One thing that every prepper quickly learns is that several hundred, or a couple thousand as the case may be, cans of food takes up a LOT of space and create a rotation management mess! Unless you’re keeping those cans shrink wrapped in a case (thank you case lot sales), a shelf full of cans quickly becomes a garbled mess of who knows what in which spot – that part could actually be a personal situation caused by having 8 kids rooting around in the cans for something good to eat though. The point is though that a good prepper has tons of cans of food and they can become cumbersome. Enter the Shelf Reliance Food Rotation System – or the Caninator as I call it.
This puppy is able to manage several hundred cans for you, making it so you don’t need to think about rotation or organization too much. Here’s how we use it: wrapped cases of cans are stored on shelves and are generally not touched. Open cases are loaded into the caninator and when a can is needed for cooking, we grab one from there. Can slots are allowed to run down (as you can see) and when they are low enough, a new case is opened and loaded in.
This unit is the Pantry 72″ model which I believe we picked up at Sam’s Club for around $250 some time back.
The Caninator features a double shelf rolling system. You load a can on the upper shelf and it rolls down to the bottom shelf from which you can retrieve it.
The loading system makes it naturally rotate your cans and also makes it very easy to inventory so you can restock what’s been used.
The frame is made of the same material and is assembled in the same way as a metal shelving system. The can roller shelves are made of plastic and their width is completely adjustable. You can order additional can roller shelves online or go to their storefront and purchase them in person at 810 N 2800 W in Lindon just west of the freeway at the American Fork/Pleasant Grove exit or call them at 877-743-5373.
It does take some time to assemble the unit, but once you’re done, it’s done.
I highly recommend this product! Once we set it up, we were able to empty two full shelves out of pantry – it is an investment well worth the money! The other small benefit is that my younger kids love to put cans in and see how far they’ll drop. We are currently planning on getting another Caninator to keep our existing one company and to clear out some more room.
Today they have a great write-up on canning food you’ve purchased in #10 cans. They have several pictures that walk you through the process of using a canner at home to dry pack food you’ve purchased at the store. This can be wheat, rice, pasta, sugar, salt, or any other dry food you can buy in bulk.
