I happily won ModernSurvivalOnline.com’s Cansolidator Giveaway a couple of weeks ago. The item is the Cansolidator “Pantry” which fits 40 cans and is available from Shelf Reliance. I’m not a paid sponsor, just reviewing the item since I have never used a food rotation item before. As you know, I am always on the hunt for an efficient way to store our supplies, since we are always so short on space in our apartment.
We finally decided on a spot to place it and were ready to assemble the Cansolidator.
Here is what it looked like while sitting on our countertop, right out of the box:
The instructions are pretty simple and I was starting to assemble it when my son got interested and decided he would do the assembly. I was happy to oblige, as this gave me time to empty out the designated pantry shelf. I actually found a few cans of chicken stock in the back that I had forgotten about.
Here is the way it looked getting assembled on the floor.
We started inserting canned goods into the Cansolidator and enjoyed seeing the cans slide down the path. We then emptied it out and tried moving it to the shelf and found that… it didn’t fit! Oh no! By now my husband was home and wanted to know what we were fussing about. He measured the shelf and found it should all fit, it just needs to be assembled INSIDE the shelf instead of outside. So they took it apart again and re-assembled.
Here is the first version:
This configuration was okay but we found a lot of cans were left out. So they took it apart and again and reassembled into the final version below:
Overall, the Cansolidator is a good item for organizing your pantry shelf. I originally had the mistaken notion that it is a space saver. It is not so much a space saver as it is a shelf organizer. We checked the expiration dates and positioned the items with the closer expiration dates so it is in front of the shelf. As far as the number of cans it can fit, it actually fit the same number of cans as when the cans were stacked on top of each other. However, because you can see more of what you have, it will help avoid waste. It performs well as intended: a food rotation system. I found a few cans were close to expiration, so this makes me aware that they need to be used soon.
A few tips if you are planning to use the Cansolidator:
- Measure your space before assembly, or you will find out the hard way, as we did.
- Group your cans by brand, size and expiration dates ahead of time
- The cans you have the most of will likely be housed in the Cansolidator to maximize the space
- Assemble the Cansolidator in the space it will be housed in.
© Apartment Prepper 2010
Cool. Good review. Thanks. I have been eying these up for a while wondering if they were really worth it. I’m still not sure if it is worth it for me to buy one, or make one that fits on my storage shelves with materials from Lowes or Home Depot. Just thinking out loud, however… 🙂
Now that you mention it, that’s a great idea, if you make your own, it will be certain to fit. I’d be interested to find out how yours turns out.
Great review and glad you like it.
By the way – I added your site to my blogroll.
Take care and stay in touch – Rourke
Oh, Baby!!! I want one! I was thinking about getting something like this. I saw something homemade on a Mormon website on food storage. Gosh! It was excellent. Now I can go look this up! Thank you so much. Next year is going to be more difficult than this one, and I moved an upright freezer into my kitchen-living room area of the apartment. Walmart has chicken breast, boneless and skinless, for just 1.77 a pound all this month. Next month it goes to 1.99, and the next month back to the 1.7 a pound. I am stocking up. My utilities are paid with the rent, so the extra electricity is not a problem. I can’t grow much, but I would love to grow green beans on the porch/balcony. And, broccoli during the winter. I love them both with chicken dishes. And, we are not eating as much red meat anymore. Chicken is just cheaper and we have learned to make our own orange-flavored sauce, lemon-pepper spices, and other dishes. I am in Phoenix and we have a lot of things available to us here and I am going to incorporate them into my apartment survival living.
I am glad this was helpful to you. It’s a good idea to stock up now while food prices are still reasonable, esp if next year is looking to be more difficult than this year. Good luck on the balcony garden, it is fun but takes work and some patience. My parsley got eaten by tomato horn worms (and I thought they only attacked tomatoes!) Thanks for the comment!