Did you know that researchers at BYU are actively studying the storage lives of dry food products? Recently, they determined that we can store certain food products for much longer than originally presumed.2 This is great news for those of us working on our longer-term storage. It means much less stress about quick rotation.
Here is a list of the recommended storage life1,3 for many common home storage products (stored in ideal conditions):
Wheat, hard red - 30+
Wheat, hard white - 30+
White rice - 30+
Corn - 30+
White rice - 30+
Corn - 30+
Oats, quick - 30
Oats, regular - 30
Rolled oats - 30
Rolled oats - 30
Pasta - 30
Macaroni - 30
Spaghetti - 30
Macaroni - 30
Spaghetti - 30
Flour, white - 10+
Pancake mix - very limited
Black beans - 30
Pinto beans - 30
Pinto beans - 30
White beans - 30
Refried beans, powdered - 5+
Non-fat powdered milk - 20
Cocoa Mix - 2+
Fruit drink mix - 2+
Sugar -30+
Sugar -30+
Potato flakes - 30
Potato pearls - very limited
Apple slices - 30
Dehydrated carrots - 20 to 25
Apple slices - 30
Dehydrated carrots - 20 to 25
Onions, dry - 30
Remember that the long storage life of these products depended upon correct packing techniques. In almost every case, BYU researchers were testing food that had been stored in #10 cans with oxygen absorbers. Best tasting products resulted from storage in a cool, dark, dry place in #10 cans with adequate seams.
If you would like to explore these studies yourself, here is a link to all of the BYU research studies:
Wheat | Other | Thermal Processing | Drying | Food Storage Practices | Packaging
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4 comments:
It's always great seeing studies support food storage. As I've been ruminating over expiration dates recently, something interesting came to mind: About 8 years ago I read a study that the Army had done to determine the expiration of MREs. While MREs are indeed created to undergo more extreme storage conditions, the Army study discovered that despite the intended expiration date of 3 years, the meals continued to provide their original nutrition value for 25 years and only then began to have coloration variances. It's been making me think twice about food expiration dates... http://bit.ly/JmxFN
The links in this post are broken. I thought you'd like to know. Thanks for an interesting article.
Thank you for letting me know about the broken links! I've fixed them all now.
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