Long Term Food Storage Shelf Life

Grains

Product                                    Optimum Shelf Life                   Opened Shelf Life

Whole Wheat Flour                     5 years                                      2 years                                     

White Flour                                 5 years                                      2 years

Hard White Winter Wheat           30 years                                    30 years

6 Grain Pancake Mix                   8 years                                      1 year

Spaghetti                                    8 years                                      2 years

Egg Noodle Pasta                       8 years                                      2 years

Quick Oats                                 8 years                                      1 year

White Rice                                 30 years                                    30 years

Instant White Rice                      30 years                                    30 years

Pearled Barley                            8 years                                      18 months

Cornmeal                                   5 years                                      1 year

9 Grain Cracked Cereal               5 years                                      1 year

Elbow Macaroni                          8 years                                      2 years

Germade                                   5 years                                      18 months

Vegetables

Product                                    Optimum Shelf Life                   Opened Shelf Life

Bell Peppers                               8 years                                      2 years

Split Green Peas                         8 years                                      2 years

Mushroom Pieces (Freeze Dried)  25 years                                    2 years

Potato Chunks (Freeze Dried)       25 years                                    2 years

Sweet Corn (Freeze Dried)           25 years                                    2 years

Tomato Powder                            8 years                                      1 year

Sweet Potatoes                            8 years                                      2 years

Green Peas(Freeze Dried)            25 years                                    2 years

Cauliflower (Freeeze Dried)          25 years                                    2 years

Carrot Dices                                8 years                                      2 years

Broccoli (Freeze Dried)                25 years                                    2 years

Celery (Freeze Dried)                  25 years                                    2 years

Celery                                          25 years                                    2 years

Spinach (Freeze Dried)                25 years                                    2 years

Onions (Freeze Dried)                  25 years                                    2 years

Fruits

Product                                    Optimum Shelf Life                   Opened Shelf Life

Apple Chips                               7 years                                      1 year

Peach Slices (Freeze Dried)       25 years                                    1 year

Raspberries (Freeze Dried)        25 years                                    1 year

Strawberries (Freeze Dried)      25 years                                    1 year

Blueberries (Freeze Dried)         25 years                                    1 year

Blackberries (Freeze Dried)       25 years                                    1 year

Applesauce                                7 years                                      6 months (refrigerated)

Apple Slices                               30 years                                    30 years

Banana Chips                             7 years                                      1 year

Blackberries                               25 years                                    1 year

Dairy

Product                                    Optimum Shelf Life                   Opened Shelf Life

Chocolate Drink Mix                     25 years                                    1-2 years

Cheese Powder                          15 years                                    1-2 years

Non-Fat Powdered Milk               25 years                                    1-2 years

Meats and Beans

Product                                    Optimum Shelf Life                   Opened Shelf Life

Black Beans                               30 years                                    5 years

Small Red Beans                        30 years                                    5 years

Sloppy Joe TVP                          10 years                                    1 year

Whole Eggs                                 5 years                                      6 months

Taco TVP                                   10 years                                    1 year

Sausage TVP                             10 years                                    1 year

Pinto Beans                               30 years                                    5 years

Chicken TVP                              10 years                                    1 year

Beef TVP                                   10 years                                    1 year

Ham TVP                                   10 years                                    1 year

Kidney Beans                             30 years                                    5 years

Lima Beans                                30 years                                    5 years

Lentils                                       30 years                                    5 years

Bacon TVP                                10 years                                    1 year

Staples

Product                                    Optimum Shelf Life                   Opened Shelf Life

Orange Drink                              3 years                                      6 months to 1 year

Iodized Salt                                30 years                                    2 years

Chicken Bouillon                         5 years                                      2 years

Peach Drink                               3 years                                      6 months to 1 year

White Sugar                               30 years                                    2 years

Powdered Sugar                       30 years                                    12 to 18 months

Baking Soda                              30 years                                    2 years

Apple Drink                                3 years                                      6 months to 1 year

Baking Powder                          30 years                                    2 years

Beef Bouillon                              5 years                                      2 years

Brown Sugar                            10 years                                    1 year

Baked Potato Cheese Soup       8 years                                      1 year

Broccoli Cheese Soup               8 years                                      1 year

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup   8 years                                      1 year

*Best storage conditions are a cool dry environment under 70 degrees.

Try to avoid storing food in a garage or warm pantry.

* Optimum shelf life is the shelf life with the best taste and nutritional value.

Life sustaining shelf lifes can be much longer than the optimum shelf life.

* This chart was taken from shelfreliance.com

Food Storage Calculator

Wondering how much long term food storage to store?  Here is a link to a food storage calculator. 

http://providentliving.com/info/foodcalc/

Debunking Food Storage Myths

Don’t be afraid to replace certain foods with foods you use more often. For example, the typical calculator may tell you to store way more, or less, of a certain ingredient then you would ever use. For example, you might like to use your grain mill to grind corn for cornbread, so you don't have to take the cornmeal recommendation literally and can store corn kernels instead.


You don't have to cook your meals with only shelf-stable ingredients. While these recipes can be useful and are good to know about in case of a severe emergency situation, they are NOT the be all/end all of food storage. The idea is that you will be learning to cook with your food storage and constantly rotating it. It’s okay to mix and match “food storage” items with “non-food storage” items.


TOTAL LIE! Your house is never to small to start working on your food storage. Get creative!  Put stuff under your bed or in a closet.  Anywhere you can think of.


NOT! Let’s be honest, unless you have tons of cash lying around, this isn’t going to happen. Start small. Commit yourself to buying food, little by little. Decide you will gather small amounts of a variety of long term food storage items. Once you discover which items you use most often, re-adjust and keep on buying when you can.


FALSE. I hardly consider myself a health food freak.  I like to feed my family healthy food, but I'm not opposed to yummy desserts!


Daily food storage means using your food storage in meals YOU would typically make. It’s surprising how you can adapt and start using your food storage even if you don’t cook the standard meals “everyone” else seems to be making.


While this is the reason a lot of people think you should get into food storage, it is one of the very last reasons why we LOVE having food storage. We have found that we use food storage for health reasons, self-reliance reasons, to weather against economic storms, and so much more. While it’s good to eventually make plans for how to survive without things like gas and electricity, there is no need to let that get in the way of you starting to use and rotate through your food storage TODAY!

*Info from FoodStorageMadeEasy

Hot Pockets

I made homemade hot pockets last night for dinner, and Darin went crazy over them, so now we've decided to make them and freeze them for lunches. 

Some ideas for the filling (all fully cooked, of course):
roast beef & swiss
ham & cheddar
chicken, broccoli & cheese
pizza sauce & pepperoni and/or sausage
ground beef & cheddar
cut up hot dogs & cheese
chunky stew
meatballs & sauce



Dough:
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 cup warm water
1 package active dry yeast, 2 1/4 tsp
2 1/2 cups flour (you can 1/2 & 1/2 with wheat flour)
3/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp butter

Heat milk to temperature just below boiling point. A thin skin forming over milk indicates sufficient heating; remove from heat; let cool to room temperature.

In a KitchenAid mixing bowl, add sugar, warm water and gently stir in yeast. Let stand 5 minutes, do not stir, mixture will bubble up. Blend in milk, salt, butter and flour; mix well, for about 5-10 minutes, or until pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Form dough into a small ball and cover bowl with damp cloth; let rise 30 minutes in warm area.

Divide bread dough into 12 portions and roll out into about 6 inch circle. Divide filling among 12 circles, about 1/3 cup for each. Place cheese on top of filling. Pull edges around filling and pinch to close.

Place on a large sprayed baking sheet, pinched side down. Brush tops with melted butter. Bake at 350* for 20 to 30 minutes. Makes 12 servings.

For freezing, just put in a ziploc bag, squeeze all the air out, and put in the freezer.  To reheat, cook in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.   

Food Storage Checklist #3 (3-Month Supply)

To Do:

• Create your three-month supply plan
• Start with a Menu/Dinner Rotation.  For an example, see my Dinner Rotation.
• Create an excel sheet with all the foods you use in a period of at least 3 months.  See an example of my 3-month food supply.

• Develop a system for purchasing your food items that work for your shopping style.
• Buy a few extras of several items each time you grocery shop.
• Stock up on items that are on sale (case lot sales, for example).
• Check out Deals to Meals (see icon on the right of this page).   For just $5/month, you will have access to all the deals of the week.  Print out your shopping list and take it to Walmart where you can price match.  I've talked to the manager at my Walmart, and they will let you use Deals to Meals printouts rather than make you show them each item on each ad. 

To Purchase:

• Begin purchasing foods included in your 3-Month Supply list.  For an example, see my 3-month supply list.

3-Month Food Supply

Here is a sample of my 6-month food supply.  As I said in my Dinner Rotation, I have enough meal options that it will get me through two months, so as update each meal for my 3-month supply, it ends up being 6 months.