Confirmed Food Life - Personal Experience In Long Term Storage

[xtry51]

I pulled my last jar of long term raw eggs in storage to check them at 15 months. These were stored Feb 1, 2021 using eggs from last 1-2 weeks of Jan. Eggs sat on kitchen counter until stored.

What ive learned is some eggs past 9 month begin to lose their "gooey-ness" and become more and more watery around the 12month mark. At 12mo they were edible but with loss of flavor intensity.

Here at 15 month the whites have clouded. It is very hard to open an egg and not have the yolk stay intact. It took me 9 eggs to get the on on left for pic below.

My conclusions are I will store and cycle up to 9 months for our uses with the knowledge I could go 12-15mo if the need arose. Keep in mind these are eggs stored at room temp (basement 50-65F year round) and raw. The process is place clean eggs in glass jar. Fill with water, add Pickling Lime. That's it.



Left is old egg, right is a fresh egg laid yesterday.

 

[Fritz the Cat]

I just found this pint of B&J in the bottom of my chest freezer. I don't really buy much ice cream and when i do it's not usually B&J. So i am not sure where it originally came from or how it ended up in my freezer.
So i ate it. The whole thing. All at once. (hence why i don't buy ice cream)
The top 25% was freeze dried. No moisture left at all. Like astronaut ice cream. It was kind of neat. The rest was perfectly normal. No off flavors. And it's been a few days now with no ill effects.

 

[Mr. Pink]

I routinely eat canned foods that are two to four years past their "best by" dates. Hanneford baked beans start to lose their flavor/texture but I add a little maple syrup and the problem is solved. Fruit cocktail and anything with pear juice doesn't seem to have any flavor left if going more than a year or so past. Pineapple does fine. We stocked can goods like crazy in '19-'20 for the pandemic. Hence, a lot of them are expiring at once. Eating 'em up now. Also replenishing in smaller "waves" to avoid having everything with a similar exp date. I also eat pasta, rice-packs, and dried noodle packs that're 2 years outta date without issues.

 

[xtry51]

2004 Mountain House with a best used by date of December 2014. We just bought some new and we're taking the oldest for backpacking this summer to cycle them out. Rice and chicken. Tasted great. I don't think this is a surprise, but it is 18 years old so I figured worth an honorable mention.

 

[June4th]

Here’s a recipe for Chinese salted eggs. They practically last forever: Chinese Salted Duck Eggs: Thoroughly Tested Recipe! - The Woks of Life

And these eggs taste delicious. You can buy them in any Asian grocery stores to try the taste.

 

[variant_1776]

Rearranged our canned food storage several times and found something missed and not rotated out sooner. With the exception of tomato based items pretty much ignore expiration dates and use as normal. Tomato stuff is usually OK but sometimes it's broken down & more brownish than reddish. This only when the age is well beyond can date though. Am guessing this is because of the acidity. Did not use because of appearance. Basmati rice is the other one I've been surprised with. Found some completely forgotten that had to be at least 12 years out. In a Tupperware type container, not airtight but no visible breakdown or bug evidence. Cooked it up and it was exactly the same in flavor & texture as new.

 

[Uzi2]

Pulled a box containing 5 12 cup vacuum sealed bags of Jasmine rice off a shelf last evening. The box was packed and dated 6/2008.

Contents look perfect, no discoloration, no bugs. Will cook some this weekend to check quality.

Have 2 25lb bags that were recently purchased that will be broken down the same way over the weekend, put in the freezer for a few days then removed and boxed up.

I put even numbers of cups in the bags because when cooking it, it's two cups rice to four cups water and comes out perfect everytime. Two cups of cooked rice will make a lot of servings.

 

[xtry51]

I opened a can of Cambells Chicken Noodle Soup from May 2010 yesterday. The noodles had absorbed most of the water, but it was fine. Can was in perfect shape when inspected.

 

[xtry51]

Been a while since I posted and update here but I keep waiting a year to test items from the small batches we put away over a decade ago to validate. Wouod appreciate bumps so new members might see this in their feed.

Today's test is 2012 canned baked beans. Pics below. Short of it is they are fantastic. Cans 100% OK inside and out. Still slight vacuum upon opening and smelled like a new can. That's 12 years on a basement shelf. Yes, dry beans are better if you buy bulk and mylar/bucket them. But this is easier and more accessible for the average person who wants to squirrel it away small amounts at a time.

 

[Uzi2]

Been a while since I posted and update here but I keep waiting a year to test items from the small batches we put away over a decade ago to validate. Wouod appreciate bumps so new members might see this in their feed.

Today's test is 2012 canned baked beans. Pics below. Short of it is they are fantastic. Cans 100% OK inside and out. Still slight vacuum upon opening and smelled like a new can. That's 12 years on a basement shelf. Yes, dry beans are better if you buy bulk and mylar/bucket them. But this is easier and more accessible for the average person who wants to squirrel it away small amounts at a time.

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They're also good to "grab and go" and can be eaten cold.

 

[240Geezer]

I just tossed some home canned green beans. They were canned 3 years ago and other than being a tad soft there was nothing wrong with them. A shame but things do need to be rotated out if not used.

 

[TG Pioneer]

My wife is paranoid about the dates on food. We have a good amount in the pantry. I use a sharpie and my own dates. We’ve been fine. I don’t keep Spaghettio’s past a year. The acid worries me. Dak hams are ok for years. Instant oatmeal sugars clump but hot water and a spoon fix that.

Much of my Mountain House has a best by date of 2051.

 

[Palladin]

My wife is paranoid about the dates on food. We have a good amount in the pantry. I use a sharpie and my own dates. We’ve been fine. I don’t keep Spaghettio’s past a year. The acid worries me. Dak hams are ok for years. Instant oatmeal sugars clump but hot water and a spoon fix that.

Much of my Mountain House has a best by date of 2051.

Tell her to relax

How Long Is Canned Food Good for After the Expiration Date?

When to toss and when to keep!

www.foodnetwork.com

 

[headednorth]

My wife is paranoid about the dates on food. We have a good amount in the pantry. I use a sharpie and my own dates. We’ve been fine. I don’t keep Spaghettio’s past a year. The acid worries me. Dak hams are ok for years. Instant oatmeal sugars clump but hot water and a spoon fix that.

Much of my Mountain House has a best by date of 2051.

I was seeing a girl who was constantly giving me her canned goods because she wouldnt eat them even a day after expiration.

 

[Uzi2]

I just tossed some home canned green beans. They were canned 3 years ago and other than being a tad soft there was nothing wrong with them. A shame but things do need to be rotated out if not used.

Kind of wasteful.
If they were pressure canned and the vacuum was still good on the lids, you tossed them out way too early.
We're working on Roma green beans that we canned in 2017 and they're perfectly good.

Note: If you have a dog, green beans make a good low calorie dog food filler. Adds bulk to the food without making a dog fat.

 

[JayMcB]

So...hit the canned stores for pasta fajoli tonight. Pastene cannelloni beans that expired 10/14. The beans were bitter. I would classify them as edible, but not really palatable. I'm going to run a test on the rest....I have a lot of beans in that age range stored.

 

[xtry51]

Bump for noobs to see this thread.

 

[JayMcB]

PSA as I am parsing my canned stores. A sharpie with what's in the can would make this a non-issue

 

[Jason Flare]

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PSA as I am parsing my canned stores. A sharpie with what's in the can would make this a non-issue

When we were kids my father would get boxes of dented canned goods from the grocery store.

Apparently the store needed the labels as all the cans were unmarked except for codes stamped into the lids.

We could sometimes figure out what was in a can by the code and then by opening and finding out what was inside the can you can mark a few other cans with the same code.

We had some interesting food and definitely food my mother would not normally buy. I remember a lot of creamed corn and succotash.

I will suggest that for every meal the kid gets to pick a can, open it and eat the contents.

When I bought more canned goods I’d ask the kid if he wanted me to take the labels off and continue with the meal plan.

ETA: Actually I’d probably beat the shit out of the kid.

 

[JayMcB]

When we were kids my father would get boxes of dented canned goods from the grocery store.

Apparently the store needed the labels as all the cans were unmarked except for codes stamped into the lids.

We could sometimes figure out what was in a can by the code and then by opening and finding out what was inside the can you can mark a few other cans with the same code.

We had some interesting food and definitely food my mother would not normally buy. I remember a lot of creamed corn and succotash.
First, the picture above wa s
I will suggest that for every meal the kid gets to pick a can, open it and eat the contents.

When I bought more canned goods I’d ask the kid if he wanted me to take the labels off and continue with the meal plan.

ETA: Actually I’d probably beat the shit out of the kid.

First, the picture above was for humor. My kids know better.

Back to the topic. We did a trip to St. Thomas in 2019, RIGHT BEFORE the WuFlu shut shit down. We bought the Islands version of the packages of Lipton soup, with an expiration in 2020.

Just boiled a pack 4 years past expiration, indistinguishable from new.

 

[Jason Flare]

First, the picture above was for humor. My kids know better.

Back to the topic. We did a trip to St. Thomas in 2019, RIGHT BEFORE the WuFlu shut shit down. We bought the Islands version of the packages of Lipton soup, with an expiration in 2020.

Just boiled a pack 4 years past expiration, indistinguishable from new.

I didn’t think it was your kid.

It looked like a meme and the text was not the font from posting here on NES.

 

[240Geezer]

Fried up a pound of Sugarland Bacon from 2021 for breakfast.
Good as new. Been in the freezer since bought.

 

[clampett]

I bought a couple of large pieces of beef from Restaurant Depot back in April 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic.
I cut them into steaks - rib eye steaks- and I vacuum sealed them with my Game Saver, it is just like the food saver, but a little bigger.

Yesterday I found one of the last steaks at the bottom of the freezer. I cooked it up and ate it.
4 year old steak. It looked, smelled and tasted good, nice and juicy, and no I'll effects

 

[Uzi2]

I bought a couple of large pieces of beef from Restaurant Depot back in April 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic.
I cut them into steaks - rib eye steaks- and I vacuum sealed them with my Game Saver, it is just like the food saver, but a little bigger.

Yesterday I found one of the last steaks at the bottom of the freezer. I cooked it up and ate it.
4 year old steak. It looked, smelled and tasted good, nice and juicy, and no I'll effects

If kept properly frozen, it would still be good four years from now too.

 

[xtry51]

Been a while. Lemon juice apparently stores basically indefinitely. Bottle from 2016 still good. There is some sediment on the bottom that appears to be just the pulp that was unfiltered.

I made mayo today and opened this one up to use it. If you've never made mayo at home it takes literally 2min. Great if you have chickens and need something to do with eggs.

 

[JayMcB]

Decided to do what we call ‘millennial chili’

It was an intended from the stores meal.

Ground beef had been canned by me in 2018

Kidney beans, black beans, chickpeas all progresso with expiration in 2014

Can of White corn expired in 2019

Salt, chili powder, cayenne pepper expiration in 2015

Sugar vacuum canned in 2012

Worcestershire sauce from 2017 expiration

Garlic and onion processed and canned by me, 2018

Delmonte canned diced tomatoes that expired in 2020

The only fresh items not at least 4 years past expiration was fresh celery sautéed in the beef fat and a carrot I ran through the mandolin.

Served it to company. Indistinguishable from pantry fresh.

 

[JayMcB]

It was just as good for lunch today with some Mexican cheese from MB melted over the top after heating it up.

 

[xtry51]

I used come B&M baked beans from 2012 last week. They were great. I'm actually surprised that baked beans seem to be the best canned food for flavor stability.