DISQUS

Food Storage Made Easy: How To Build Your Own Can Rotating Rack

  • LindaW · 9 months ago
    totally AMAZING!!! Thanks for the detailed instructions. It really helps to see the pictures, it looks doable.
  • Karen S-B · 9 months ago
    Thank you for this great idea! I am going to find some cardboard this week and make a few! Thanks again!!! Have a great week!
  • Michelle · 9 months ago
    Jodi - very cool. Tell your hubby that I am impressed (like he cares :>)

    All I can say is you made a video at 2 am. I am so too old for that!
  • sandra a. · 9 months ago
    Wow! what a great idea!! I have some cardboard and will be using it for my new rack. Thanks for sharing with us.
  • gaby · 9 months ago
    WOW!!!!!thank you for sharing these idea I love it!!!!

    know I will put my husband to do that for me jajaj!!! love it love it!!!!!
  • Sandra · 9 months ago
    Tell your hubby he ROCKS!!! That is sooo cool. When I first saw it and you said it was free .. I was like yeah, you had to buy the wood, THEN I saw you made it out of cardboard - FANTASTIC! :-) Just may have to try this sometime! :-D
  • cutie pie · 9 months ago
    I too thought that you used wood and then I noticed it was cardboard. Way to be resourceful. I know when I go to costco I always end up with a few boxes. Now I know what to do with them. Just one question. How many cans does it hold?
  • Jodi · 9 months ago
    Yes guys the best part is it truly is free (except for buying some glue if you don't have any good glue on hand). I just couldn't justify buying those expensive racks but I wanted to be able to rotate through them easily. And a big wooden shelf seemed like a pain as well. This was EASY!

    This rack holds 12 soup cans. My pantry can actually fit a little longer of a rack so my husband is going to make more for me that are a little longer and would hold one more can per row so up to 15 soup cans. Obviously the racks for bigger cans would hold less. He's going to make me those too so I'll update as we get them done (he is going to be a busy man, lol, but he's been being really sweet about it)
  • Grandma Lori · 9 months ago
    It looks kinda hard to do cold turkey. I wish someone would just make me some. Some of us aren't married to handy guys-just handsome.
  • k · 2 months ago
    Try TheCanOrganizer.com they are cheap and work great!
  • jweiss08 · 9 months ago
    I'm going to be asking Jodi's husband to make these for me too... Grandma Lori, maybe you should too
  • Give LDS Gifts · 9 months ago
    Great post! My husband has made two for me and I'm patiently waiting for more. I need to call a store and get more cardboard though. Great photos. Y'all did it slightly different than we did, I'll have to show my husband so he can see if he wants to adjust how we did it.

    Thanks again!
  • Joanna · 9 months ago
    For all of you that need cardboard, come on over to my house! :D We have so many boxes in our basement (I swear it's a fire hazard), that I could probably set up a side business making these. @@

    I wonder if instead of just gluing the shelves inside, you could cut slots into the sides, make the shelves just slightly wider, and slide the shelves into the slots in the sides. Hmmm.... I have enough cardboard, I should try it that way.
  • Joanna · 9 months ago
    ps. How long did it take you to build the first one?
  • Jodi · 9 months ago
    Joanna, the first one took about 3-4 hours because we were trying to decipher the plans, document the process, take pictures, etc. Plus we didn't have the right kind of glue. For the next ones my husband is going to make a template and use that to cut out all of the pieces at once. He thinks he can whip them together in just a few minutes!
  • lisa · 9 months ago
    I've wanted to do that in my pantry since we built it, but hubby is to busy so this is something I can do myself.
    Great idea using cardboard.
  • pam · 9 months ago
    Thanks for sharing, I been wanting some of those fancy racks, but just haven't brought myself to spending all that money for them, I have even ask my husband to make me some, well how I have a pattern, maybe I could do it, or I'll just hand it to him and say go for it....Thanks
  • Diane McGuire · 9 months ago
    I don't see the little piece of wood in your can rack that it shows in the original instructions. Can you just forget that? Being not so handy, I was wondering how I'd get the pieces of wood. Now, cardboard, I have. I want some of these!!! Thank you for the instructions.

    dicity
  • ola senor · 9 months ago
    for those who are less handy with the glue - I made a mocked up version using tape. I used a strong strapping tape that worked just fine.

    I would suggest drawing a mockup of the placement on the inside of the carboard, to make sure you get the placement right.

    Another suggestion would be to insert toothpicks through the sides and into the cardboard shelves to hold it in position as it dries.
  • TracyinSC · 9 months ago
    You and your husband have officially rocked my face off!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to figure this out for us, and documenting it so well. As I've mentioned before, I'm such a visual learner, and this is perfect for me. I can't wait to give it a try. And now all I have to do is figure out another way to spend all that money I was planning on one day spending to buy racks... Thanks again Jodi. You're so sweet.
  • Libby · 7 months ago
    The paint makes the whole thing more sturdy...think about a roller brush that you didn't remove last time you painted. It's not going to budge! Although all white boxes are prettier there is function behind painting them. Great blog.
  • Myranda · 7 months ago
    This is the coolest thing ever!!! I can't wait to make one! Thank you so much for everything.
  • Natalia · 7 months ago
    I did cut the slots and slid the cardboard shelves, worked great. Used duct tape and works perfectly, make sure you secure the shelves you are sliding with the tape as well. And the best part is you don't have to wait for anything to dry! THANKS SO MUCH FOR THIS! it made may day!
  • Judy · 7 months ago
    Great idea. We are planning a class in Relieft Society to teach the sisters how to make them. Had a great repsones to this. Here in Canada it is to expensive to have rotating shelving shipped. Thanks again
  • Vicky Hilton · 6 months ago
    How many cans can these things hold. I just buy canned food by the cases at Winco foods. And teh stack the newest case under the others. I would like to see these built on a scale that would hold enough cans for 3 months food storage.
  • Jodi -- Food Storage Made Easy · 6 months ago
    Mine holds 12 soup cans. You could modify it to be a little longer and allow it to hold a few more cans. The versions for larger cans would hold less cans.
  • Jason · 6 months ago
    Here is a link to a more robust solution:
    http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Rotating-Canned-...
  • lmsfisher · 2 months ago
    I am having trouble disciphering the pdf file. On the "sides" row, what is "F 9 144)&B10X11 1/2" mean? What do the "F" and "B" stand for? I am a little slow I guess . . .
  • Jodi - Food Storage Made Easy · 2 months ago
    I have to admit, my husband deciphered this for me. But I think it is the front and back measurements.
  • lmsfisher · 2 months ago
    Sides and back have different rows . . . Hmmm . . . I don't know why this is so hard to click in my brain! I used your measurements for the soup can rack that you made. (THANK YOU BTW) Those turned out great! But then I went back to the chart to try to make a couple of the large fruit can sized racks and can't figure out the sides row. Has your husband made any of those for you? Maybe I can beg you for the measurements for those? :) This is SUCH a great idea--and I have TONS of cardboard to make these all day long! I want to get my pantry nice and stocked full of these!
  • Melissa · 1 month ago
    So, I found this site because my cousin was talking about how she is going to work on her food storage/preparedness and so I came to check it out. To my surprise, when I watched the video of Jodi's new can rotater, I found "hey, I know that girl". Hi Jodi, it's Hockey Scott's wife Melissa. So glad to have stumbled onto your website (what a happy random coincidence) and I'm going to add you to my links because you gals have a great thing here. ps - I think my co-workers all think I'm an idiot because I just made such a big deal about this new found connection and made them all watch the video so I could declaim "I know her"
  • Jodi - Food Storage Made Easy · 1 month ago
    Hey Melissa, that is so funny! I'm glad you find our site :) If you want to impress your friends even more, we were just on Studio 5 today, check it out! http://studio5.ksl.com/?nid=59&sid=8253097 hehe.
  • claire · 2 weeks ago
    can you tell me what you mean by a quick-drying tacky or gel type of glue. I'm not very familiar with glues...a brand name would be so helpful. Thanks. Also, how have these held up for you long term? any changes you would suggest? Thanks