Food Storage: What Keeps the Longest?
Are you as disciplined as an Olympian? Do you record minute details and rarely forget anything that is far off into the distant future? Me either. That’s why when it comes to food storage it takes careful planning. Three cheers for those that properly rotate their food storage. We should all aspire to reach this goal for ourselves. But, if in your food storage gathering efforts you prefer mostly items that are set-and-forget, you are in good company.
Please don’t excuse yourself entirely from food storage rotation. Remember that it is wise to store what you eat, and if your family eats a lot of peanut butter, for example, it won’t hurt one iota to pull a jar from storage for use, and then replace it later when you have time to go to the store and pick one up as part of your normal grocery shopping routine.
But let’s face it, there are probably hundred of individuals and families out there (especially in Utah) who are even diligent about marking their food storage items with the date, but then let them expire without ever consuming these items. Admit it—it’s partly because you’re lazy, and possibly partly because you are storing something nobody really wanted in the first place unless they were desperate (powdered milk, anyone?). Another reason could be you have the food storage item(s) out of sight, out of mind. Cooking oil goes rancid after a range of 6 to 12 months unopened. If you aren’t constantly reminded of its presence, it’s likely you’ll forget about this item and let it go to waste.
So—what to store that will be a little bit more forgiving when it comes to time on the shelf? First let’s get into the factors or variables that shelf life depends upon. This should assist you in deciding what you should store. The kind of environment you have to store your food storage in makes all the difference. The USDA has said that each 10.08 degrees in Fahrenheit drop in temperature doubles the storage life of seeds.
If you have your food storage items in a cool, dark (but dry) basement you will see a marked difference in the amount of time the food stays good for as opposed to if you kept the food stored in a garage, which has a temperature fluctuation sometimes in the extremes depending upon the seasons.
Storing food at a consistent 60 degrees Fahrenheit or below will give you a very reasonable storage life—some 20 or so years. Another variable is the moisture content of the food product. For the grains, 10% or less is best. Spoilage happens too easily and quickly at percentage more than this. The conditions leading to rancidity matter a great deal. The stored food items should be as free from oxygen as possible so that bacterial growth doesn’t start. Oxygen absorber packets will do the trick. Obviously, the container which the food product is contained within should be also be airtight or the purpose is defeated.
Having taken all of the above factors into consideration, the best food storage items (in other words, those storing the longest) are the hard grains. They have a protective outer shell that shields from moisture and other types of “attacks” on their integrity. Wheat is the absolute number one best thing to store in terms of shelf life, but also in terms of what can be prepared from wheat and the variety of recipes it is used in. Hard red and hard white wheats and Durum wheat are all good choices. Dry corn works well, too. Soft grains such as barley and oats will store for about half as long. Beans and pastas have a decent shelf life (8 to 10 years, and 10 to 15 years, respectively), and under the right conditions dehydrated fruits store from between 10 to 15 years. White rice weighs in at about 8 to 10 years as well.
Buying prepackaged gourmet-type dehydrated and freeze dried foods is one of my favorite ways to store food, because let’s face it, it is so nice to be able to not to have to prepare something from scratch—especially in emergencies! The dehydrated and freeze dried foods have come a long way in terms of what is offered and taste. Whatever you should decide to store, store it well, remembering the factors and variables that will affect their shelf lives.
Related Posts:
Food Storage: Protecting Your Hard Won Foodstuffs
Food Storage: Enough and More (Plus Earthquake Proofing)
The Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Survival Readiness Pyramid
Adding to Your Emergency Food Storage- Building Without Burdening (That’s a Promise!)
Tags: dehydrated food, disaster survival, Emergency Preparedness, food storage, Food Storage, freeze dried food, Preparedness, survival
5 Responses to “Food Storage: What Keeps the Longest?”
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There are a lot of items that DON’T need to be packaged for long-term storage … ’cause they never go bad. Store them yourself in Ball/Mason jars. Save money! (There are a lot of companies that charge you a premium for long-term packaging … and it’s NOT needed. These products last a long time, as-is.)
that is great talk!!!
I heard wheat could store indefinitely. If so, WOW!
I don’t know the storage life of everything, but I am going to store mostly what I already eat and is my favorite, and just try to do a better job of rotating it.
I have learned that wheat can be used for so many recipes beyond bread, cereal, etc.