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Confirmed Food Life - Personal Experience In Long Term Storage
- Thread starter xtry51
- Start date
Duxprep
NES Member
Be very careful with this. There are molds that can grow in these mixes that are highly toxic. If I really wanted long term pancake storage I'd look fo #10 cans and then use it up quickly after opening
Palladin
NES Member
yeah, that's what I'm thinking after reading up on it.
I grabbed a #10 can of Augason Farms Blueberry Pancake mix, I think it has ~ 10 YEAR shelf life. I will probably open it to see how it tastes, walmart.com has them pretty cheap I think @ about $10/can. If it's good I'll pick up some more to keep on the shelf.
It's all how you define long term. I've used an opened (though ziplocked) Krusteaz pancake mix 3 years past expiration and other than not being quite as palatable (tasted less like pancake and more like nothing), it was fine...and the kids didn't die 
I'd call that my limit and wouldn't use it as real "long term"--say 10 years--even unopened. Besides, its cheap enough in bulk to rotate every few years without much guilt. YMMV.
I'd call that my limit and wouldn't use it as real "long term"--say 10 years--even unopened. Besides, its cheap enough in bulk to rotate every few years without much guilt. YMMV.
Has anyone here stored tea (like in teabags) for long periods of time?
I had a couple of boxes of tea in my basement, that had a cellophane wrap on them, from 2012, but I don't think it was quite airtight. I had to throw it away because the teabags smelled like basement and not tea, LOL I am guessing in an airtight container though it can probably be stored indefinitely...
-Mike
I had a couple of boxes of tea in my basement, that had a cellophane wrap on them, from 2012, but I don't think it was quite airtight. I had to throw it away because the teabags smelled like basement and not tea, LOL I am guessing in an airtight container though it can probably be stored indefinitely...
-Mike
I store tea. I just keep it in original packaging and put them in big mylar ziplock bags. No 02 aborbers for the tea. Plastic is not an 02 blocker longterm
For teabags, either put the whole box into a mylar ziplock bag or stuff the bags into a Ball jar. Store away from heat and light. They will keep well for several years. Dunno about long term, I haven't gotten there yet.
Any tried self storage in a 5 gallon bucket with mylar bags and oxygen absorbers? I've got some bags and o2 absorbers I was going to give a go now that the weather is so dry. I figured better to package during the desert like conditions in my house during the winter. I don't think my foodsaver is going to be wide enough to seal the bags - anyone tried using an iron before?
Duxprep
NES Member
I've used an iron. Lay a board across the top of the bucket , flatten out the mylar bag and iron the bag flat on the board. Make sure the iron is Not too hot though or you can actually melt the bag. I seem to recall there a lots of videos on YouTube about this
Palladin
NES Member
I store rice, beans, pasta noodles in 5MIL mylar one gal bags, with a 300g O2 eater in each bag. Heat seal them with my wife's flat iron hair straightener, then after they firm up, I put ten bags, vertically, in a Home Depot 5 gal bucket with lid. It's not food grade, but doesn't have to be; this is just to keep out bugs, etc. And makes easy storage.
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One thing's for sure and evidenced in that picture if SHTF methane levels are going to skyrocket....
![[laugh]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/012.gif "Laugh [laugh]")
Flat iron for hair is good idea, will give that a try should be easier to control than the temp of a clothes iron.
I store in mylar in 5gal buckets with 02. I like the fancier Uline lock lid buckets because they are ridiculously strong and they nest inside the lid when stacked making them very stable. I use an iron to seal bags on one of those super shitty 3ft levels you buy at Benny's or WalMart. It has a rippled surface on the extrusion that gives you several distinct sealing lines versus a flat single edge that might crease and not seal.
Buckets:
Screw Top Pail with Lid - 5 Gallon S-13652 - Uline
Buckets:
Screw Top Pail with Lid - 5 Gallon S-13652 - Uline
Yup. It's pretty easy and way cheaper, especially to stack cheap market basket dry goods (pasta, beans, rice). I bought a bag sealing tool though, let me know if you want to use it.
headednorth
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Bumble bee tuna, bought in April 2015, best by date Feb 2018. Opened it and looked, smelled and tasted normal in every way. Texture normal. Made a couple of sandwiches and maybe 5 hrs later in the bathroom for a #2. (Sorry if tmi) Again, looked normal, texture normal, but...smelled like the Aquarium, lol. Like, more fishy going out than going in. I feel fine and trip to the bathroom wasn't under emergency circumstances, but just thought it was odd and figured I'd pass it along.
mu2bdriver
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Personally canned chicken (4/12), string beans (8/12), and split pea soup (2/12) and with some light seasoning was great.
I have made tea from bags that were stored in sealed tins from the early 70's when my dad bought them at the PX at Hanscom. This was about ten years ago, but they tasted fine and no one got sick. They were fully sealed as in needed a can opener to open the tin and the tin was in good shape with no rust or perforations.
kraft mac and cheese. dated 2015. pasta in it was fine. the cheese powder packet was a deep burnt orange (rust colored almost). mixed it with the milk and butter and it smelled terrible. Couldn't bring myself to eat it. In a true SHTF situation would it be edible... probably but I have a pretty strong stomach and I could get myself past the smell.
If wanting to keep mac and cheese for long term storage, I'd think better to store pasta, and then store powdered dairy or freeze dried cheeses so they'll last the long haul...
If wanting to keep mac and cheese for long term storage, I'd think better to store pasta, and then store powdered dairy or freeze dried cheeses so they'll last the long haul...
I just ate some Idahoan Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes from 08/2014. The ones in the mylar packaging. Holy crap were they good. I'll definitely be adding more to storage.
I bucketize Mac & Cheese. Pasta in one mylar bag, cheese packs in another. O2 absorbers of course. It goes on sale so often it's hard to pass up. I just collect it for 6 months and make a bucket. Even if the cheese goes south the pasta will last and I can throw a bullion cube in so I figure I'm not losing anything long term.
I bucketize Mac & Cheese. Pasta in one mylar bag, cheese packs in another. O2 absorbers of course. It goes on sale so often it's hard to pass up. I just collect it for 6 months and make a bucket. Even if the cheese goes south the pasta will last and I can throw a bullion cube in so I figure I'm not losing anything long term.
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lol, i worked for kraft. they handled the flavor enhancer & color dyes for the mac & cheese at my facility. the guys in the department looked like you described, a deep burnt orange color. the stuff seemed to impregnate into the skin, took weeks for them to come back to a normal skin color. they smelled like cheese nibbles. they had access to showers but....lets just say none of them would be sitting in my truck. in all seriousness, i'd eat the box first before the contents. there's a reason you can buy 4 boxes for a buck when you catch them on sale.
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if you saw the chemicals they put in it you'd know why they call it a habit. seriously, if you really like it, i may have a case of just the cheese sauce powder around. it's yours if it's around and not thrown out. not a box of it but a case of 500 packets like you'd see that's packed in a retail box. or maybe i'm smellin' a karma here.....You shut your filthy mouth about my beloved M&C habit
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ok, let me root around, we'll see what turns up. now let me escape from the survival forum before i get any ideas to bring in 4 tons of dried beans.
Still waiting for my cheese powder fix!
Sugar, brown sugar, flour, powdered sugar from 10/13 all in original packaging stored in a Tupperware bin still good. Did some baking last week.
Also Fleischmans Yeast from 2012 still 100% good for making bread. Stored as bought on shelf.
Sugar, brown sugar, flour, powdered sugar from 10/13 all in original packaging stored in a Tupperware bin still good. Did some baking last week.
Also Fleischmans Yeast from 2012 still 100% good for making bread. Stored as bought on shelf.
