The Fine Line Between Preservation & Food Hoarding

My canning storage has it's own inventory list.

It is a fine line, people, I am telling you now, it's a fine line. Since I have done a ton of canning this year, I feel as though I am in a unique position to speak about this very important issue. Because you can can a ton of food and amass something that looks like doomsday prepping, but you MUST use it in order to call it useful.

One of the biggest problems is that people will preserve (either canning or freezing, and I just happen to do both) but then they haven't got a clue as to what is really in their freezer or storage room. SO, they don't use it... they instead keep buying items that they don't actually need.

I don't want to turn into a hoarder. I have seen the show, and it looks just awful. An otherwise well-meaning collection of food doesn't get eaten in a timely manner and the next thing you know, you've got 127 cats and they've eaten holes in your walls and some died in there. It's scary.

This is a great reason to stay organized, if you ask me.

To these ends, I had to take an inventory of my freezer. Because it had been far too long. And because I fear dead cats in my walls. I happen to have a stand alone freezer, which I find eternally useful. It was a gift from my dad for my birthday last year. Yep, I am just the sort of person who asks for freezers for my birthday. It's how I roll.

While my freezer may be a little smaller than some, I find it is mighty. It also has a dry-erase feature that I find to be a great helper in keeping track of everything in the freezer! I know exactly how much I have and I can adjust as I go. That is, if I keep on it. So I made a list of all the stuff in my freezer by carefully unloading it, bit by bit.

Observe: inventory list! 

 I also have an inventory for my canning closet, but that is a little easier to keep track of; mostly because it isn't shut inside anything and I can actually lay eyes on it. Next, I just carefully reloaded my freezer so that I could easily access all my items and then I transferred my list on to my freezer in dry erase marker. (If you are in the market for a freezer, I highly recommend the dry-erase version for this reason!)

Obviously, adding little designs that include hearts will make your freezer exponentially cooler. So no skipping on that step! 

Alright, so tell me: what do you need to get to this fall??? Do you know what is in your freezer and canning storage pantry? Are you relying solely on your memory for your freezer inventory or do you write it down? Leave me some feedback on how you are walking the line!