Do you have food storage?

[HelpinUtah]

My husband and I live in a 3-bedroom apartment and my mother (who has been disabled since she was 46) lives with us.  So, we do not have a lot of room.  It's only about 900 sq. feet.  So, it's small.  Anyway, we started to do food storage so that if we need food it will be available. Do you have any creative ideas on how to store food in such a small space?  I'm trying to come up with some creative ideas and I just can't think of anything!  Unfortunately, we do not have a large freezer and so storing meats is out of the question for now.  So, I have been buying thing like Dinty Moore's meals that you do not have to keep in the freezer.  They're not the most healthy choice, but in a situation where you couldn't get to food, at least we'd have something.  And, they are small.  I like them for lunches and so I'd be able to keep rotating them according to their sell by dates.  Any suggestions?

[122 Tactical Fighter Group]

Some good ideas for you.  I use a vacuum / sealer to both store items and to split large bulk purchases into serving style units. Great for dry goods and terriffic for frozen, also --- and dont forget leftovers!!

[HelpinUtah]

WOW! Great ideas!!!  

I do have the extra space above my kitchen cabinet, but I have all my appliances up there since there's not a lot of cabinet space.  But, I could probably downsize a lot of that stuff.  This week we are going through our whole house and getting it cleaned from top to bottom now that I feel up to it.  So, this would be a good time to do that.

Thanks for the ideas!  Keep them coming!

[lovepat906]

I have some full length wire racks on the back of some closet doors. I also built extra shelves above the shelves already in the top of the closets. I used patrticle board so it wasn't too expensive. I have tried to keep stocked upon canned goods- like tuna, and beans- which are good protien but do not need to be cooked. Under bed boxes- card board or plastic are good storage as well.

[AlessandrasMom]

Hmmmm, good question.  The only thing I can think of, is do you have the cabinets in your kitchen where you have at least a foot or two of space above the cabinets and the ceiling?  If so, you could get some decorative or colorful storage bins and store extra food above the cabinets?  I have that space between the cabinets and the ceiling and it's just wasted space unless I put some decorations up there, but I won't because I don't want to clean them!
Hopefully there will be more suggestions!
I like to stock up on food also!