What foods do you find have the best shelf life?

Hi all,

I've been making good ground on storing food, adding items to my usual shopping trolley if i'm at the shops, but i am going to increase my tinned food supplies.

Reason being, i've looked through some of the items i've bought, and then realised that they are more an ingredient rather than a quick and easy meal.

I want a good stock of foods that myself are low hassle and easy to use.

Storage dates are important too, i don't mind rotating stock but if i can buy and forget about it until needed, then all the better.

So what foods have you found have the best shelf life? Do you even take much notice of best before dates?

I know i've used food from tins that have been out of date for years, but maybe things have changed now with the way they preserve tiined goods?

CX.

Honey, oats, rice, tinned spam and sausages

If you are talking about purely canned goods, and are stocking up somewhere that you won't need to actually carry them, beans are high on my list. Although you are right that it's hard to find things that are a meal in themselves and not an ingredient.

Pinto, Black beans, Lentils etc. give enough of a variety, in my opinion, and are good nutritionally and last a long time in cans.

If you are lucky enough to get your hands on some meat they can extend the portions and can do the same with rice.

Dried beans and grains can last decades, even centuries if kept away from moisture. Honey never spoils. Anything canned won't last indefinately (look at old c-rations, and how inedible they are now). Freeze-dried items also last an incredibly long time, again when kept out of the presence of moisture.

My mom is a Mormon and that woman has one years supply of everything from food, to hygiene products to cat litter. If you are looking for one very good source of information on food storage go to lds.org and you will find links and more information than you will have time to read.

I store dried beans, rice, powdered milk, peanut butter and canned food. Moisture is your enemy and bugs too. I make it a habit to freeze all flour related products as freezing kills the eggs of those nasty little bugs that hatch in old wheat products. Powdered milk stores well as does sugar and honey. Don't forget to lay up a good amount of water both for drinking purposes and other needs. It is not that hard to do and if you are interested in anything specific let me know in a u2u and I will see if I can help. My mother has a plan where you spend a very small amount weekly or monthly that will enable you to do it without going broke if you are interested. red

rice and twinkies
or if you prefer
twinkies and rice

Originally posted by redhead57
My mom is a Mormon and that woman has one years supply of everything from food, to hygiene products to cat litter. If you are looking for one very good source of information on food storage go to lds.org and you will find links and more information than you will have time to read.

I store dried beans, rice, powdered milk, peanut butter and canned food. Moisture is your enemy and bugs too. I make it a habit to freeze all flour related products as freezing kills the eggs of those nasty little bugs that hatch in old wheat products. Powdered milk stores well as does sugar and honey. Don't forget to lay up a good amount of water both for drinking purposes and other needs. It is not that hard to do and if you are interested in anything specific let me know in a u2u and I will see if I can help. My mother has a plan where you spend a very small amount weekly or monthly that will enable you to do it without going broke if you are interested. red

My first post. I've lurked on ats for a long time, but when I tried to send you a u2u, I found out I have to post 20 times to send one..lol! I am very interested in your mother's plan. It's all so overwhelming, and expensive. It would be awesome to learn from someone who knows light years more than I do about it. Thanks for any help at all. I really appreciate it. My email address is [email protected] if you'd rather email me there.

I don't know what foods have the best shelf life, but you can internet order them by the 5 gallon bucket for about 75 bucks each from Costco.

They keep for 20 years!

I hope I never get desperate enought to eat any of it, but I got a couple, just because you never know.

I remember an only buddy of mine saying you can live off of only sardines, peanutbutter and beer for years. Damn shame about the sardine requirement in my opinion.


[edit on 24-3-2009 by Cyberbian]

reply to post by CX

Properly stored it is pretty close to what they list at survival acres.

Stable constant temperature helps.

Shelf life of some long term stored foods

You also might consider a few heirloom seed kits as you may find it
cheaper and easier to store the seeds than to store hundreds
or thousands of dollars of food.

I am partial to white seeded amaranth as the seeds are edible and
it is one of the few complete plant proteins.

For my Amaranth I went with Giant Golden Amaranth as it makes
about 1 pound of seed per plant in a good environment.

You will need some of course to hold you over til your first successful
crop comes in, etc etc.

Some ppl have just setup a rural small farm setup with chickens and all.

Heard one called a "Doomstead", LOL

Appropriate name.




[edit on 24-3-2009 by Ex_MislTech]

Originally posted by Cyberbian

I hope I never get desperate enought to eat any of it, but I got a couple, just because you never know.

[edit on 24-3-2009 by Cyberbian]

Thats a common mistake when storing food stuffs. You want to be able to enjoy your meals should you ever need to tap into your reserves. Besides, kind of silly to waste money in todays financial mess.

Whatever you store you should eat, and eat what you store. Learn to rotate your stocks. Keep 3 months of canned whatever, when a months supply is gone, go buy some new stuff. If you are able to do that, then you have an infinate life span as you are constantly turning over your supply.

As for storage, everyone else has hit on it. Beans, rice, flour, honey, sugar lasts eons, salt, powdered milk. All ingredients yes, but if TSHTF you will probably have enough time on your hands to get creative.

Some canned food can last a long time, just not tomatos. The acid eats at the steel can. Also a study was done awhile back on MRE's. If you choose to go that route, if stored at 60 degrees farenheit, they can last over 120 months.

Pasta, rice, noodles, tinned meats (cornbeef, spam, luncheon meat, sardines, tuna) etc give a good quota of carbs, protein and fat. Just make sure you and yours actually like the stuff. We aim for 12 months consume by dates as a minimum and rotate.

Loads of options, "oats so simple", 10 satchets for £1.99, just add powdered milk and hot water etc. Pkts of dextrose tabs, good emergency sugar rush, kendal mint cake, peanuts, choc bars. Condensed milk in a tube, 12 month consume by date, 3 wks once opened, good in coffee.

Microwave rice, part cooked, just needs a little water and can be "heated in the bag"

Mixed spices, make bland food much better.

Rgds