Confirmed Food Life - Personal Experience In Long Term Storage

[NH_Realtor]

What do you seal bags with? Are they self sealing?

i bought this back in 2014, still use it to this day. Expensive but works great.

HotJaw KF-150CST 6" Portable Hand Held Heat Sealer, 6 Inch, Black Amazon product ASIN B003HO30TEView: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003HO30TE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_B9TB88YNM6JANZ7WNZ6N?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

[ToddDubya]

I can personally confirm that canned evaporated milk is not good 10 years after expiration. Where does this shit come from in my cupboard, anyway?

 

[daveyburt]

Update to the bucket of 10 year old white rice.

Summary - stored 10 years ago in a snap lid food safe bucket - no preservation techniques at all. Standard cheapo white rice.

Cracked it open tonight when I was refilling my kitchen container. Looks, smells, feels fine.
As I was in need of dinner, and not a science experiment, I opened my newer container (stored the same, but Gama lid for ~1 year) of Jasmine to eat - Grain moths!!!!
But, I had more.

Will report back when I eat the 2011 rice but, for now, my advice - check your stock regardless!

I WILL try the 10 year old stuff....and WILL report back - even if, from the ambulance.

 

[ToddDubya]

Update to the bucket of 10 year old white rice.

Summary - stored 10 years ago in a snap lid food safe bucket - no preservation techniques at all. Standard cheapo white rice.

Cracked it open tonight when I was refilling my kitchen container. Looks, smells, feels fine.
As I was in need of dinner, and not a science experiment, I opened my newer container (stored the same, but Gama lid for ~1 year) of Jasmine to eat - Grain moths!!!!
But, I had more.

Will report back when I eat the 2011 rice but, for now, my advice - check your stock regardless!

I WILL try the 10 year old stuff....and WILL report back - even if, from the ambulance.

I put a ton of rice in quart jars that I froze for a month or so (with reusable plastic lids, not canning lids). I'm almost finished going through all of them but so far no bugs. I even had a pantry moth infestation a few years ago that ruined a lot of other things.

 

[daveyburt]

Yea, I've been freezing any sort of grain/flour lately.
When I stored the Jasmine, I didn't have the freezer space for the BJs bag - and, until today, never had grain moths after many years bulk shopping.

-was just funny that the 10+ year old stuff looks fine. That's where I was expecting the critters.

 

[xtry51]

If you mylar with 02 in the bucket, critters can't live inside.

 

[TG Pioneer]

I put a ton of rice in quart jars that I froze for a month or so (with reusable plastic lids, not canning lids). I'm almost finished going through all of them but so far no bugs. I even had a pantry moth infestation a few years ago that ruined a lot of other things.

I use large pet food containers, fill them, and toss a couple of bay leaves in. You’ll never have grain moths when you use bay leaves.

 

[daveyburt]

If you mylar with 02 in the bucket, critters can't live inside.

Thx - yea. over the past year all that stuff gets mylar and 02 after coming out of the freezer.

I use large pet food containers, fill them, and toss a couple of bay leaves in. You’ll never have grain moths when you use bay leaves.

Bay Leaves - Good to know!

 

[SDG]

Doesn’t hurt to throw 1/4 cup of food grade dichotomous earth in.

 

[TG Pioneer]

Doesn’t hurt to throw 1/4 cup of food grade dichotomous earth in.

No ill effects to humans?

 

[SDG]

No ill effects to humans?

Not the food grade kind…It’s an anti caking agent used in some foods already. But for something like rice when cooked it boils to the surface and you can just skim it off. I still only use it for deep +10 year storage.

 

[TG Pioneer]

Not the food grade kind…It’s an anti caking agent used in some foods already. But for something like rice when cooked it boils to the surface and you can just skim it off. I still only use it for deep +10 year storage.

Thank you

 

[NH_Realtor]

Used some muir organic tomato sauce and diced tomatoes for chili the other day.

Use by dates of 2016 and 2017, all cans were fine

 

[xtry51]

2012 canned beans and 2013 Campbell's mushroom soup. Both good

 

[Yazz]

12 year old whole red wheat. In 5 gallon container in mylar and sealed. Ground it and made bread today!

 

[xtry51]

Condensed milk from 2012 was not good. It changed in color slightly vs a new can to a yellowish tinge and had a light tinny smell. I have stored other cans for over a year no problem, set these aside for experiment.

On left 2012. On right new can we bought this week.

 

[Mtn_Guy]

2012 canned beans and 2013 Campbell's mushroom soup. Both good

Did you make them into a casserole or prepare them and eat them from the can?

I assume when you say “good” you mean flavor, texture, smell and appearance (color)? Sorry — late to this thread (incase this has been defined previously)

 

[xtry51]

Did you make them into a casserole or prepare them and eat them from the can?

I assume when you say “good” you mean flavor, texture, smell and appearance (color)? Sorry — late to this thread (incase this has been defined previously)

Just cooked and eaten for the beans. The soup was used in a deer stew. If I say good on a canned regular grocery store item (not a long term mylar type food), I mean within 90% of all aspects of a new one. All flavors dull over time, so something 10 years old won't taste as "crisp" as a new version.

All store canned regular foods suffer from some taste degradation.

 

[Duxprep]

Condensed milk from 2012 was not good. It changed in color slightly vs a new can to a yellowish tinge and had a light tinny smell. I have stored other cans for over a year no problem, set these aside for experiment.

On left 2012. On right new can we bought this week.

View attachment 546504

I agree with this outcome. It will last well past it's best by date but not very many years after

 

[JayMcB]

We made 'country Christmas' baked beans in a 1970's era ceramic bean pot with navy beans vacuum canned in a mason jar in 2010, and bacon I canned in 2014.
Best by date on the Molasses was 2015. Brown sugar was 2012.

They were delicious. The aftermath resulted in effects that shall not be spoken of, but remaining away from open flames was definitely in order.

 

[xtry51]

Some updates.

Fresh eggs stored at room temp Dec 2020 in pickling lime still good. See the Homesteading Skills thread for pics.

Fruits not good in cans long term. I cleaned out a shelf with some 2011/2012 peaches and pears. They were likely edible as the smell was ok, but the inner lacquer liner of the can was breaking down so that would be a last ditch scenario. We fed them all to the chickens who were quite happy about it.

Boxed stuffing from 2016 still good. Had some with pork chops last night.

 

[JayMcB]

Our pantry go-to for tomatoes has been Pastene. The company's management is to the left of Mao, but the tomatoes are very consistently good.

We had a store of ground peeled tomatoes with an expiration of 3-14. I opened a can last night to make pizzas (also used stored flour and yeast)

The tomatoes had a pronounced bitter/metallic taste (like the can). I would consider them EDIBLE, but *not* PALATABLE. I am rotating those cans to the 'chicken feed' pile, and I will probably get a few cases ahead to replace them. A note: those cans in 2014 went for .99c a can, and coccasionally went on sale for $5 a case (6 cans), and the least expensive I can find them now is $1.39....when they are ON SALE. Over 40% more costly.

 

[xtry51]

Yeah, gotta be glass jars for tomato anything long term. I've been trying not to keep tomato metal canned products over 2 years.

I have pasta sauce in glass jars from 2013 that is still good though. I think because the lids have a plasticized coating inside.

 

[Grendizer138]

If you mylar with 02 in the bucket, critters can't live inside.

I freeze my rice to prevent weevils and then store in mylar with o2 absorbers. Possible overkill, but worth doing.

 

[Uzi2]

I freeze my rice to prevent weevils and then store in mylar with o2 absorbers. Possible overkill, but worth doing.

That's a very common practice and not overkill at all.

 

[Uzi2]

Our pantry go-to for tomatoes has been Pastene. The company's management is to the left of Mao, but the tomatoes are very consistently good.

We had a store of ground peeled tomatoes with an expiration of 3-14. I opened a can last night to make pizzas (also used stored flour and yeast)

The tomatoes had a pronounced bitter/metallic taste (like the can). I would consider them EDIBLE, but *not* PALATABLE. I am rotating those cans to the 'chicken feed' pile, and I will probably get a few cases ahead to replace them. A note: those cans in 2014 went for .99c a can, and coccasionally went on sale for $5 a case (6 cans), and the least expensive I can find them now is $1.39....when they are ON SALE. Over 40% more costly.

I agree on the Pastene tomatoes. I had a case of them here dated 2011 that we recently used up and the cans held up and the tomatoes were perfectly edible. A little sugar in the sauce counters the metallic taste.

 

[Andy in NH]

I have several one-gallon food grade paint cans that have developed small spots of rust on the inside.

Do you think they will still be good for storing rice or pasta with an O2 absorber?

 

[xtry51]

I don't see why not. Once you put the O2 inside, the rust can't progress. So as long as the outside of the can is good to go.

 

[xtry51]

2lb Block of Cabot Sharp Cheddar. Bought Feb 2020 and frozen in chest freezer. Still good.

Not as smooth or sharp as a fresh block. More crumbley than a fresh block as well.

 

[xtry51]

Tea. I opened two boxes to check. Lipton purchased July 2016 and Market Basket from July 2014. Made a cup of tea with each. Both good to go and equal in taste, which surprised me given the MB was two years older and packed in a much cheaper way.

I did this test because I'm going to bucket some tea as it's stacked pretty high.