Guide to packing food for a move

Moving your entire household is not an easy task to do. You need to spend a lot of hours planning your move, realizing details, and in the end, put it into action. The first rule of every move is to look for moving services Washington DC near you. Relocating alone is a really hard thing to do, especially if you live in a big house with a lot of belongings. Movers are great for moving almost every item in your home. However, there are some different types of items that most of the moving companies won’t move. These items are known as the forbidden items to move and among them is food, especially perishable food. For this reason, it will be your job to pack and transport food to a new home. Here are a few tips for packing food for a move. 

How to start packing food for a move? 

If you decide to move your food, you should first contact the moving company to check if they are relocating food. It very unlikely but it never hurts to ask. Almost every type of food falls under the category of forbidden items to move, especially perishable ones. Perishable food is the one that gets spoiled quickly if they are not stored properly. The proper storage for this type of food is either a freezer or refrigerated storage. The most known perishable food is the following.

• Dairy products which include milk, yogurt, cheese, butter, and everything derivate from milk 
• Meat and poultry 
• Seafood 
• Cooked foods 
• Fruits 
• Vegetables 

There are also semi-perishable foods that don’t require freezing temperature but don’t have a long shelf life. The category of semi-perishable foods includes potato, pumpkins, salami, and onions.  

What kind of moving supplies you will need? 

Whatever you are moving with moving companies in Maryland or doing a DIY move, packing food will be your responsibility. As with any move and packing, you will have to find packing supplies. You will need to get plastic or cardboard boxes mostly in small and medium sizes, packing paper, packing tape, zip-top bags, and markers. For storing food during the transport, you will need to get ice chest coolers with gel packs or portable freezers. As you can see, there are just a couple of special packing supplies that you will have to get if you want your food to survive the relocation.  

Decluttering should come before packing food for a move

Not every food should be packed and moved. For this reason, before you start your packing, you should first check which food expired or is on the verge of expiring, and what food is just not worth moving. You can donate to local charities the food that is still good but it’s easily replaceable. The expired food should be disposed of properly. When you are in process of packing food, you should already think about what you are going to eat on moving day. The moving day is going to be very tiring and you don’t want to end up with a few unpacked cookies or cereals as a lunch option.  For this reason, you can eat for lunch leftover food or cooked food. This way, you won’t have to worry if they will spoil during the move and you will have a nutritious meal on moving day.  

What to do with alcohol? 

Alcohol is a strictly forbidden item to move for Washington DC movers. For this reason, you can decide between two choices, either you take with you or drink it before the move. Also, you can drink some part of these drinks and take what’s left with you. Consuming the spirits before the move doesn’t mean that you should do it alone the night before the move. You can throw a farewell party for your loved ones and you can use alcohol for that dinner. This party will not only help you to minimize anxiety when moving house but also it will a good chance for your friends to properly say goodbye. However, if you have some type of expensive wine or two, you should then find a professional for that type of transporting.  

How to pack dried and canned goods? 

There is an unofficial rule on how to pack dried and canned food. Cannes of food are usually small, but if put on the pile in one large box, they can be very heavy. For this reason, the larger boxes are reserved for lighter food like boxes of cereals or bags of pasta. The canned food should be packed in small or medium boxes or containers. If you are not sure where to pack something, just remember to put heavy items in smaller boxes and you can’t go wrong. If you find open boxes of sugar or flour, you should put them in sealable or zip-top bags. This way, you won’t end up with a moving box full of spilled sugar.  

Where to pack perishable food? 

Perishable foods like milk or yogurt are not worth moving across the state as you can easily replace them. However, you can store and safely transport frozen foods like meat and seafood in ice chest coolers or portable freezers. Just keep in mind that for ice chest coolers, you will also need the ‘blue ice’ gel packs to work properly. After you finished packing, you should label every box with a ‘Kitchen: Food’ and also ‘Perishable.’ 

You can’t forget the fridge when packing food for a move

After you finish packing food for a move, you should take care of your fridge and freezer. If you are going to move them also, you need to unplugged them and leave them for a couple of days for the freezer to defrost. Have them cleaned and packed properly. Also, you can’t forget to set aside snacks for the moving day. The long hours on the road will pass much easier with a good snack. You should prepare snack bars, maybe some chocolate, and fruits are also a good choice. Don’t forget plenty of water as staying hydrated is very important.