From the title I thought you were asking about how to go about setting up a short/medium/long term food storage to have on hand for things like you can't get out for some reason or your income has been cut severely. And how to store the items if you don't have a large pantry or a spare room/basement to store them.
I have done food storage for emergency preparedness in a home that is under 800 sq ft and in a home that is over 3000 sq ft for a family of 4 plus as a single person in everything from a single room with a shared bath and access to a cafeteria for breakfast and lunch weekdays plus a small kitchen (fridge and microwwave only. The women's dorm had the dorm parents-elderly couple in their late 70s and mid 80s-take the toaster oven away because it was dangerous and someone might start a fire. The men had dorm parents in their 30s and they had a toaster oven. Women couldn't go into the men's dorm but they were kind enough to cook the things for us and bring them out and we would eat together on the steps) to a glorified efficency apartment to that under 800 sq ft house that I did share with a roommate for a short while.
Needless to say I have stored food under beds, in closets, behind couches in plastic totes along with on shelves in panties, in a large kitchen, and in basements and even in garages for canned goods.
Dry hot cereal I generally transfer into a hard plastic container that I can remove the lid-I have a variety of styles because when I mention certain ones I want for gift giving occasions I end up getting something similiar so some are push button lids and others are a hook style. Plus when you have been collecting things for over 20 years syles change. The one exception is a hot cereal was originally manufactured in my town and moved to another town in my state (less than 2 hour drive away) when it was going to be completely shut down and some families banded together to puchase the equipment and moved it using their own pickup and trailers. You can get the cereal in a 1/2 gallon pail and we have one of the 7 grain that I use in place of oatmeal in the same recipe as my oatmeal cookies. I will add chocolate chips and raisins and make what we call cowboy cookies. The cereal has high-protein, hard red spring wheat, soft red wheat, soft white wheat, oats, barley, rye, triticale, and spelt. It comes in a roasted and an organic variety.
My regular brand of flour I can get in a plastic style bag with a resealable top and I have started to purchase sugar both regular and powdered and brown in containers that can be resealed. I have powdered sugar that comes in bags and others in a can similiar to a pringles can with a lid. This is because there are times that we take items to a group that we use powdered sugar in and we need to use the one that is in the can because we have one kid (my 15 year olds best friend) who is allergic to corn. Most powdered sugar that you can purchase off the shelf at places like
walmart have corn starch in it to keep it from sticking. In the cans tapioca starch is used to prevent the caking and clumping together. It does cost more and it is a sweeter tasting especially for things like frostings so we use the bags for when we go other places or just make something for our family. While most of my recipes that use powdered sugar call for 2 pounds a time so I use a bag or two and don't have to keep it from spilling I like the ones in the containers for when I need to just sprinkle a little on something like crepes or french toast.
