Found this page today, figured I'd post it here, and see what the general consensus was. I haven't stocked any long-term food (bags, buckets or cans), opting, instead, to work on stocking up my beans, rice, etc (stored in Mylar bags, in buckets). At first glance, the points seem pretty sound. What say you, Monkeys? 5 Food Storage Lies to Watch Out For - LPC Survival
Pretty accurate I'd say.....especially the pouches.....my understanding is they are good for 5 years or so, but I have no first hand knowledge to confirm that. I do know I've tried some surplus freeze dried pork chops that were 17 years old at the time, in #10 cans, and after re-hydrating in water in the fridge overnight, they were quite tasty. We store all our long term foods at the lowest temps possible, probably averaging 60 degrees.
The milk pouches sold by the LDS have a 20 year shelf life at 75 degrees or less. Since they are a not for profit, sell mostly to their Mormon membership and have been in the food storage business longer than anyone you will find on the net; I believe them on the milk pouches and all the canned storage shelf lives. They have no reason to lie or enhance. In fact it would likely be a mortal sin for them to do so. I buy a lot of it.
BEFORE you buy, investigate the company. How long have they been in business? Do they have any other "related marketing lines"? What, if any, package facilities do they own - or do they just sell re-branded "food". If based in Utah, look at what other business line they won. Has the product been reviewed or tested by independent (non-reseller related) people or firms? Does the company describe their food and packing QC procedures or tests? Are they FDA/USDA/ISO 9000 or 9001/other National or International organization certified? Does the company reveal source of food sold????? This is a big deal as a lot of Freeze dried food now sources from China. Compare listed ingredients! For example, do they use real milk or cream or do they use "dairy creamer" which is neither dairy nor cream based.... BUYER BEWARE
Had good luck, 10 years or so storage experience , with food from the Church of Latter Day Saints, bought from them. Problems were after 10 years the beans got a little harder to cook, and it is survival food, not neat little freeze dried packets that you add water to. On the other hand it is inexpensive, takes up very little room, has little of no salt, and is easy to rotate. They are very honest in the calorie count and what it would really take to actually live on their food, furnish recipes that actually use their food, and honestly require that you rotate your fats and oils as they do not store well. Same can be said of almost all of the companies selling the classical food storage. While I do not fault the modern pouch food systems, my wife has had open heart surgery and does not wish to repeat the process now and if TSHTF. that level of medical care will not exist, and most of the good tasting add water pouches are much too high in sodium and sugars for her diet.
The basic rule of food storage is to, eat what you store, and store what you eat. Rotate your food . All of my dry foods are bagged in portion size then in a larger volume and then in the bucket. Each have O2 absorbers . I do not rely on vacuum , but the O2 absorber continues working should there be a slight anomaly in the seal. or the bucket gets damaged or chewed into by rats , yes ,I can show you several lids that rats and squirrels have chewed into . Include rat poison in your food hiding places . It will save you a fortune. Canned foods have been known to last 50 years in some circumstances. that does not mean it had much food value but it was eatable. Also any foods that might be slightly tainted (from my experience) can be dressed with vinegar to kill any offensive bacteria . Vinegar added to beans prevents gas.. Sometimes i merely add catsup to the beans and it is enough. same with french fries . Think about it, Catsup is mostly tomato , and on it's own will turn seriously poisonous .. BUT the presents of vinegar kills the bacteria that is harmful . And catsup is often not even refrigerated and even left open. If I have eaten some where and afterword feel a bit queazy , I first vomit what will be removed, then drink a shot of cider vinegar. Never been to an ER for for poisoning. If a can is bulging I'd throw it away in mulch, however there have been the odd occasion the taste was off a bit , but it was all we had, the vinegar works. Add it to the food first and give it time to do it's thing while cooking/warming. In a desperate situation you do what you have to . Not to derail the thread but. Another very important skill few know is knowing how to detect spoiled food. My wife chose not to learn and threw it all on me. Every one should have this skill NOW.
I cycled out all of my freeze dried foods in pouches and only keep a limited storage, now. The reason is because 4 or 5 years went by and some of it went bad. I mean, real bad (ingredients sticking together into a large ball of muck). I switched exclusively to #10 cans and only keep a few portable buckets of the pouches on hand now. Every 3 years or sooner, I use them up while hiking and either buy more or just pick up additional #10 cans of freeze dried food.
im with @Brokor on this, the freeze dried isnt long term its just light weight. #10 cans and of course the yearly canning which is a pita. but the food is better
Yeah, I've got a few pallets of Mtn House in #10's stuck away (you might recognize the photo as quite similar to one used on the website of a purveyor of fine foods that advertises on this website) for long term food in case we can't garden, but for our regular food supply, we use fresh, frozen, canned, and dried in that order. Fresh: Frozen (freezer row) Canned:
TnAndy, if envy is a mortal sin, I am in deep kim chee. Congratulations on all your hard work and planning.
TnAdny, like duane, I am envious! Nice work. Do you heat your greenhouse/hoop house? If so, what do you use to heat it? Any opinions on Augason Farms LTS foods in #10 cans?
MPL, We have tried some solar hot water (pex in the floor), without much success (not near enough tubes), and have a wood stove in there as well, but mostly we've found lack of daylight hours is the more limiting factor than heat. We now use it as 'season extenders'.....getting an early start on spring things, and carrying past fall frost (around 1Oct here) up to around Christmas. If the stuff is up and growing good in the fall, it will do til around then.....but January/Feb are pretty much no go. No nothing about Auguson Farms stuff.......... For example, we picked the last green beans around Thanksgiving, broccoli up to Christmas. We'll use frost blankets down to around low 20's, below that, blanket + fire in stove. Now, have peas and onions planted, tomatoes in the smaller, warmer greenhouse are up to the 2 leaf stage, they will go in the main house about end of first week of March for tomatoes end of April/1st May. April 10th is our last normal frost date.
Probably not as heavy I'd guess. These vary from 1-2.5oz per sqyd.....so they're fairly lightweight, made of a spun olefin fiber, and do something like 40% light transmission. Single layer of the 2.5oz stuff is good for 10 degrees below ambient temps. Most of the stuff we have left by Christmas is cooler weather stuff, like greens/broccoli, which will take 27-28 degrees easy as long as frost free, and with the blankets (we'll double over), good down low teens. With the wood stove, I can keep it in the upper teens as long as we don't go below zero outside. A.M. Leonard Tools for the Horticultural Industry since 1885.
