I’ve been wanting a better system for storing our pantry/ food storage items but didn’t want to spend the money on one. The only ones I found were plastic or cardboard.. which lets be honest, no matter how well made will not last that long. I knew I wanted a FIFO style rack too. FIFO stands for first in, first out and makes food rotation a breeze. Not to mention you can fit a lot more in a small space. I wanted to make my own. And then I wondered why I was doing this to myself.
I started with the directions found here, then altered them to fit our shelving. Basically I made them deeper and longer.
You basically have two shelves at angles (so the cans roll forward) and dividers with slots cut for the shelves to slide through. Then add ends and a top.
I never got around to putting a guard in front, if you overfill this would be an issue but I don’t. I use the top for things I only keep a couple of in stock.
My main issue was getting the slots cut exactly right since they need to line up perfectly for the shelves to be able to slide through all of them. They need to be just so, because otherwise the cans will get crooked and stuck.
Luckily a friend came to the rescue with his plethora of tools and helped with that part. By the time they were actually together and finished they barely… BARELY fit on the shelves and I gave in and didn’t even sand or paint them. By that point I just wanted to put the dang cans in it and be done. I probably should have asked for help sooner but I was being stubborn. 🙂
Do I love it? Yes. Would I make one again? … maybe. Ask me in a few years.
