Non-Perishable Foods

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Everybody is saying to stock Non-perishable foods. But what foods are non-perishable. Give me some suggestions please.....

-- dave (dave@ptdprolog.net), January 12, 1999

Answers

how about rice. I dont know but i think it keeps forever.. well if anyoe else can tell me i would like to know

-- john (john@ptdprolog.net), January 12, 1999.

Dave I am storing foods with expirations that go into the late 2000 yr. Like Cambells soups. They have a two yr. expiration date after canned at the company. Spaghetti sauces also seem to have a good shelf life. We have plenty of beans and rice all packaged into 5-gal. buckets, mylar bags with desiccants and oxy. abs. so they will last a looooong time. Hope this helps. Start now. Mary

-- Mary Howe (doesnotmatter@thistime.com), January 12, 1999.

Don't you USA folks have "best before" dates on things?

Anyway: grains, dry beans and lentils, spaghetti, anything canned, most bottled preserves (pickles, jams, pasta sauces) will be fine well into 2000 if bought today. Breakfast cereal, confectionery, dried fruits, nuts, packet cookies are usually good for at least six months but not for much more than a year.

-- Nigel Arnot (nra@maxwell.ph.kcl.ac.uk), January 12, 1999.


Better have a look at The Seven Major Mistakes in Food Storage

Then curl up with The Whys and Hows of Whole Grains and Foods

(There may be a quiz....)

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), January 12, 1999.


Great site, Tom! Thanks.

Jeannie

-- jhollander (hollander@ij.net), January 12, 1999.



Dave, first thing is figure out for how long you want to prepare, and for how many people. Then visualize who'll be eating all this - vegetarians won't gripe about no meat, but your kids sure will.

Then ponder menus they'd eat semi-happily. I decided on 40 days of homemade tuna helper, so that's 40x6 cans/meal = 240 cans of tuna; 2 lb/pasta * 40 days = 80lb pasta; plus some sort of sauce.

Then I did that for Spaghetti, then Chili, then Chicken & Dumplings, etc.

Breakfast & Lunch: grits, oatmeal, pancakes, Ramen (way cheap), Mac & Cheese. Go check out Gary North's Food forum (these people are SERIOUS); all the info you could ever need. Good Luck, guy.

-- Lisa (lisab@shallc.com), January 12, 1999.


I may be totally wrong, but I look at the supposed shelf life of various canned goods with much skepticism. I have often 'found' a can of something or other that had been in the pantry for 4-5 years, and when opened, it was still good. OK, maybe all the nutrients, etc. weren't still there, but it was completely edible. I 'found' a jar of "Old El Paso" salsa a few days ago that was at least 4 yrs old, and it was still good. It had maybe turned a little dark, but not enough that if I hadn't known it was that old, I wouldn't have noticed it. It tasted fine. My pantry stays cool and dark, so maybe that helps, too.

-- Gerald R. Cox (grcox@internetwork.net), January 17, 1999.

Hi Dave,

Some non-perishables:

Peanut butter; crackers; pasta; mac&chees (5 for a buck!); instant mashed potatoes; stove top stuffing; dry soup mixes.

Also, soups; canned vegetables; canned *anything* actually (chicken, turkey, some hams, spam, potatoes, fruits, etc. as long as you check the exp. date.) Also, V8 juice (and others) Tomatoe sauces, spaghetti-o's, that pudding in a cup stuff.

-- Sub-Mitt (lurking@ofcourse.com), January 17, 1999.


I've stockpiled all the canned and dried foods mentioned above, but my biggest concern is meat. While I've purchased a good deal of canned ham, chicken etc., I don't find it particularly appetizing. So I decided to learn to can my own, and found out its relatively easy! You definitely need a pressure canner to can meat however. I have a large Presto pressure cooker/canner purchased at Sears about 10 yrs ago...seems to me it was about $80.00. Other than that, no special equipment is needed (well, except for the canning jars & lids of course. So far I've done many quarts of chicken, pork and beef roasts, and lots of hamburger. From what I've read, it should store with no problem for at least a year, and perhaps longer.

Sheila

-- Sheila (sross@bconnex.net), January 17, 1999.


Tuna: 4-6 years

Spam: FOREVER!

Dinty Moore Stew: 5 years

Honey: Indefinitely

http://www.glitchproof.com/glitchproof/storlifofgro.html

-- Gayla Dunbar (privacy@please.com), January 17, 1999.



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