Posts Tagged: long term storage
Long-Term Food Storage Basics Pt. B.:
Suggested Food for Medium & Long-Term Storage
Dry cereal, instant cereal, instant rice, crackers, granola bars, canned spaghetti/ravioli, wheat, quinoa, brown rice, white, rice, lentils, barley.
Canned beans, canned meat, shelf-stable tofu, peanut butter, beef jerky, canned soup/chili/stew, canned nuts, dried Beans, dried eggs/cheese/butter.
Salsa, canned tomatoes, dehydrated vegetables, popcorn, pickles, canned vegetables, corn, pickles.
Canned fruit, applesauce packs, dried fruit, jam & jellies, canned juice, fruit leather.
Pet food, coffee/tea, bottled water, boxed juice, cocoa packets, dried milk, comfort foods, pudding cups, sugar, salt, spices.
How to Get Started
-
Designate a space for your long-term food storage.
-
Buy foods that your family enjoys that are high in calories and nutrition.
-
Slowly buy extra food each week until you have the desired food storage amount.
-
Your utilities may be out during a disaster, making it difficult to cook. Have a camp stove, grill, cooking and eating utensils, paper plates, cups, towels, and a manual can opener.
-
Don't forget your pets. Make sure they have food and water.
-
To prevent sickness, have a supply of soap and hand sanitizer.
-
Have a refrigerator thermometer.
-
Invest in plastic PETE containers and food-grade buckets.
How much Water Will I Need?
Be prepared with at least 1 gallon of water per person, per day. However, water needs vary according to age, physical condition, activity, climate, and diet. Nursing mothers, children, and ill people may need more. If you have enough advance warning about a possible power outage, you can extend the storage time of food left in the freezer by filling empty spaces with water to freeze. Fill clean, food grade containers with water and freeze them. Your food will stay frozen longer and when the ice melts, you can drink the water.
Water Containers
There are many types of containers for storing water. For safety, the ideal ones are “food grade”, meaning they are designed to hold food or water.
Water Purification
There are many ways to purify water. Some of the most common ways are by boiling, or using chlorine bleach, purification tablets, and filters. Before purifying water, remove particles by filtering it through paper towels, a coffee filter, or a clean cloth.
Boiling Water
Rapidly boiling water for 1 minute is the safest and most effective way to kill all bacteria, disease-causing organisms, and giardia parasites, which can cause infections. However, it will not remove salts, heavy metals, or other contaminants.
Household Chlorine Bleach
Add 16 drops of bleach into one gallon of water. The water should have a slight bleach smell. If not, repeat the dosage and let stand another 15 minutes.
How Long to Store Canned Goods?
As a general rule, unopened home canned foods have a shelf life of 1 year and should be used before 2 years. Commercially canned foods typically retain their best quality until the expiration code on the can. High acid foods (tomatoes, jams, jellies, preserves, and pickles), usually have a shorter shelf life than low acid foods (meats, poultry, seafood, and vegetables).
Rotate Food Storage
Always use FIFO (first-in, first out), meaning use your oldest cans first. Inspect cans before opening. Discard any badly dented, bulging, rusty, leaking cans or jars that have broken seals. Don't open it! Don't taste it! Discard it immediately!
If you open a can that looks fine from the outside, but the content smells or looks bad, dispose of as above. Some basic foods need more frequent rotation, such as vegetable oil (every 1-2 years).
Please go to next post: Long-term Food Storage Basics Pt. C
Long-Term Food Storage Basics, Pt. A
Here is a very good article covering the basics of long-term food storage. This covers foods to store, water and containers as well as what NOT to store, among other things.
Great article by Denise Turner, a fellow Master Food Preserver. Thank you Denise!
Long-Term Food Storage Basics
By Denise Turner, MFP, San Bernardino County
Food preservation and food storage, has been done by every culture and at nearly every moment in time. Food begins to spoil the moment it's harvested. Food preservation allowed ancient man to live in one place and form a community. He no longer had to harvest or kill immediately, but could preserve a portion for later.
Some anthropologists believe that mankind settled down from nomadic wanderers into farmers to grow barley to make beer in roughly 10,000 BC. Beer was nutritious and the alcohol was divine. It was treated as a gift from the gods.
What is Long Term Food Storage?
Long-term food storage consists of emergency foods for one or more years. Long term food storage emphasizes a mixture of canned and dried goods that can safely be stored for years.
Food Safety
Foodborne illnesses can come from three sources: PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL and BIOLOGICAL.
Physical Hazards include stone, glass, insects, or any other non-edible debris.
Chemical Hazards include non-food containers, cleaners, and pesticides.
Biological Hazards include all of the micro-organisms and bacteria that cause food borne disease, including botulism.
Food Quality & Emergency Food Storage
Foods naturally deteriorate as they age. The science of food storage and preservation has evolved with our attempts to slow down our food's deterioration. When it comes to preserving the shelf-life quality of foods, the primary concern is preventing spoilage micro-organisms from growing.
Oxygen is the next factor. Oxygen catalyzes chemical reactions that lead to rancidity. In most cases removing oxygen will extend the food's shelf-life quality.
Moisture and temperature are the two critical factors in optimal food storage.
Moisture: The humidity in the storage area should be low. If dried foods pick up moisture from storage area, mold, yeast and bacteria can grow, which can lead to spoilage and food-borne illness. Moisture can also lead to the breakdown of some packaging materials (paper degradation and metal rusting).
Temperature: The optimal temperature is in the cool and moderate range, approximately 40-70 F. If storage area temperatures are higher, rotate products as needed to maintain quality.
Other Factors: Direct sunlight or heat from the sunlight speed up food's deterioration and packaging. Protect cooking oil and products stored in PETE plastic bottles from light and store foods off the floor to allow for air circulation. Flooring materials, especially raw concrete, can leak chemicals into stored food.
Please go to next post: Long-term Food Storage Basics Pt. B