With the New Year just around the corner, many of us are looking forward to 2013 with a whole list of new resolutions and tasks we hope to accomplish. That’s what starting a new year is all about – creating (and hopefully fulfilling) New Years resolutions. But before we settle for the traditional resolutions of losing weight, eating healthier, or visiting every state in the U.S., why don’t we decide on one or two that can help build up, manage, or improve our personal food storage. I’ve picked out just a few here that we can adopt for ourselves, but their are plenty more that we can “resolve” to accomplish in 2013.

Resolution #1: Improve my Water Storage

I’m willing to bet that this is the “big one” that we are all struggling to meet. And when you think of how much water you would need, it makes total sense! One person needs 3-5 gallons of water each day for cooking, cleaning, and of course, drinking. Throw a family of four into the mix and we’re talking about 12-20 gallons just for one day of survival. For many of us, 20 gallons is probably all we currently have right now in our food storage pantry.

So how do we meet this resolution in 2013? For those of us with the space, more water tanks and drums are needed and continually rotating that water out (every 6 months to a year) is also important. For those tight on space, simple tools sold in our own retail stores, such as WaterBOB storage containers or AquaPail water filtration buckets can give us water storage and filtration abilities without taking up too much space.

Resolution #2: Learn a new Food Storage Skill

There is always something new we can learn, especially when it comes to food storage and survival. With all the great classes offered through our Honeyville retail stores, and the amount of information we provide through this blog and our website, there really is no excuse not to. Have you ever wanted to learn how to grind and mill your own grain? Not to worry, we have a blog post that shows you how you can begin to grind your own grain today! Wanting to know how to store all that great food storage after you open the can? Check out this post on resealing and storing your food. Want to start creating your own Meals in a Jar, but don’t know where to start? We’ve got plenty of great videos, taught by our own Chef Tess, on the Honeyville YouTube Channel. With all the options we provide at Honeyville Grain, there really is no reason not to learn and develop new food storage skills.

Resolution #3: Begin a Food Storage Rotation Cycle

Rotation is such an important part of food storage that we actually devoted an entire post on how to practice Food Storage Rotation. Too many of us spend hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars on food storage products, just to leave them on a shelf in the basement for years on end. We’re waiting for that big disaster or emergency to hit, all while the shelf life of our food decreases. If we spent hundreds of dollars on groceries, we wouldn’t just stick them in the cupboard and say “I’ll only use this food during an emergency!” The same applies for our food storage. Taking time in 2013 to rotate our food storage into our daily cooking and baking needs helps us keep a fresh supply of products in our food storage pantry. It also gives us a sense of what food storage items we’ll use more of, and which one’s we may not need at all.

These are a just a few resolutions that we can use to make the New Year a food storage success. What are some that you can think of?