Once you’ve decided to start prepping one of the first things you need to decide is where to store your supplies and equipment. I am assuming for the purpose of this article that we are talking about your home or bugging-in supplies rather than bugging-out or off-site stashes. There are a few criteria you need to be aware of and what restrictions your home and environment place on you will determine the order of importance of those criteria:

Size

It may seem obvious but you need somewhere that has adequate space for your needs. A cupboard may be big enough to start with but how quickly will you outgrow it? It is inevitable that your supplies of food, water, equipment and clothing will grow over time so you can either start with a smaller space and worry about expansion at a later date or start with a space which you anticipate will be large enough for the future.

 

Temperature

This applies mostly to food and water but could have an effect on other things as well. Food and water have predictable shelf-lives if kept at a stable temperature whereas wide or regular swings in temperature can have a detrimental effect on water and many foods. Other items such as batteries are similarly affected and although extreme temperatures may be unlikely there are flammable items to consider as well such as oils, gases and other fuels.

 

Humidity

You need to keep your equipment and food supplies dry as moisture in the air will corrode metals and make dried foods unusable over time. Even books and maps you may have in your prepping supplies could be destroyed in this way.

 

Light

Most things last longer and maintain quality better in a dark environment from food and water to fabrics.

 

Security

If you have gone to the trouble and expense of hoarding your supplies, the last thing you want is for someone to come along and take it from you, either in your absence or by force. There is an element of security provided simply by the fact that no-one knows you have anything stored but WTSHTF there will be prying eyes everywhere and your supplies need to be in a secure and defendable location.

 

Weight

This is probably less of an issue unless one of your storage options is a loft in your home. The weight of your supplies needs to be calculated or measured and checked against the load-bearing capacity of the floor they will be sitting on. Lofts in modern UK homes are not designed to be load-bearing in any way whereas those in older houses were.

 

Cost

It is easy to spend money on grand storage schemes such as buried bunkers or containers or purpose-built outbuildings. Your budget will determine quite substantially what is achievable when it comes to storing your supplies. This applies from the overall storage location right down to the boxes, shelving and other storage of the supplies themselves.

 

Access

You obviously need easy (or at least not overly difficult) regular access to your storage location. This is both to store items in it and to retrieve them WTSHTF. In tandem with security, you want this access to be low-key and not raise attention so that you do not highlight that you have supplies nor where they are.

 

Could you live in it?

Some options for storage spaces for your prepping supplies have the advantage that they can also serve as a living area in the event of a TEOTWAWKI event. You can secure yourself in your bunker or basement and live off your supplies for a limited time. How limited that time is of course depends on the complexity of the situation and the preparations you have made to the area.