Keeping Track

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=172 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="01364643.gif"> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0143f460.gif" border=0 width="63" height="70" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Food Storage</U></B></div> <div> <B><U>Pages</U></B></div> <bR> <div> <U>Index</U></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Getting Started"><U>Getting Started</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Basic Five"><U>Basic Five</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id5_wheat_and_grains_.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wheat"><U>wheat</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id5_oil_.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wheat"><U>Oil</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id5_beans___legumes_.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wheat"><U>Beans </U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id5_powdered_milk.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wheat"><U>Powdered Milk</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id5_sugar_and_sweeteners.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wheat"><U>Sugar</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id5_salt.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wheat"><U>Salt</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id5_water.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wheat"><U>Water</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id7.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Home Preservation"><U>Home Preservation</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id8.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Where To Put It"><U>Where to Store It</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id9.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Keeping Track"><U>Keeping Track</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Recipes"><U>Recipes, etc</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id10.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dont Throw it Out"><U>FAQ's</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id11.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Plans"><U>Misc. Food Storage Plans</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id14.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="More Things To Store"><U>More to Store</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Last Word"><U>The Last Word!</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Hedgecock Family Page"><U><IMG SRC="0172e2c0.gif" border=0 width="46" height="44" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Hedgecock Family Page"><U>To Family Home Page</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.myhoneybrook.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.myhoneybrook.com"><U><IMG SRC="018581f0.gif" border=0 width="88" height="31" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="01164643.gif"> <bR> <div> "When did we run out of that?"<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> or</div> <div> <B>How to Keep Track of It All</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0204b380.gif" border=0 width="331" height="56" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Running out of a food storage item you <I>know</I> you have because of poor rotation and record keeping is a common problem. Here are a couple of ideas on how to maintain a record system so you'll know just when you need more of something and it won't get<B> </B>lost in the recesses of some deep closet.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#990000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <B>First: </B><U>Label containers</U>! Sharpie markers write on most any surface and don't come off easily. It will do you no good to enter a closet or garage where there are stacks of white buckets if you don't know what's inside them! Write the contents and the date of storage or purchase. When we dry pack our own products, we make labels on the computer with this information as well as the 'recipe' for such items as potato pearls and converted rice. Use a glue stick to affix (seven-year-olds like this job). </div> <bR> <div> <B>1. Use a notebook. </B>Our notebook has one page per item. Across the top of the page are the following headings: Date, Price, Size (there may be several sizes) and location. Sometimes we buy two cases of an item and rather than rearrange entire closets, we'll put each one in a different place. If we know which location has the older stock, we try to use that first.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0582b280.gif" border=0 width="43" height="40" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>2. Use a card file.</B> Home Management expert Daryl Hoole gave us this idea. She has a 'where is it?' file. One card for each item. The items range from things like food storage items to Christmas decorations. The card lists the location of the item. Items stored in boxes or bags are described as such on the cards. If you are using this for food storage, you should list the price and quantity on the card as well.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0582b280.gif" border=0 width="43" height="40" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>3. Take inventory monthly.</B> When we managed restaurants, we took inventory daily (bread, dairy and produce) or weekly (canned and freezer items), depending on how often we ordered certain items. Home food storage should be inventoried at least monthly. The drawback to this plan is that you may still run out of a commonly used item in a month's time. When you inventory, count the items you have on hand and note rotation dates to ensure that items are used before they spoil. Even though we use the notebook method, we still inventory the closets monthly to keep things cleaned and organized.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0582b280.gif" border=0 width="43" height="40" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>4. Keep a tally sheet in each storage location. </B>We still use this method for the big freezer. When it's time to shop for groceries, the tally sheets are checked for items to restock. This works best in a household of people who WILL remember to tally the item as they take it off the shelf!</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0582b280.gif" border=0 width="43" height="40" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>Stickers: </B>Bright orange or yellow stickers bearing the words "Use First" are available at food service stores such as Smart & Final. They are large enough that they can't go unnoticed by even the most absent minded teen (or Grandma) and help ensure the older things get used first. Place them on the oldest stock.When you see that no stickered stock is left, place them on the next batch. Children learning to read can do this activity easily and they think it's fun. <B>P.S.</B> Try this when you have two different pull dates on the milk in your fridge too!</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0582b280.gif" border=0 width="43" height="40" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>Lessons I've learned:</B> Because we use our deep under the stairs closet for our long term (dry packed) items, I did not inventory it as often as the other closets. Even so, I <I>knew </I>there were two cases of pasta sauce in #10 cans under there. One day I sent a small child to the under stair closet as was my habit and that child claimed there were no more cans of pasta sauce. I knew that had to be wrong....finally I checked the closet myself (this involves crawling on hands and knees) and discovered that when the kids were getting other items from the closet, they moved the pasta sauce behind <I>many</I> cans of other things, making it very difficult to find. This really opened my eyes to the importance of keeping some kind of inventory. I hate to think of the mess should those cans have not been located and then in a year or two they might have exploded, not to mention the waste of resources.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>So, whatever method you choose, USE IT!<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0582b280.gif" border=0 width="43" height="40" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="018581f0.gif" border=0 width="88" height="31" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> </tr></table></body>