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Foods I'll never store long term vs. foods I'll always store

9K views 74 replies 17 participants last post by  Slippy 
#1 ·
Long term being more than one year's worth.

I will never do again: flour, nuts, dehydrated butter and eggs, dehydrated milk, most condiments, pancake mix. Evap milk. They go badly too quickly.

Things I'll always store: sprout seeds, bottled and canned meats, fish, bottled and canned veggies and fruits, honey, soy sauce, rice, pasta, canned soups, chili, corned beef hash..Anything from LDS Cannery is great. Salt, sugar.

How about you guys?
 
#2 ·
How about you guys?
I'm glad you started this thread. This is a topic where I am clueless.

We just laid in a modest amount of sardines in oil, simply because I like to eat them--reminds me of the day when men were men and sheep were nervous, but I digress.

They come packaged in air tight metal trays or canisters, further encased in cardboard sleeves. We store them out of the light in areas akin to the temperature and dryness of your average bedroom. However, all of this is at the behest of theories I have heard, not logic and study.

What should I be doing?
 
#6 ·
Sardines are an excellent choice. They've go omega three fatty oils. Canned salmon is good. Don't get the farm raised stuff. All kinds of sprouting seeds keep well, grown on your windowsill year round and you can't beat the nutrition. If you can, keep olive oil and coconut oils in the fridge or freezer.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Eh, I dunno...

More than 18 months, no. I have three of those 10 lb big boy sacks from Costco on the shelf and I'm thinking it was a bad move. Unless SHTF happens tomorrow, I overbought. We'd go through it pdq in an emergency, because it's a fast easy meal. But In business as usual normal times (like now) people here prefer other things, and I'm happy they do because pancakes are lacking in nutrition.

ETA: oils go rancid, so do nuts before 5 years time. Ask me how I know.
 
#7 ·
For sure in a vacuum sealed glass jar and/or mylar--both with oxy absorbers are best. I just haven't gotten around to that with the pancake mix. My bad. Well, actually I still have some pancake mix in glass jars from when I started my preps. I should check that out and see.
 
#8 ·
I limit most of my long term storage to dry goods ( Beans, pastas, rice, mashed taters, etc. ) and freeze dried. Although I do maintain some flour, powdered eggs, and milk. I have a lot of caned meats and vegetables, soups, and such that I rotate on a fairly regular basis. I don't store much alcohol, the stuff evaporates to fast. :tango_face_wink: I estimate that as of now, if I really regulate my intake, the wife and I can go at least a year, maybe more.

As I look around the current landscape of current events I have stepped up my storage here lately. I don't like what I am seeing and I have a bad feeling. So, as a matter of fact, I will be getting two more buckets of rice and beans put away this weekend.
 
#9 ·
I don't like what I am seeing and I have a bad feeling. So, as a matter of fact, I will be getting two more buckets of rice and beans put away this weekend.
I admire your resolve to buy the rice and beans, I'll suggest that to the real power behind the throne at my house.

As for fear, I find it a detriment. It makes me shake while I'm looking over the sights. Remember, it is not Valdez who is coming, but a little 29 year old Hispanic girl who can't get through a simple question and answer period without misquoting the Constitution...
 
#10 · (Edited)
Actually, I take back the oils. Even if I can't cook with them, I can still use them for oil lamps. Crisco is good that way. Long lasting for an edible oil, it's terrible for you, but I guess that's why it has a longer shelf life. All that hydrogenated "goodness". If it's rancid, canned foods with oil, same thing. Poke a hole in the top, stick a string it there and use it as a candle.
 
#11 ·
We've had OK success with instant non-fat milk from Augason Farms. 20 year shelf life and we used some that was around 8 years old and it was fine.

Dehydrated butter is good for about 10 years and I've yet to try some but we are getting close to the 10 year window with a few cans. I'll give a review when I crack into one.

But I agree that nuts, flour and pancake mix are difficult to store long term. I have read about Canning Butter and we may do a trial to see if it works.

Good thread to remind us to check our food stores regularly for dates! Thanks @Annie
 
#13 ·
Long term being more than one year's worth.

I will never do again: flour, nuts, dehydrated butter and eggs, dehydrated milk, most condiments, pancake mix. Evap milk. They go badly too quickly.

Things I'll always store: sprout seeds, bottled and canned meats, fish, bottled and canned veggies and fruits, honey, soy sauce, rice, pasta, canned soups, chili, corned beef hash..Anything from LDS Cannery is great. Salt, sugar.

How about you guys?
Did you store whole in shell nuts? That extends their lifespan considerably.

I decided to add dehydrated chicken #10 cans from mountain house to my emergency storage. They have a 28 year best by date. Added to beans, rice and spices it makes a nice meal.

When you store perishables it needs to be in rotation of what you eat daily. I choose to stock dried fruit more than canned fruit with exceptions. Dried mango is one of my favorites.
 
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#16 ·
Ya' know, not all of our members have a Costco a block away or one of my shiftless cousins on speed-dial. Yes, even the silk suit boys deliver.

I have been reading some of the "prepper magazines" in spite of myself. While the information may be questionable, the overall idea is valid.

What if you're off to buy the latest designer solar panel, and while you and the Hummer were cruising about town, The 17th French Gay Mutant Pelosi-Schumer Fusiliers blot out the sky over your home with politically correct rocket fire. Most of your best survival toys are lost in the stench of the Congress woman's Ben-Gay.

Sure you have a pristine assortment of the latest from Radio Shack in the Hummer, but nothing snaps into the debris of your home. A conundrum.

Some members might not even know what a "Costco" really is. I was shocked to find out it's really a lovable gorilla at the Lincoln Park Zoo!

Do these members have an option to complete the idea of the thread?
 
#17 ·
I tossed out a bunch of pancake mix I put into mylar.. it swelled up and smelled bad when opened... better to store flour/wheat and the things to make pancakes

I use to store pasta but now plan on making it myself... flour and eggs=spaghetti

we have lots of powdered non fat milk

sugar

dried beans

oatmeal

lots of things will keep for 20+ years wheat, sugar, oatmeal, rice,
 
#22 ·
I tossed out a bunch of pancake mix I put into mylar.. it swelled up and smelled bad when opened... better to store flour/wheat and the things to make pancakes

I use to store pasta but now plan on making it myself... flour and eggs=spaghetti

we have lots of powdered non fat milk

sugar

dried beans

oatmeal

lots of things will keep for 20+ years wheat, sugar, oatmeal, rice,
I quit oatmeal because it raised my sugar to 200.

Now I'm workin hard 58 hours , doing a young man's job, sugar is at 89 or under without meds.Whatever I eat.
 
#23 ·
We stock what we eat now. Mrs Inor does a LOT of baking, cookies cakes etc., so we do stock flour, sugar and salt. Like @Maine-Marine, we no longer stock pasta; homemade tastes better, is better for you and does not take up nearly as much space. We also stock a lot of Mrs Inor's canned stuff. A couple weeks ago we stumbled upon a jar of Mrs Inor's apple sauce that she made and canned 8 years ago. We opened it, smelled it; it smelled fine. So we ate it and it tasted as good as the day she made it with no side effects.

The last thing I want to do is change my diet significantly in a very high stress situation. Neither extreme diarrhea nor extreme constipation appeal to me.
 
#24 ·
The last thing I want to do is change my diet significantly in a very high stress situation.
I'm glad you brought this up, I had never really mingled the idea of my pathology with prepping, but you raise a valid point. For me it's anxiety and hypochondria. Should we start a new thread and open the topic for the forum? You broke the ice, what are your feelings?
 
#36 ·
We don't store any flour, even for short term... rather we keep a variety of wheat berries in stock and mill it fresh as we go. Seems to work just fine and properly stored, wheat berries can last a very long time.
 
#37 ·
Annie, to my knowledge, we have never discussed the "manly man" part of gardening. That is, after my wife--or any wife--has a chosen the right section based on daylight, the water table and shade, what does the clueless husband do?

Do I do what my dad did, that is roto-till the section into butchered loam? Do I carefully overturn the section and add the darkest topsoil I can find? Or do I just get a little hand plow and make ditches where she wants them?

In other words, how can my sweat equity get the place to a point that gives her the best option for any item she wishes?
 
#39 ·
I store my sugar in qt canning jars, 4 lbs fits in about two quarts. Stays granular and never hardens or gets mushy. Take out a pt at a time into a pint canning jar for use. If you have a lot to store, 1/2 gal canning jars.

No problems with ants or mice either.

My maple syrup I also put in ball/mason jars, but water bath can , kept out of heat/light lasts many years.

Home canned sauces/veggies/fruits are also fine after > 10 years. Stored in cool dark cellar. I opened some peaches canned in a cinnamon syrup they had not discolored (treated with lemon juice prior to canning) and tasted great on some vanilla ice cream. So are my tomato sauces/salsa, some good years I've put up 10-15 gallons.

I have a stash of dehydrated hen of the woods mushrooms, some from 2008, also stored in canning jars, they are fine. Dry until crisp, fill jar, heat in oven on low until warm/hot, crank down cap, lids will seal; If not really dry this will not work.

Food Vertebrate Wood Gas Natural material
Food Vertebrate Wood Gas Natural material


whoops double vision!
 
#43 ·
I store my sugar in qt canning jars, 4 lbs fits in about two quarts. Stays granular and never hardens or gets mushy. Take out a pt at a time into a pint canning jar for use. If you have a lot to store, 1/2 gal canning jars.

No problems with ants or mice either.

My maple syrup I also put in ball/mason jars, but water bath can , kept out of heat/light lasts many years.

Home canned sauces/veggies/fruits are also fine after > 10 years. Stored in cool dark cellar. I opened some peaches canned in a cinnamon syrup they had not discolored (treated with lemon juice prior to canning) and tasted great on some vanilla ice cream. So are my tomato sauces/salsa, some good years I've put up 10-15 gallons.

I have a stash of dehydrated hen of the woods mushrooms, some from 2008, also stored in canning jars, they are fine. Dry until crisp, fill jar, heat in oven on low until warm/hot, crank down cap, lids will seal; If not really dry this will not work.

View attachment 97847 View attachment 97847

whoops double vision!
keeping things out of heat here is not an easy task, in summer it is impossible (unless you consider the refrigerator). So my main opinion about the sugar geting "melted" is because of the the temperature. We do not keep more than an extra bag of it at home.
 
#47 ·
I does not "melt" in the bag, but I have no better word for it. The sugar here is sold in sealed plastic bags, and you can keep it in the original bag or transfer it to another container, it goes bad either way.
Flour is sold in paper bags and it does not goes bad, even after a long time. Same goes with other things like past. Powdered chocolate does not go bad either. Just sugar gets bad after a year or so. Other itens last much longer.
Humidity is not so high most of the year around here, in fact, a big part of the country has very low air humidity levels (<40%, even dropping as low as 15%) for a good part of year. Maybe I could try to store some darker sugar (such as demerara sugar) to see if it lasts better.
 
#52 ·
Honey! Yes I agree honey is much better than sugar cane granules. It is more expensive by far but it is superior.

I have around 60 pounds of honey...I also brew with it so I’m not just a Pooh bear...
 
#53 ·
Honey! Yes I agree honey is much better than sugar cane granules. It is more expensive by far but it is superior.

I have around 60 pounds of honey...I also brew with it so I'm not just a Pooh bear...
Yes honey is much better! It can be used as an antiseptic to treat wounds, and ingested has healing properties.

I've brewed with it, but not mead. I add it to a hard cider ferment I call "cimead".

I've thought of getting some hives but don't want to deal with the bear problem (electric fencing).
 
#58 ·
Ya know, I'm trying to stay away from refined carbs. But my family really, really likes my French bread. So I do make it every so often. Two loaves (the size of a pound cake) will probably be nearly gone by the end of the day. In an emergency, I'm sure warm bread fresh out of the oven (or solar oven) would be a welcome thing. If you're using strait up all purpose flour as opposed to bread flour, you need gluten. The recipe calls for bread flour, salt, sugar, water and yeast. That's all. No dairy.

Flour's also handy for tortillas.
 
#65 ·
Annie, thanks for the lead on gluten. I must admit that I do not often go with my wife to the grocery store, but when she sends me for an item I have never seen packaged gluten. Then again, I'm not sure I really looked. We're cooking more at home, and I'm hoping that we try some bread. I do not eat a lot of it, mostly flat-bread. But it would be nice to have some options.
 
#67 · (Edited)
Annie,
Did you make the tortillas from the first video? She never said how hot to get the skillet. Do you know what heat to have on the skillet for these? I would like to try.
Yes, I've made--sort of. I followed her recipe except for switching out the canola for vegetable oil. I personally like a little more salt than she added here, but otherwise the recipe's really good.

This Lady (below) says 375 is the right temp. I don't know how you can tell that on a cast iron pan, which is what I use. The way I tell is by using my eyes, ears and nose, and then tasting, lol. You want it to stay in the pan long enough to get the flour taste cooked out, but (obviously) not so long that you burn it. ETA: the Lady below uses wax paper to roll the dough. Good idea!


BTW, I'm doing both the flour and the low carb (almond) tortillas tonight. I've got cheese, salsa and refried beans. That and a green salad is what we're calling dinner here.
 
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