When space is an issue, improvise.

Creating hiding places for items can be a challenge especially if you don’t already have handyman skills and a large budget. Fortunately, there are some options that are easy to take advantage of a lot of cost and also without standing out like a sore thumb

Chest freezers; more than the obvious:

Chest freezers have the benefits of being fairly common, heavy, cheap to get used and not a big deal to own. How does this help when you want to store things or hide them?

• Chest freezers are commonly equipped with locks to keep young children from climbing in and becoming trapped. A lock on a chest freezer, even if not plugged in, does not seem out of place. This increases the security of items stored inside.
• Chest freezers range widely in size and can be kept in a corner of a laundry room, a storage shed, sun room or detached garage. Owning several is not uncommon.
• Chest freezers are large and heavy. Even in the unlikely case that someone wanted to steal it, the large size and weight of many units deters this and may arouse too much suspicion to be a viable option for a thief.
• If a thief enters your garage or storage space, he’ll steal items of value or immediate use. As a chest full of Frozen food rarely fits either of these categories, odds are a freezer will be ignored in most cases.
• An unplugged unit does not typically gather much interest.  If asked why it is unplugged, just state it is unplugged to save on electricity. If asked why it’s locked, simply state for “safety reasons”.

What can’t you do with several unplugged chest freezers?

• A large stash of freeze dried food stored inside of one is less obvious than a set of cans in the pantry.
• Guns and tools kept in a locked chest freezer are safer than those left on a work bench while blending into the background, since no one will think it is strange that the freezer is opened and closed periodically.
• Canned goods kept in a chest freezer outside are protected from the weather and buffered from extreme changes dues to the insulation.
• Store bug out bags or other valuable supplies in the freezer and leave it unlocked for quick and easy access. Lay a stack of towels, tools, or dirty rags on top to make it look like the freezer has been turned into a work surface.
• Unplugged chest freezers can be used to hide bottled as water stashes  are a key indicator that you probably have other supplies in storage.

“Dead” chest freezers are often available free on websites such as craigslist or in the thrifty nickel.  The only caveat is that you will need to be able to haul the freezer away.

When getting one of these for free be sure that the freezer comes with at least one key for its lock before picking it up.  If you want to make it easier on yourself, be sure that the owner has a “clear path” available for you remove it. Failure to do so will make an otherwise easy pick up a nightmare.  Also, keep in mind that if space is a major issue for you, upright freezers take up much less floor space. Also remember that any freezer that you get used should be washed out and scrubbed thoroughly.

When it comes to storing your supplies and avoiding being an obvious target to those less prepared than you, sometimes it is best to hide things in plain sight.

Check out these related articles from our site:

17 Clever Food Storage Tricks

Getting Started with In-Home Food Storage

5 Food Storage Lies You’re Being Spoon Fed Right Now