
Chinese food ingredients
Chocolate bars
Chocolate chips
Chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup squeeze bottles (about that dry milk, again)
Coffee filters (also for straining silt out of water)
Corn Masa de Harina or corn tortilla mix
Corn meal
Corn starch for thickening
Cream of Wheat
Cream soups (good for flavoring rice & pasta, too)
Crisco
Dried eggs
Dried fruit
Dried onion (big containers at warehouse stores)
Dried soups
Dry cocoa
Dry coffee creamer (big sealed cans, many uses including making dry milk taste better)
Dry milk powder
Dry Mustard
Flour, self rising flour Flour tortilla mix for flour tortillas, wraps, and flatbread
Garlic powder
Granola bars (not great shelf life)
Hard candy
Honey (also reputed to reduce viral load in throat and esophagus)
Hot chocolate mix
Instant coffee if you drink it, or coffee and a manual drip cone or similar
Instant mashed potatoes
Jarred or canned spaghetti sauce
Jarred peppers
Jellies and Jams
Jerky
Ketchup
Kool Aid
Lard, Manteca (good in beans, substitute for bacon or salt pork, tortilla making, many other uses)
Large packages dry pasta, thinner type saves fuel
Marshmallow cream
Marshmallows
Mayo packets from warehouse store, if you must, not really a good value.
Mexican food ingredients
Mustard
Nestle Table Cream (substitute for sour cream, cream, or half-and-half) in lots of ethnic stores, including British)
Nuts (freeze if you have room)
Oatmeal
Oil (Shelf life not great, freeze if you have room)
Olive oil
Olives, green and black
Onion powder
Packaged bread crumbs
Pancake mix, one step, and other mixes that already have the eggs in them
Parmesan
Peanut butter, nut butters
Pepper
Pet food
Pickles, relish (not refrigerator case type)
Powdered sugar
Power bars
Raisins
Ramen
Ravioli or any canned pasta you can stand
Real butter or favorite margarine-keep frozen until disaster if you can. Butter keeps a long time in cool temps)
Rice (cheap and filling)
Salsa and hot sauces (Franks Hot Sauce!)
Salt
Spam or Treet :( !
Spices and herbs your family likes
Stovetop Dressing mix
Sugar
Summer sausage ( cheaper around holidays)
Sweetened condensed milk
Syrups
Tea
Trail mix
Ultra pasteurized milk (expensive)
Vanilla (improves dry milk, too)
Velveeta (watch carton date, freeze for storage if possible)
Vienna sausage
Yeast, if you think you would use it. May be frozen.
Baby food
Pet food