Confirmed Food Life - Personal Experience In Long Term Storage

rdayc13 said:
I have heard something about pancake mix in particular that is really bad to consume past the "expiration" date some ingrediant that becomes deadly. Can anyone confirm this or have any other info?
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Not sure on that one, I don't store anything for pancakes.

You can make crepes from 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk/water and 3 eggs. I usually add a little brown sugar ~1/8 cup to flavor and sometimes vanilla extract.

So basically store flour and sugar, raise chickens. Skip the pancake mix [grin]
 
rdayc13 said:
I have heard something about pancake mix in particular that is really bad to consume past the "expiration" date some ingrediant that becomes deadly. Can anyone confirm this or have any other info?
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Yes. I think it's a very toxic fungus can grow. I think it's only if it sat open for a long time
 
Good info guys thanks, i have recently started dehydrating some stuff mainly fruit but some veggies and packing them in mylar bags. Any suggestions on an odd ball item to dehydrate and store?

My first batch of pinto beans
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Couple of weekends ago I grabbed an open box out of the pantry and made pancakes. They tasted fine, and neither of us got sick. When I went to put it away, I noticed it was 2 years past date, Your experiences my vary, (ps-I threw out the rest,) The boy in the link kept eating it after his friends commented that they tasted "like rubbing alcohol" What's up with that? If something doesn't look, taste or smell right, don't eat. I still follow my old motto "When in doubt, Throw it out" for most things. Spouse says unopened boxes of cereal, (Cheerios, Rice Krispies, Corn Flakes) will keep forever, and could still be eaten even if a bit stale. Anybody know?
 
EC1 said:
For longer term storage of milk either powdered or UHT milk are the alternatives. 4 months or longer for the UHT milk unopened, indefinite for the powdered.
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All I buy is UHT.

$2.50 at Shaws

$1.50 at Market Basket

$1.00 at Dollar Tree

Very handy to keep around for any recipe that needs it.

Before you start - ALL the best Chefs are MEN.
 
It was cool enough the other day I wore my shoulder season jacket and found three, unopened fortune cookies in the pocket.

I thought to myself, "SCORE!" and set them aside to munch during my commute.

Went to have one that afternoon (just something to nibble on) and was sad to find that even in their little pouch (unbroken) they somehow acquired moisture and were... rubbery. I passed on them.
 
namedpipes said:
It was cool enough the other day I wore my shoulder season jacket and found three, unopened fortune cookies in the pocket.

I thought to myself, "SCORE!" and set them aside to munch during my commute.

Went to have one that afternoon (just something to nibble on) and was sad to find that even in their little pouch (unbroken) they somehow acquired moisture and were... rubbery. I passed on them.
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those packages allow plenty of moisture to get through. the packaging is not meant for long term storage
 
PennyPincher said:
those packages allow plenty of moisture to get through. the packaging is not meant for long term storage
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Right. My takeaway is, I expected the cookie to be crisp and crunchy goodness because it was in its original wrapper and "clearly" still airtight.

I have to wonder what other seemingly long term storage containers could be improved on.
 
namedpipes said:
Right. My takeaway is, I expected the cookie to be crisp and crunchy goodness because it was in its original wrapper and "clearly" still airtight.

I have to wonder what other seemingly long term storage containers could be improved on.
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Long term needs to be mylar, metal, glass or the plastic they use for foodsaver bags. Thin Plastic wrap, not so much.
 
JayMcB said:
Long term needs to be mylar, metal, glass or the plastic they use for foodsaver bags. Thin Plastic wrap, not so much.
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An update.

I'd tossed the two remaining wrapped cookies onto the back seat, intending to throw them out.

I was running errands with Mrs. Pipes and she spotted them. I was occupied belting in the baby seat for the Pipette and only noticed as one of the cookies was disappearing.

I asked how that tasted... she said fine. Maybe the first one was the only bad one.
 
Please try to keep this thread to just what you are eating with a report. There is a survival deals thread for posting things like freeze dried foods. That's not what this thread is about, unless you're opening a container of MH you've had in your basement for ten years.

I know this thread is not a busy one, but I'd like it to be on point and informative as it is very hard to find actual people really eating food they chose to store themselves.
 
I recently read that Woot has been advertising the Mountain House pouches as having a 30 year shelf life, so I went over to the M.H. web site to check and I found that is accurate. M.H. has changed the shelf life from 10 years to 30 years. Their freeze drying and packaging process hasn't changed, they probably thought they were being too conservative. I remember about 10 years ago the shelf life on pouches were 7 years and the cans 25 years.
It might be that they now have a lot of new competitors that are advertising their product shelf life at 25 years.
 
Starkist "Flavor Fresh Pouch" water packed tuna - best by August 2013.

Pouch packaging is tougher than I expected - although after all the elderly MREs I've eaten I'm not sure why I would think that. Tasted just like the can of tuna from 2013 I ate last week. I'm putting these on my list of portable foods I like. No draining needed, so all it needs is a spoon. Had one regular, and one marinated - shouldn't have bothered with the marinated one. The tuna was fine, but the marinade flavor sucked. No toxicity, I wouldn't have liked it if it were brand new.
 
KMM696 said:
Starkist "Flavor Fresh Pouch" water packed tuna - best by August 2013.

Pouch packaging is tougher than I expected - although after all the elderly MREs I've eaten I'm not sure why I would think that. Tasted just like the can of tuna from 2013 I ate last week. I'm putting these on my list of portable foods I like. No draining needed, so all it needs is a spoon. Had one regular, and one marinated - shouldn't have bothered with the marinated one. The tuna was fine, but the marinade flavor sucked. No toxicity, I wouldn't have liked it if it were brand new.
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Thanks! I have been wondering how the pouches hold up compared to cans. They also seem to have more tune than water which is a plus.
 
Ranch dressing, wishbone purchased January 2014. Opened today. Color slightly more yellow, similar to how mayonnaise ages due to vinegar. Vinegar and peppercorn took over on flavor with the overall ranch taking a back seat. Plenty edible, but I think for flavor I'm going to limit my stock to 18 months or younger. Same thing I did with mayo. In a real survival situation I'm pretty confident it could go another year on the shelf just fine.
 
just opened some coffee beans I stored in mylar in 1/2014 with an O2 absorber. I actually have been using this batch for quite a while as these are quart sized bags. Coffee is great. Presumably you can't store coffee beans long term. I call BS. I am actually running out of coffee beans and no good bulk source. Time to start looking.
 
Here's a good one. Cranberry Sauce. Jellied Ocean Spray. Purchased November 2011. Opened a can today along with a can I bought yesterday. There was zero difference between the two including in taste. One pic shows the 2011 can sliced up and the arrow is pointing to a slice from the the can I bought yesterday for comparison.

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I have more 2010 and 2011 items I'm going to open one each of over the next few weeks and do similar comparisons.
 
xtry51 said:
Here's a good one. Cranberry Sauce. Jellied Ocean Spray. Purchased November 2011. Opened a can today along with a can I bought yesterday. There was zero difference between the two including in taste. One pic shows the 2011 can sliced up and the arrow is pointing to a slice from the the can I bought yesterday for comparison.

View attachment 183448

View attachment 183449

View attachment 183450

I have more 2010 and 2011 items I'm going to open one each of over the next few weeks and do similar comparisons.
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Doesn't it cause you a moment of pause that your food could last so long without spoiling? What types of horrid chemicals have they used to do that?
 
PennyPincher said:
Doesn't it cause you a moment of pause that your food could last so long without spoiling? What types of horrid chemicals have they used to do that?
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In this case I don't think it is a matter of chemicals. I looked at a can of cranberry sauce and don't see anything to cause concern except that the high fructose corn syrup is probably GMO and has been grown with pesticides. Cranberries are naturally acidic. Then you add a lot of sugar and then process it until the environment inside the can should not be able to support bacterial growth. It really shouldn't go bad.

I think the point is that if something is properly processed it is probably not going to go bad as soon as the required USDA date says it will. I wish I had known that many years ago when I was poor and hungry. If something got close to the best by date I threw it out thinking it might be too bad to eat. A lot of people still believe that.
 
PennyPincher said:
Doesn't it cause you a moment of pause that your food could last so long without spoiling? What types of horrid chemicals have they used to do that?
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No, because not everything requires preservatives to store. I can store honey in a jar for centuries and it doesn't go bad. I can bag flour and store it for decades. I can can meat and store it for years. I can make jelly at home and jar it for years. Some things just store well.
 
xtry51 said:
No, because not everything requires preservatives to store. I can store honey in a jar for centuries and it doesn't go bad. I can bag flour and store it for decades. I can can meat and store it for years. I can make jelly at home and jar it for years. Some things just store well.
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From what I have read, you can store wheat for several decades, but once you grind the wheat into flour the shelf life drops to about a year.
 
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You can store flour long if you store it in Mylar with O2 absorbers. Not as long as you can store whole grains, but pretty long.

The one year shelf life is for flour stored in the paper bag you buy it in at the grocery store at room temp and average humidity. So basically, worst case scenario.
 

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