Daily Preparedness Tip: Date Everything

One thing that helps keep your food, water, and supplies in good rotational order is to get a Sharpie and date everything as it comes into your house.  The reason for this is two fold.  First, if you date perishables (like canned goods, meat, flour, batteries, etc) you can make sure that things are used in order (ie: you don't use steaks bought a month ago while steaks bought six month ago and buried in the freezer are overlooked and eventually become inedible) plus it will give you a good idea of how long products last in your home so you can use these terms for future planning (ie: date a can of coffee or bottle of shampoo when you first open it and when you finish it and throw the container away note how long it lasted.  If the shampoo lasted two months, it would take six bottles in reserve for a year's supply; if you went through a container of coffee in a month, you would need 12 containers of coffee for a year's supply).