Get Prepared the right way! When creating your emergency & food storage plan you need to make sure you have a place to keep it all! There are so many emergency preparedness and food storage binders out there, but my favorite by far is the one I’ve made myself.
When you make your own you can customize it however you like and add or take away whatever information interests and pertains to YOU! Below I list some of the things I have in mine, but feel free to change yours up to whatever makes you happy.
The best part about having a binder, is now you have a place to store all the great info you’re printing off from this website! Hint Hint :)
Emergency & Food Storage
BINDER SUPPLIES:
- 2-Inch BINDER – I went with a 1.5 inch, but I wish I got a 2 inch binder (you fill it up fast). Make sure to get a fun color so you like to look at it and especially open it :)
- 8 MAIN DIVIDERS (Large) – Get a pack of 8 Large Divider Tabs, you want them bigger than the categories that will go behind them. I also ended up getting ones with pockets, because they’re just cute!
- 24 CATEGORY DIVIDERS (3 Packs of 8 each) – I got 3 packs of smaller dividers and these go behind the Main Dividers for the different categories.
- BINDER TAGS – You can print the ones I used here: BINDER TAGS. I put them in order. The ones in CAPS are the Main Categories and the Lower-Case ones are the sub-categories that go behind.
- COVER PAGE – You can print off the cover page and label for the spine of the binder here: COVER SHEET.
Emergency & Food Storage
BINDER TABS:
1- PLAN
This tab you will be putting your Family Plan and everything that goes with it! If you don’t have a plan yet, don’t worry, I will bug you until you do!
- INVENTORY – Here is where you put your inventory list of all the items in your food storage. At least once a year you need to review and update what you need to buy, change, or add.
- DISTRIBUTORS – Put a list of all your supplies or places you order from. I keep a few extra order sheets and price lists here so I can have it next time I need to order.
- ORGANIZE – You can make spreadsheets where your food is located in your house, ideas, or whatever helps you stay organized in this section.
2- RECIPES
Put all your Favorite Food Storage Recipes here, or at least the ones that are in your Meal Plan. You can categorize these however you like, but these are the categories I did:
- BREAKFAST
- MAIN MEALS
- BREAD
- DESSERT
- EXTRA
3- REFERENCES
This section is critical, especially when putting together your plan. It has everything you need to put together an effective and accurate plan.
- SHELF-LIFE – How long does food last? I keep all the Shelf-Life information for different foods here.
- EQUIVALENCE – I have lots of equivalency charts that help me out so I don’t have to do the math.
- SUBSTITUTIONS – There are so many ingredients you can substitute for other ingredients, which has definitely come in handy.
4- FOOD BASICS
Learning to use some of the different grains, soak beans, sprout, and so much more can be tricky. This section is to help organize all the great knowledge you are accumulating and know how to best use all the food you are storing.!
- GRAINS
- LEGUMES
- SPROUTS
- FATS
- DAIRY
- BAKING
- PRODUCE
- WATER
5- PRESERVE
Food is NO Good unless you know how to store it and preserve it.
This section is dedicated for all your canning, dehydrating and other knowledge that can help you preserve and store your food.
6- EMERGENCY PREP
You can’t forget the emergency preparations that need to take place! This section is broken down to all the things you need to have or know how to do in those worst case scenarios.
You never know when you might be without power, water, need to evacuate, or maybe even administer 1st Aid.
- DISASTER KITS – Sometimes you need to leave home fast, put everything you need to take or get ready in this section.
- ALTERNATIVE COOKING – It’s not always certain if you’ll have power, especially after a natural disaster. Knowing some alternative cooking methods can make all the difference.
- SANITATION – Sickness can take over quickly if sanitation procedures are not followed in a disaster. Do you know how to do laundry, have a back-up toilet, or enough hygiene products to keep everyone clean?
- 1ST AID/MEDICINE – Learning some basic 1st Aid knowledge can really benefit you, especially if getting to a doctor quickly is not an option.
- DOCUMENTS – If you had to evacuate quickly what documents would you take? What about if you had your identity stolen? Take a little time now to know what to do before a disaster strikes!
7- GARDENING
For all the pros out there that have advanced to making their own food this section is for you! I can’t wait to start filling this part up with everything I learn from starting my own Garden!
8- OTHER
Take notes in this section, put handouts or whatever else you discover along your journey to self-reliance!
Now Start Filling Your Binder!
The more papers you have, the smarter you look, so here are some great resources to start adding some bulk to your emergency & food storage binder:
Favorite Preparedness Bloggers – Check them out! You will NEVER run out of great information, but you might run out of binder space!
Prepared Housewives – Click Print below any post and you can have this info forever!
Everything Under The Sun – If you print nothing else, this is a MUST! She breaks everything down into simple terms, and best of all has a wonderful Equivalency Chart that will help transform your Food Storage!
Peace of Preparedness – She has put many of her presentations and information on her site that you can print them off absolutely free!
My Food Storage Cookbook – Highly recommend this site to fill up the recipe section of your binder. Need some ideas of what to make or how to incorporate food storage items, this is the place to go!
Do you have an emergency & food storage binder? How do you organize and keep track of all your information?
Let me know if I missed anything!
I’m starting this notebook today!!! I just need links now so I can print off all of the content from each of your sections to put into mine! :)
I’ll try and keep posting things that are in my binder. You can also print off any posts that are helpful and stick it in your binder.
I went ahead and added where I got my content for my binder, so you can check it out and print off what you want.
where did you get your information for your binder I do not see it on here.
Most the info I printed off for my binder is from the Peace of Preparedness site & Everything Under The Sun handout. It’s mainly information I’ve collected from different websites, I just print anything that I find useful and stick it in there.
This is awesome – we have never thought of creating a notebook. Thank you for the advice.
Thanks!!! It’s a great reference, just in case my computer crashes :)
Absolutely amazing. I’ve been thinking about creating something akin to this for a while, but never could figure out how to execute it right. Your binder has filled my inspiration bucket and I can’t wait to start my own! Thanks!
Glad it could help! My problem was I had a bunch of binders, and wanted to try and condense to ONE effective one! Good luck with yours!
I had started a small binder, but nothing like this! Great post! I love the tip on how to separate and organize everything.
Great! I’ve loved mine!
Where did you find the different sized dividers?
I got everything from Office Depot.
Ok thanks!
We just found your site much easier to understand and we have a binder but yours is awesome so going to print everything you have available to print, thanks so much
Yippee~ Glad you found it! I’ll try and keep adding great resources for the binder as I go too! The sites I listed are some of my favorites though!
Thank you for this great information. I had a lot of old one inch binders I have been using to store recipes, how to make things like candles, soap, canning, dehydrating, gardening, and my favorite one is herbal preparations to stay healthy. You site has given the idea for emergency prepping. Thanks again.
Get a small zippered bag that attaches to the rings and put a flash drive in there with more back ups of documents, family pics,, etc. Or even burn a couple DVDs full of your stuff. Also, head shots(and pics of tattoos) of your family members and head/body shots of pets with any information on the written on the back, height, weight, etc. Really important paperwork should be laminated. Documents that should be included should be financial stuff(taxes, credit cards, bank info), marriage/death certificates, home ownership, medical history etc. Should also have some cash in the binder and/or a credit card with no balance, these can be put in the bag. The binder should be placed in your BOB(bug out bag) so it is easy to grab. Maybe even make 2 or 3 have them in your vehicle or place of work.
Awesome tips and ideas! Thanks for taking time to share! Maybe I’ll do a post just on your comment!
I have always canned almost anything I can get my hands on but never really thought of it as prepping! I have a question about white rice and dried beans. I have vacuum packaged them in menu sized portions with instructions on how to cook them, in the event I am not available. Are they ok in my pantry like this or should I be doing something different with them?
That should work fine too. I think that’s a great way to store individual meals or items. As long as they’re in a cool, dark place they should last awhile.
Great binder idea!
This site shows you where to locate edible plants. Just put in your zip. Of course this only captures a limited scope but I was surprised at the # that came up in Atlanta.
http://fallingfruit.org/
Good idea. I think I would include a section on animal husbandry for the animals I am raising with a list of their illnesses and remedies, what they eat and how much, how often to breed them and gestation times, etc. Cleaning schedules. All the basics of care. That way anybody could take care of the animals in a bad situation and keep them going, even if something happens to me.
What a great addition! I can’t believe I didn’t think of that! I’m not as advanced as you are with the animals though! Maybe one day I’ll get my own batch of chickens ;)
I cooked rice and pinto beans then dehydrated them and then vacuum sealed them in mason jars now they are more like instant and less cooking time means less fuel in an emergency. The rice is like ninute rice so fast love it
What a great idea! It’s so fun to see all the things you can dehydrate! That would come in very handy for an emergency!
I too love your binder. I have one along the same lines that I paid for and I like it too; it is a combo prepping planner/day planner – has things like family birthdays, vehicle maintenance sheet, winter maintenance sheet, and I like that too, but I wish I would have come across your’s first! ;)
Something else that I would include would be shelter and water. Great info thanks~!~
Love the idea of combining your binders! Also, great recommendations to add Shelter & Water!
Wow! How incredibly thorough and helpful! We just wrote a blog about how to prepare your cell phone in case of emergencies, check it out: http://weinsteinsecurity.com/blog/
Thanks for sharing this valuable info!