Shelf Life and Food Storage Information

@arleigh we know to can and store what we eat, this thread was about shelf life of food not whether you should store or can.

I love cheese powder for popcorn, brocolli etc its shelf life in a jar with oxygen absorbers is supposedly 3-5 years
this one is pricey at 8oz for $9
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DUF3O32/?tag=survivalmonke-20

this one is more manageable and the ingredients are comparable. 16oz for $9
I won't get the stuff from Kraft as they have some additives I don't care for like partially hydrogenated oil and corn syrup
Gourmet spices, herbs, essential oils, potpourri, green tea - bulk and wholesale

 

@ Arleigh, We are doing that now the rotating thing. Most canned goods say about 2 years to expiration date. So we have a two year rotating food plan. But I dont see that as being enough. We do have a lot of long term staples like the beans and Rice. Coupled with our lake, Rabbits, chickens and hunting efforts this gets us another year but this is still not enough. I need more long term stuff that will still be good long after Im dead. More rice and beans is #1 on the list as are salt and sugar. I am however now of the mindset that freeze dried foods with a 25 year shelf life are a must to long term survival plans. Store them and dont look back. That is the huge plus side. Grow what you can , raise what you can and forage what you can and those practices will stretch out these long term preps and short term food supplies. I am going order a bulk buy of canning lids , over 3000 lids in the box. Also going to buy 365 Tattler lids . One for every day of the year. We have about 500 jars. I think canning supplies are absolutely crucial and yet the hardest thing to drop the cash on as they dont feed you right now. How are you going to can goods? Wood fire?? Im storing 10 ,20 pound propane tanks two for each year for 5 years . Then I will have to go to a jet stove wood fired . Jet or rocket stoves ar easy to build and fuel but require constant attention to keep the temp steady. Pressure canning is much tougher to use wood. Water bath canning is easy. We have already done it. I have three rocket stoves already to go. Two Propane cookers and one Propane camp stove. I have three totes full of one pound cylinders for the camp stove and lantern. But canning supplies are very key to long term survival.

 

Last week we used up 4 cans of Freshlike Carrots. The expiration date was 2013. They were still good in fact quite tasty.

 

We had 2011 our caned peaches , do you work well

 

This great info I vacuum seal in 1/2 gal canning jars. This post will help my family a lot. How do I get to the new to the new member intro forum. I'm a little slow at this but usually get thanks

 

what is everyone's meal plan for a future scenario? I think I would go crazy if I ate white rice and beans everyday for two years.

 

We are trying to stock what eat and eat what we stock. We rotate through (when we remember) a lot of canned fruit and veggies and meats. We use pasta sauce and pasta. We have tons of granola bars (weeding them out to replace with something less grain filled), flour, chocolate for baking, sugar, etc.

Beans and rice will be a once a week or maybe twice a week meal.

 

@cattlebandit Originally I chose 7 breakfast and 7 lunch meals that my family and I liked. then for dinner planned soup to eat with bread that was cooked mid day. So that cooking only has to happen once a day. For me this was simple and doable.

I tried to find the video of the woman who came up with this idea but I can't find it. Its a brilliantly simple idea and lets you plan meals and stock up based on what you and your family like to eat. I have a Condiments from scratch that has a shopping list and recipes you can down load here
Recipe - CONDIMENTS from scratch with shopping list | Survival Monkey Forums

Condiment and Sauce Hacks - DIY Condiments | Survival Monkey Forums

everyone needs some flavor for their beans and rice =)

Since that original planning I have added some things as our diet has changed. i added wheat and barley and some other seeds nd nuts so we could sprout more for greens if needed. Wheat keeps forever and barley almost as long if sealed in an airless or nitrogen rich environment.

In the garden I went to looking for plants that add micronutrients back into the diet. Things that were high in vitamins and minerals. and that worked out to be basic gardening. I am still working on getting moringa tree's established .... if I ever get them going they will do great here but they keep drowning in the pots. Monsoon is killing me with this.

Hope that helps

PS go to the bottom of this thread and there are related posts on food. The mods have really done a nice job with tags for threads.

Good Luck!

 

Hey thanks for the gentle reply. I've been living off of rice and lentils I zip lock stored in buckets two years ago and can handle it but my body certainly prefers raw buckwheat, rye bread and dairy products, along with garden vegs. Got some mylar bags this time and more money scaped together to store mostly organic bulk foods. Thanks for the list.

 

Dairy products like cottage cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, eggs, yogurt tahie storage period is 1 week refrigerator and 1 month freezer, though it may vary a bit for each of them. Egg containing products last 1-2 days in refrigerator. Check for food.unl.edu for more info. Smoked fish upto 10 days in refrigerator and 4-5 weeks in freezer

 

Shelf life SPICES
If spices and herbs are kept as we have discussed the shelf life will be as follows:

Whole spices and dried herbs, leaves and flowers will keep 1 - 2 years.
Seeds will keep 2 – 3 years and whole roots (i.e. ginger root or galangal root) will keep 3 years.
Ground spices and herb leaves keep 1 year.
Ground roots will keep for 2 years.

What is the Shelf Life of Spices and Herbs?

Grest post on chile vs chili as well

Dried Chiles | Dried Chilies, Dried Peppers

 

YES

 

I think cattle rustlers back in the day were hung....the hanging wasn't to improve their edibility, and their shelf life was very short once neck stretched.

 

it's really unbelievable listing. Thank U

 

We have been going through some of our older LTS food as well as some boxed rice, noodles, Hamburger Helper (when it was still called Hamburger Helper and not just Helper..LOL) as well as some nuts that were about 5 years old. The boxed stuff is off, sadly, as are the Hamburger Helper and the nuts, especially the pinon nuts. They were all stored in a dark spare room, temperature controlled, and lasted about 3 years past their best by dates except for the nuts....they only were good about 1.5 years past best by date. Pasta is still going strong as are canned goodies. Wheat berries are still looking and tasting good.

Fortunately, we had eaten down the things that were off, so didn't have much waste.

Kajun

 

Five years ago I did a longevity test of two dozen store bought eggs which I kept unrefrigerated in a cool, dark pantry in my basement. I coated each egg with mineral oil since the coating on a freshly laid egg is washed off during processing.

I tested two eggs once a week and the two images shown below are the last two I opened after 13 weeks. They were completely fine, looked and smelled great and tasted just as good when I scrambled them up! With no sign of any degredation I am convinced they would have lasted a lot longer. I just never bothered testing any further.

Week 13 Results by Imasham posted May 7, 2017 at 14:07

Week 13 Results - Closeup by Imasham posted May 7, 2017 at 14:07