Basement Food Storage Room

See our food storage room! I’ll show you what we store and how we organized the basement food storage room in our country cottage.

Well, we’re a couple years into our remodel of the Lavender Blue Cottage. A lot has certainly changed around here. Now, we can add one more room to the list of “improved spaces” – our basement food storage room. Thank goodness!

This space was formerly dark, scary, stinky and poorly organized, but I had a vision. I wanted to create a food storage room that was bright, happy and charming.

Something along the lines of a little country grocery store where we could easily stash and retrieve food items without needing to gather our courage first.

I think we did it, and I’d love to show you everything. Let’s take a look at our food storage organization, what we store and how we added a touch of country cottage style to this important space.

Watch the Video

Join me for the video tour by clicking on the YouTube button below.

Dark and Scary to Light and Welcoming

Step one of this storage room remodel was tearing out the old shelving, replacing the flooring, and painting everything Dayroom Yellow by Farrow and Ball to lighten up the room as a whole. I wanted this room to feel quite different from the blue basement family room right next to it.

If you’ve had a cold storage room or a root cellar, they can feel like dungeons. This was going to be the opposite of that. A basement pantry that we were happy to visit.

New Food Storage Room Shelving

Although there was shelving in this room when we moved in, it was moisture damaged and in serious need of a refresh (the mice had also been using this room as their club house). We wanted to store mainly food items in here, so we took out all the yucky materials and rebuilt while also tightening up any nooks and crannies.

We opted for wrap around shelving along the three main walls. Shallow shelves on the top for smaller items like canned goods and glass jars, and a deeper shelf on the bottom that we designed to hold 5-gallon buckets of food storage that were stacked 2 high and 2 deep. At the transition from deeper to shallower shelving, we installed a wooden countertop.

Short Term Food Storage

As I mentioned, we installed some shallower shelving up high with to hold everyday items like cans, jars and packages of food. Mr. TIDBITS installed a removable wood slat along the front of each shelf to keep everything safe in case of an earthquake.

These upper shelves contain most of what I consider our short-term food storage. These are the everyday items that we regularly use. My goal is to have about 3 months’ worth of short-term food storage on hand at all times.

To organize these smaller items, we used crates, bins and can rollers that keep like items together and allow us (in the case of cans) to rotate out the oldest items first. It makes stocking the storage room so much easier!

I often store items that come in soft packaging within totes to keep them safe from damage and pests. The mice will have to party somewhere else!

Long Term Food Storage

For long term food storage, we have a collection of #10 cans filled with freeze dried goods and 5-gallon buckets filled with things like rice, oats, and grains. I always keep my wheat stored in berry-form (un-milled) because an un-milled wheat berry will hold onto its nutrition for decades. Amazing, right!?

I try to have a 1-year supply of long-term food storage that gets continually rotated. In fact, we designed our countertop to be deeper to accommodate those big buckets. They hang out behind the cute gingham curtains.

Non-Food Storage

I know I call this a food storage room, but we keep several other items of daily use in here. Things like soaps, toothpaste, feminine products, toilet paper, and so on.

I try to make sure we won’t run out of these items by replacing them as they are used.

I try to keep track of how much of each item we use in a month or year, so that I can calculate how many I need to be fully stocked for my short-term or long-term goal. Stock up when things go on sale!

Making it Cute

Last, but not least, let’s talk about the cute factor.

Remember how I had that vision of a cute little country store in my head? That image, along with our butler’s pantry from the pole barn home, inspired me to hang gingham curtains to hide the buckets sitting below our counters.

When I say hang, I really mean it. Those curtains are nothing more than tablecloths which I already owned. I wanted to be able to still use them as tablecloths when the need arises, so I simply folded each in half and hung it over tension rods with a little fluffing and bunching for effect.

No cutting, no sewing, and you can believe they’ll still grace our tables on occasion. Maybe someday I’ll get around to sewing cabinet curtains like these, but for now, this will do nicely.

I had a narrow table that just happened to fit the dimensions of this room perfectly. Not only is it cute, but it has proved to be super convenient. I use it all the time when I’m filling buckets, repackaging food or just organizing. The perfect finishing touch!

Shop our Basement Food Storage Room

Do you need some organization or charm in your food storage room or kitchen pantry? If so, you should head over to my TIDBITS & Company Food Storage Moonsift page. You’ll find all the items I used in this room makeover, including links and product details.

Special Announcement!

Exciting News: My new 100% Whole Wheat Yeast Breads with Freshly Milled Flour cookbook is finally available! Inside it you’ll find my best-of-the-best recipes for all different types of yeast breads from cinnamon rolls to pizza crust. You’ll also find wonderful information about grain options, freshly milled flour nutrition, and tips and tricks for baking with whole wheat flour. We want you using that wheat that you store up! Get your copy today!

Tour Other Rooms

I sure to love this little basement food storage room and the peace of mind that it gives me. Making it a bright and happy space has been delightful.

Do you have any tips for making the most of your food storage? If so, I’d love to hear them. Comment below!

If you want more inspiration, checkout some of my other room designs. Enjoy!

• Country Cottage Yellow Bedroom Ideas
• Shared Kids Closet Design Reveal with Rolling Library Ladder
• English Cottage Pantry Makeover
• Our Butler’s Pantry Reveal with English Country Charm
• Homeschool and Study Room Decor Ideas
• Homeschool Room Reveal
• Small Home Office Ideas: Tour our Shared Office