Each food product has a limited shelf life. When it comes to long term food storage you need to understand the factors that determine the shelf life of your foods. If you are just about to start a home food storage program or you already have one, this information might be useful for you to extend the shelf life of your foods.
There are four main factors that affect the shelf life of your food products. Let us look at all of them.
Temperature is probably the most important factor that defines how long your foods will last. If you put your foods into a warm place, it will not last long. The ideal temperature for food storage area is no more than forty degrees F. It is clear that not all home owners are able to achieve such temperature and maintain it all the year round. Even if it is warmer than 40 degrees in your storage area, you need to do your best to avoid frequent temperature changes. Make sure the temperature remains constant.
Moisture is the second factor that may spoil your survival foods. When choosing food for long term storage try to pick the one that has less than 10 percent of moisture content. However, as most of us do not have corresponding equipment this could be very difficult to achieve. That is why freeze dried foods are getting so popular. Freeze dried foods usually contain only about 5 percent of moisture in them. And that is why their shelf life is very long.
The third factor is the type of atmosphere in the storage container. Oxygen is the main enemy of food products. That is why many commercially prepared emergency foods are packed with Nitrogen. This gas works much better than oxygen.
If you want to cope with oxygen in your food containers at home, you might want to get oxygen absorber packets. All you need to do is place such an absorber into your food container and seal it. Oxygen absorber packets absorb oxygen from the atmosphere inside the container and create a slight vacuum. This allows your foods to last much longer.
Another factor to keep in mind is the storage container itself. Make sure you use air tight containers to ensure your foods will last as long as possible. When using plastic containers make sure they are made of food grade plastic. Otherwise they must not be used for storing food. Most containers are usually marked to let you know what products they could be used with.
If you choose to buy commercially prepared survival food, then in most cases you will not have to worry about the last three factors. You will only need to store your foods in a cool and dry place.

This planet gets nasty – it is high time to be prepared. Read more about food storage – this information can save your life and the lives of other people you care about. Visit this food storage blog for interesting info in the food storage niche.

Popularity: unranked [?]