Links to Amazon are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. What that means.
Keep food somewhere cool and dry. The loft and the shed both swing between too hot and too cold. Under the stairs, under a bed or the bottom of a wardrobe are all better.
In a hurry? The one I'd buy from each shelf.
- Food containersSistema Klip It Plus setUnder £20
- Boxes for kitReally Useful Box, 35 litreUnder £20
- Water containers25-litre food-grade container with tap£15–30
Food containers
Sistema Klip It Plus set
Opened packets and everyday dry goods
Clip-lid tubs that seal properly and stack. Rice, pasta and oats all keep far longer out of their original bags.
Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers
Rice and oats you won’t touch for years
Fill, drop in an absorber, seal with a hair straightener. Stored this way white rice keeps for a decade or more. A slightly obsessive weekend job, which is to say, a good one.
OXO Good Grips POP container set
A cupboard you’re happy to open in front of guests
One-button airtight lids and square sides that waste no shelf. Expensive for tubs. Lovely tubs, though.
Boxes for kit
One box, labelled, that everyone in the house knows about. Torches, radio, batteries, first aid kit, the paper list of phone numbers.
Really Useful Box, 35 litre
The household emergency box
Clear, so you can see what’s in it. The lid clips shut and takes the weight of another box. Made in Yorkshire, which I mention for no reason other than approval.
Water containers
Shop-bought bottled water is the easy answer and keeps for a year or two. Containers are for when a cut is forecast and you want to fill up beforehand, or for fetching water from a bowser.
10-litre collapsible carriers, pack of two
Filling up before a storm
Fold flat in a drawer until needed. Ten litres is about as much as most people want to carry any distance.
25-litre food-grade container with tap
A proper reserve
Sits on the worktop with a tap, like a very boring bar. Heavy when full, so fill it where it’s going to live.
Aquaroll 40 litre
Fetching water for a family
The caravanner’s barrel. You roll it along by a handle instead of carrying it. Anyone who has queued at a standpipe will see the appeal at once.
What to skip. Reusing milk cartons for water. You can never quite wash the milk out, and you will know.