What are your tips for hiding food/valuables?

Holly Bradley - January 17, 2023

Advice

I was wondering where people hide their food/valuables? And by valuables, I’m talking about tools, solar panels, gasoline, medical supplies, etc… 

It gets to be quite a load, especially food for the family. I have a few ideas, and have a few stashes around our property, but I’d like to hear some other ideas please….

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 I was just about to write a post about this….stealthy hiding spots inside your house. I was looking at our home’s layout and realized there is a large empty void space above the stairs headed to the basement. It’s empty space. So I put out a call within my group for ideas for use of that space. One member has already put it to use. Unfortunately it isn’t stealthy, although he has plans to do something about that soon. I’ve also seen others use 6 inch PVC pipe hanging from basement ceilings for all intents and purposes, looking like sewer pipe, except for the screw on cap on the end. Great place for hiding stuff.

 

That’s tough for me, I just try to keep what little I have in areas of my house where people do not go to very often.  I put a bunch under my stairs or in my basement in box’s under blankets, which is better than nothing. If you have old wooden box’s as decoration in any of your rooms that’s a good spot also. Sometimes in plain view is well out of sight…

 

Not having a basement, I can identify.  But I have been lucky in the design of our home that we have a couple walk in closets.  When I needed to expand storage during the pandemic, I installed a shelf over a walk in closet door the entire width of the closet.  It’s hardly noticeable but it holds a lot of paper goods.  And if you have normal closets with a single shelf and clothes rod, adding a second shelf or two really can make a difference.  Same inside a kitchen cabinet – leave no vertical space unused.  And there’s always under beds.  I also added kick space drawers to a couple of cabinets when we remodeled – pet medical supplies go in one.  The other thing that has helped with medical supply storage is using shoe storage drawers under the bathroom sinks.  I can store and access extra hygiene and medical supplies under the larger items like toilet paper or cleaning supplies.  I also use cabinet door bins in all sorts of cabinets and not only on the doors.    

In the garage, we added storage racks mounted to the ceiling that clear the rolling door like these.  Tools are on hooks on one side, and pretty much everywhere else is shelves or hooks all the way to the ceiling.  I put shelves near the ceiling on either side of the entry door to the house as well as hooks below that.  Similar to the closets, a shelf was added above the garage door itself. You have to move cars and close the garage to get to it, but it’s a surprising amount of storage there. This is where most of the earthquake supplies are stored since it’s an external wall with a windowed door just below it.  I still need to store some tools outside of the house to break into that wall if necessary. 

Speaking of which, we also added storage under an external deck and then enclosed it with a metal panel skirt with hinges so it’s not visible but also accessible.  I could lock these if I need to do so.  Propane goes there as well as in our grill cabinet – which also stores some basic fire starting and other tools.  Water is stored in barrels and in AquaBricks in a niche on one side of our house not visible to the street or neighbors between a chimney and bump out.  We’ve also learned that under the furniture on our attached deck is a decent out of the way storage spot – currently it has extra lumber from the deck/fence repairs under there.  You could also camouflage storage for prepping.  I have water tight metal buckets that store birdseed out in the open that could store pretty much anything that fits and animals don’t get into them.  

I hope that has given you some food for thought.  

 

think vertical…airspase is oft unused. besides stacked to  the rafters put blocks (or whatever) under legs of couches, beds &c and viola…stash…

 

1. Use a food-grade airtight container and hide it in the ground. Dig a hole, place the container inside, and cover it with dirt or camouflage the area with plants or foliage.

2. Invest in lockable storage containers such as plastic totes that offer extra protection from both animals and humans. These can be kept indoors or outdoors depending on your needs and are great for storing extra food you don’t want people to know about easily.

3. Hide food behind furniture, wall hangings, bookshelves, etc., anywhere where it won’t be easily found but still accessible to you when needed.

4. Make use of natural hiding spots like hollowed-out trees or caves if you’re lucky enough to have them nearby (and they are safe). This works especially well if you need somewhere remote to hide large amounts of food or supplies – just make sure to mark the spot clearly so you can find it again!

5 . Install hidden compartments either inside your walls or floors where no one would think to look for your valuables – this is a great way to keep items secure without anyone knowing about them until it’s too late!

 

One small thing I do is store “kits” under the beds.  So instead of having ALL of my #10 cans in the basement, where I have lots of storage, I have a mixture of cans under the beds too.  For example in the master bedroom we have a can each of beans, rice, potatoes, apples, oats and – oh, I don’t remember but there is a variety!

That way if I am either robbed or a disaster damages what is in the basement, I at least have a good supply spread out in other locations.

This has happened naturally with medical supplies too.  By the time I have a kit in my BOB, my husband’s, the one in the car, and the one for the house, I’m already pretty diversified so if one kit goes missing it’s not a huge loss.  

For me one of the main points in being prepared is to live a life free of fear.  Shifting my attitude from “how can I hide this from other people?” to “how can I organize my supplies so I’m best able to help other people who might need it?” was a very healthy way to shift perspective and keeps prepping fun and abundant.  

 

@M.E,

“That way if I am either robbed or a disaster damages what is in the basement, I at least have a good supply spread out in other locations.”

This is excellent advice! Resilience is being prepared for the time your preps are gone / damaged / destroyed.

“For me one of the main points in being prepared is to live a life free of fear.  Shifting my attitude from “how can I hide this from other people?” to “how can I organize my supplies so I’m best able to help other people who might need it?” was a very healthy way to shift perspective and keeps prepping fun and abundant.”

This summarizes the best advice about a resilient attitude! A willingness to help others is prudent. It doesn’t mean we are naive, it’s all about readiness, resilience and community.

 

Agreed!  My storage locations aren’t about hiding it from others, but finding space to store it while 1) not getting ruined by fluctuating temperatures  2) still being accessible, but also 3) out of my own way as hopefully these are never needed.  

 

all my fuel is in cans in a tarphouse i built as a dog shelter inside my #135 American bulldog’s fenced area. motion lights and cameras @strategic points around (inside) the area where they can be seen but not easily accessed. then, the cans (gasoline/propane/kerosene ) are chained together w/log chain & padlock. as for groceries, water &c-those are in my alarm protected, door triple bolted w/leanbared basement. weapons we shall not cover here…hope this helps…