In this last section I want to give some information that didn’t really fit anywhere else. I will also list some items related to food storage that you should store.

 

Food Boredom/Fatigue
I have read that there are people that get so tired of eating the same thing that they refuse to eat at all. This is part of the reason to have variety in your stored foods. Herbs and spices can also be used to enhance and modify recipes. As I mentioned in “Food Storage Part Three”, the storage length of herbs and spices varies, but the same food storage rules apply to them.

 

Water Enhancement
Storing a variety of things to enhance or flavor water is also a good idea. Dry powder mixes such as Kool-Aid or lemonade are good. Keep in mind that sugar might be needed in some of these. Gatorade mix can be used as well and is a great way to get electrolytes into the body. Tea bags or mixes are good for hot or cold teas. Hot cocoa mix and instant coffee are good as well.

 

Coffee
I have done minimal research into coffee storage but here is what I have found; coffee grounds by themselves can be stored for six months to a year, while whole coffee beans will store longer. Whole beans can be stored in Mylar to lengthen storage time. This will mean you will need to have a coffee grinder; having one that can grind the beans without electricity would be a good idea, in case there is loss of power. I have seen green coffee beans available but you would need to know how to roast them as well as have the implements to do so stored.

 

Pop, Soda, Coke, Cola, whatever you call it where you live.
Diet pop will not store for any length of time, stick to the date on the can. Regular pop will in most cases store just fine, though you should rotate this like anything else.

 

Power Loss/Black Out
The following are a few tips for the times you may lose power. This tip is a good idea at any time; the fuller a freezer is, the less energy it takes to keep the temperature constant. If you have unused space, you can add a 2 liter bottle of water to take up that space. This will keep the freezer cooler longer in times of power loss. You should also make a list of the entire contents of the fridge and freezer and stick it to the outside. This way people can just look at the list instead of browsing for something to eat.

 

Alternative Means to Cook
Have an alternative way to cook and a way to fuel it. The following are a few examples.

 

Open Fire
There are a few things to keep in mind about cooking over an open fire. Firewood takes 6-12 months to season. If this is going to be your fallback cooking method, you’ll want to have the wood ready well before hand and plenty of it.

 

Standard Barbecue
Many people have a barbecue to cook on when the weather is nice. If you go this route, have a few bags of charcoal or extra propane tanks stored safely.  Propane never goes bad and will store indefinitely.

Backpack and Camp Stoves (click to see some examples)
These are stoves that have one or two (possibly more) burners. The ones that have one burner are often used for backpacking, as they can be very light. These stoves utilize a variety of fuel, propane and butane among the most popular.

The reason I am bringing up the next two are because they are very efficient at burning and use very little wood, they are also things you could build yourself.

 

Hobo Stove
A Hobo Stove utilizes two metal containers, a larger one and a smaller one. The larger one has a large hole in the bottom for putting small pieces of wood in. There are also many holes throughout for letting oxygen in. Near the top there is a metal brace that the smaller metal can rests on. You place your food or water in the smaller can, which is heated by the flame in the larger can. The video below was found on you tube. There are many others. Just search for “hobo stove”.

 

Rocket Stove
A Rocket Stove can be used for heating a building or scaled down and used for cooking. Here is a link that explains the Principles of the Rocket Stove. The top video is a coffee can Rocket Stove and the bottom video is a large scale stove that could be used for heating a building. Here is an excellent article on Rocket Stoves with a better explanation then I can give as well as many more videos.

 

 

Solar Cooking
Here is a means of cooking I’m not very familiar with, that I was clued into from Jimmy a reader of the blog. It uses sunlight as a heat source, this could be a very good way to cook in an off grid situation. Wikipedia has a good write up on a Solar Cooker.

 

Cooking with Cast Iron and a Dutch Oven
Here are a few articles that give a wealth of information on cooking with Cast Iron and a Dutch Oven.

Cast Iron
The Irreplaceable Cast Iron Pans , Using a cast iron skillet ain’t so hard!

Dutch Oven
Seven secrets of Dutch oven cooking , Dutch Oven Cooking

 

Random items to stock up on that are related to Food Storage, this is not a comprehensive list, let me know what I may have missed and I will add it.

Vitamins.
Manual can opener.
Manual coffee grinder
Percolating coffee pot
Grain mill
Wine corkscrew (Don’t look at me like that, this is for Communion 🙂 )
Teapot
Paper plates, bowls, towel, napkins.
Plastic silverware
Plastic or paper cups
Aluminum foil
Saran wrap
Plastic bags of various sizes (this includes sandwich bags, garbage bags, Ziploc storage, etc.)
Fire extinguisher. (know how to use it)
Cast Iron Cook wear
Dutch Oven
Dish soap
Matches
lighters

Here are the links to the other food storage articles.
Food Storage Part One: Why Store Food And The Rules For It.
Food Storage Part Two: The Kind Of Foods That You Can Store
Food Storage Part Three: Shelf Life of Staples.
Food Storage Part Four: The Process and Enemies of Food Storage.
Food Storage Part Five: How much food should you store and where should you put it all?
Food Storage Part Six: Tips On Stocking Up and Affording it all.
Food Storage Part Seven: Food Boredom to Survival Cooking .

 
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How much food you store is something that each family will need to decide. It will depend on income, storage area and other factors. I personally think people should store six months worth of food and a year if at all possible. I recommend that you have a long-term goal, whether it’s six months, a year, or even more in mind and work toward it by setting smaller goals along the way.

In the beginning, go with smaller goals; three days, then a week, then two weeks, then a month. This will do a few things. First it won’t break your bank. Second, it will keep you from fear buying. Pray along the way, asking God to guide you in how to prepare. Third, it will keep you from prepping burnout and buyers remorse.

I recommend having at least 2-3 months of the “store what you eat foods”. Once you have that, then add another 2-3 months of freeze dried or LTS (Long Term Storage) dehydrated food. From there I recommend storing staples. When it comes to staples make sure you have the storage for them as well as the equipment before you order them. This includes Mylar bags, heat sealers and oxygen absorbers.

The LDS church recommends that their members slowly work toward one year of ood stored. I do no want to get into a discussion about the LDS church; this site is about preparing the body of Christ, not deciding who is in it. Here is a Food Storage Calculator built off of the recommendations from the LDS church, it asks for the number of family members in certain age groups and will show you the amount of staples they recommend.

The idea of storing a year of food may be a little overwhelming. That is why I said to set a long-term goal and short-term goals. Once you get started and your pantry begins to grow, your long-term goal will seem much more attainable.
 

Where can you store all of this?

When it comes to food storage and keeping in mind the enemies of food storage as I mentioned in Food Storage Part 4 a cool, dry, dark place is best. With that in mind, I’ll try to give you some storage ideas that may be helpful to you. I recommend you make room for your preps before you get them home, otherwise that 50 lbs of rice might sit in the bag until you get a place ready.

When it comes to storing staples, many of them are relatively cheap and you will be more restrained by your storage space then by the cost. Whether you use a shelving system, or just stack food grade buckets on top of each other in a closet, a place to store your preps is a must.
 
Location, location, location:
Keeping a cache of food at a different location is a good idea if possible. If you have a friend or relative that is like-minded, you could each store some of the others food. I also recommend keeping some food stored in different places in your home as well. The thinking here is security and redundancy. If something happens to one section of your storage, the other could remain intact.
 
Shelf Reliance
Shelf Reliance is a company that sells a few types of preparedness related products, one of which is shelving. I purchased “The Pantry” and because of the functionality and storage space of cans that it provides, this is one of my favorite prepping purchases. They have two types, the larger Free Standing Systems and the smaller Cansolidator Series these hold a smaller amount of cans, but would be great for people that do not have a lot of room, or are on a tight budget.
 
Shelving:
There are many kinds of shelving available at the big name hardware stores. Here are a few things to keep in mind. Some of the shelves have a recommended weight limit, I have seen this mostly in the plastic shelving. Try to figure out how much space you need in-between the shelves. Also keep in mind future storage, buying or building a bigger shelf than you need right now is a good idea; “I would rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it”.

We decided to get shelving in place before we purchased much of our preps, this was a good idea, but in hindsight I wish I had built it differently. I initially thought I would be using 5-gallon food grade buckets, and designed it to hold two five gallon buckets, one on top of the other, on the bottom shelf. When we went looking for buckets I could only find 3 and 4-gallon buckets, so there are eight inches of wasted space between the top of the highest bucket and the bottom of the shelf above it. Leaving some room so that it isn’t a really tight fit is good, but this is enough room for a 12-pack of soda or something of similar height, that is now wasted.

The other nice thing about building your own is that you can custom make it to your needs. We had a wall that was about ten feet long, so I made a 10’ long by 3’ wide shelf with 2”x4”s and 1/2 plywood. It might not be pretty, but it is very functional and holds our preps safely and securely.

For you “do-it-yourselfers” here are two plans for making your own rotating canned food systems. One plan from From wikiHow and 14 plans from CanRacks.com, $14.95 each or $110 for all 14.
 
Grocery store demo shelving.
I have seen this tip a few places and cannot remember where or I would give them credit. The displays at grocery stores are often thrown away after the display is taken down. These displays are often pretty high quality as to show the product off. Asking the store if you can have it once the display is taken down might get you some free shelving, even if you have to call the distributor.
 
Metal garbage cans:
We keep two 25 lb bags of dog food in one 30-gallon metal garbage can. I have toyed with the idea of keeping some of the preps in Mylar in one of these. It’s metal, so there is no leeching and its also rodent proof. The only real downside I can see is that it’s not incredibly portable, but for me, that’s not a big drawback.
 
Under the bed:
If you have room under your bed, you can use the shallow plastic containers, as an example Under-Bed Box with Wheels, Clear Base and add either canned goods or Mylar bags. You can tape a list of the contents to the top of the lid. This will make keeping track of the contents easier than sliding it out and pulling out each can to look for a product name.
 
Closets:
Walk in your closet, turn around and look above the door. This space is open in many closets; you can add a wire shelf there and store some lighter foodstuffs (you don’t want cans as they could roll off and land on your head).
 
Attics:
For many people the attics in their home and garage are only used for the insulation, depending on the type of insulation, you might be able to put down sections of plywood and use it for storing paper goods or other items that are not going to be affected by extreme temperatures.
 

Here are the links to the other food storage articles.
Food Storage Part One: Why Store Food And The Rules For It.
Food Storage Part Two: The Kind Of Foods That You Can Store
Food Storage Part Three: Shelf Life of Staples.
Food Storage Part Four: The Process and Enemies of Food Storage.
Food Storage Part Five: How much food should you store and where should you put it all?
Food Storage Part Six: Tips On Stocking Up and Affording it all.
Food Storage Part Seven: Food Boredom to Survival Cooking .

 
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In this section I’ll explain the enemies of food storage and how to mitigate them. I’ll also cover how to properly store food for LTS (Long Term Storage).

The five dangers of food storage are; heat, light, oxygen, moisture and pests. Minimizing the effects of these things will greatly increase the storage life of food.
 
 

Heat

Temperatures between 40 degrees and 72 degree Fahrenheit are ideal for food storage. For every 18 degrees above 72, the food loses up to half its nutritional value. If the food is exposed to temperatures over 72 degrees for an extended amount of time it can lose its color, texture and taste.
 
 

Light

Keep things in a dark space if at all possible, light can affect the appearance and taste of food. Mylar bags and food grade buckets will also help here.
 
 

Oxygen

When fats oxidize they turn rancid. Keeping your food in an oxygen free environment will prevent this, as well as kill pests that may be in the food. You can remove oxygen with oxygen absorbers in an airtight bag. I’ll cover how to know how many to use below.
 
 

Moisture

Moisture can take the form of humidity, condensation or even a water pipe breakage. To mitigate this I keep much of my preps in Mylar bags and then I put the Mylar bag in a food grade bucket. You can also add a desiccant to the inside of the Mylar for added moisture removal. I try not to have any food with cardboard packaging out in the open, as it is susceptible to accidents involving liquids, such as broken pickle jars, broken pipes or the “Not Me Ghost”, you know, children.
 
 

Pests

Pests range from larvae in bulk food to mice in your food storage area. There are a few ways to deal with each. For larvae you can stick that bag of rice, beans or whatever in your freezer for a couple of days. This will kill any bugs, larvae or eggs. I used to do that, but it’s time consuming, my freezer isn’t that big and it’s usually full. I found, on a forum, that the simple act of removing the oxygen would kill any pests in the food. This made sense and they were steps we were already doing. We have not had any problem with pests in any of the food we have stored this way. If you want to make sure, feel free to do both. I have also read that Bay Leaves will keep pests away and some people add them to the inside of the Mylar bag as well as the inside of the food grade bucket.
 
 

Mice

We keep a very clean house but the little buggers always seem to come in, especially in the fall when it starts to get cold. There are a few ways to deal with them but I prefer traps. With poison there’s a possibility they’ll make it to a spot that you can’t find before they die, which could cause a smell. Glue traps are about as inhumane as anything I can imagine. I prefer spring traps. I used to use the old fashioned ones, but they’re so touchy and can be a pain to set. I started using JAWZ Mouse Trap and I really like them. They are incredibly easy to set, still go off when “visited” and mouse extraction is quick and easy.
 
 

The “How To” of Storing Your Own Bulk Food.

This process seemed a little daunting when I began to research it. In truth it was a bit frustrating the first few times we put up some bulk food. The reason it was frustrating had to do with the process we were using. I had seen a video about using a household vacuum and a household iron to seal the bag. It worked but was an exercise in frustration. After the food and oxygen absorbers were added, the bag was heat sealed, save a section about an inch long. One end of a tube was inserted into the remaining hole, while the other end was connected to the vacuum. My wife was at the ready with the iron. I would turn the vacuum on, removing the air. I would remove the tube and my wife would seal the remaining hole. It was effective, but as said, it got frustrating. It was definitely a team building exercise!

The process we use now is much better, we purchased a heat impulse sealer,this makes things easier, but it would still work with an iron. We got rid of the vacuum completely. We achieve the airtight seal by adding more than enough oxygen absorbers for the size of the container. I’ll explain the process below.

You might be thinking why not use a vacuum sealer? The bags that come with vacuum sealers are clear. That makes the food susceptible to light. They are also not as heavy duty as Mylar and I also don’t think that they are an oxygen barrier, whereas Mylar is. So why not use Mylar bags with a vacuum sealer? We tried, the vacuum sealer wouldn’t work on Mylar. I could get the vacuum to engage but it couldn’t form a seal to remove the oxygen. I did some research on-line and found that you can make a “sleeve” out of the clear plastic bag and slide it over the Mylar. Remember me saying that the first few times were frustrating? The vacuum sealers might be fantastic for use with the bags made for them, which are frequently used in freezing, but for long-term storage I highly recommend Mylar and the process I’ll explain below.
 
 

Let me cover the needed components first;

Mylar Bags

Mylar is a clear material made from polyester resin. The balloons you see at grocery stores or party stores are made of Mylar. The Mylar bags used for food storage have a layer of foil on them. They come in varying levels of thickness. I have seen 3.5 mil – 7 mil. I have seen the recommendation to use thicker Mylar bags for things like pasta because the pasta can puncture the bag when the oxygen is absorbed and the bag tightens around it.
 
 

Oxygen Absorbers

Oxygen absorbers are made of iron oxide. When oxygen is present the iron oxide rusts as it absorbs the oxygen. When all of the oxygen has been absorbed the rusting stops. Every time I have purchased oxygen absorbers, they have come in a 50 pack, in sealed plastic packaging. I always have a canning jar on hand to put them in. I put the jar lid on as soon as I take them out of the packaging. I remove the lid as needed. This will keep the absorbers from absorbing too much oxygen. When I am done putting food up I can just leave the absorbers in the jar.

Sorbent Systems recommends that if you are filling a:

5 or 6-gallon bag, that you use 1500cc-2000cc oxygen absorber.
3-gallon bag should use 1000cc
1-gallon bag or #10 can should have 300cc.

You can mix sizes to get to the recommended amount of absorption. Use 1 1000cc or 4 300cc. It’s a bit of overkill but it’s better to go a little overboard than to not have enough.

Keep in mind that since we’re not using a vacuum, the package will not be “solid” right away. Once the oxygen absorbers have had some time to work the effect is as good as using a vacuum and a lot less frustrating.
 
 

Heat Source

As I mentioned, we now use an impulse sealer, but you can do this with an iron as we have in the past.
 
 

Food Grade Buckets

Here is an article that explains what food grade plastic is. Most food grade buckets have a “2” in the recycle symbol. You can purchase brand new food grade buckets on-line. The prices often range from $7-$10 (depending on size) with the lid included. However, you can often get them locally cheaper or even completely free.

I purchased the bulk of mine from a bakery for $2.00 (including the lid). I also got some free from the bakeries in the local grocery store, Sam’s and Costco. I had to endure a few odd looks but for the $10 I saved, I’ll deal with it. We washed these buckets thoroughly with hot water and dish soap.

Keep in mind that there is a chance that whatever was in the bucket may leave it’s scent on whatever you put in the bucket. If you get a bucket that smells like pickles, there isn’t much you’re going to be able to do to get the smell out. You may be able to purchase something to wash it with, but once you factor in the cost of that product and the time, you would probably save money by buying a new bucket.
 

Do you have to use food grade buckets, or will any 5 gallon bucket suffice?

If you’re storing the food in Mylar than the food will only come in contact with the Mylar bag, which is food grade.  If you’re going to have the food loose in the bucket then yes, you should use a food grade bucket.
 
 

Gamma Seal Lids

As you’ll soon discover, taking the lids off of these buckets can take a toll on your fingernails and knuckles. Gamma seal lids go on like a normal lid but they also have an inner lid that screws off, leaving the outer sections attached to the bucket.

I didn’t go the gamma seal route. Instead, I have a Bucket Wrench. I didn’t use one at first but after I had a few fingernails bent back I ordered one.

Another possible storage option:

Something that I learned about from Jack on The Survival Podcast is Paint Style Cans w/ Gold Phenolic Lining; these are FDA approved and are evidently great for storage. You can put the food right in the can, add an oxygen absorber and put the lid on.
 
 

The process of storing food in Mylar:

Step One: Get all of the needed items in one place:
-Item to be stored.
-Mylar bags.
-Oxygen absorbers.
-Heat Sealer.
-Permanent Marker or labels and pen.
-Scoop (in this case it was a large plastic cup.)
-Food Grade bucket.

Step Two: Add an oxygen absorber and start adding food to the Mylar bag. I usually add an oxygen absorber at the bottom of the bag, the middle and near the top. Remember that the amount of oxygen absorbers you’ll need to add are dependent on the size of the bag you are using.

Notice the headroom left at the top, you’ll need to leave room so when you lay it flat, the contents don’t spill.

Step Three: Seal the bag. The left picture is of an impulse seal. The right is of a household iron seal. The picture below them is a side-by-side comparison of the two. Leaving the iron on the bag for more then a second or two can cause the bag to melt on the seal line, leaving a hole.

Step Four: Label the Mylar bag with content and date stored. Writing on the bag is fine; the labels are just easier to read.

Step Five: Put the filled Mylar bag in the bucket. I usually leave the lid off so that I can check to make sure the oxygen has been removed from every bag. We will occasionally get one that has to be repacked with a new bag and oxygen absorbers.

Here are before and after pictures, the left (or top, depending on your monitor resolution) one is right after sealing, before the oxygen absorbers have done their work. The right one is 12 or so hours later, notice how the bag is dimpled, that is the easiest indication that the oxygen is removed.

Once you’re sure the oxygen has been removed from all bags, you can put the lid on. I can get three, one gallon bags in the 3-4 gallon buckets.

One of the mistakes we made in the beginning was using Mylar bags that were large enough to fill the entire bucket. The problem with this is that once you open the large bag, all of the contents then have to be used, or you have to reseal them. We now use smaller one-gallon bags and put three in the bucket.

Here are some resources for purchasing food storage supplies. Interteck Packaging and Sorbent Systems carry mainly Mylar, oxygen absorbers and the like, while Emergency Essentials carries a wide variety of preparedness supplies.

2-14-11 Update
I am in need of more oxygen absorbers so; I went to the three sites I have listed and, well lets just say I found a much cheaper source. Honeyville Grain at the bottom of the page. Nearly half of one of the sites listed. I’m going to leave the others, as they are a good source for other things.

Here are the links to the other food storage articles.
Food Storage Part One: Why Store Food And The Rules For It.
Food Storage Part Two: The Kind Of Foods That You Can Store
Food Storage Part Three: Shelf Life of Staples.
Food Storage Part Four: The Process and Enemies of Food Storage.
Food Storage Part Five: How much food should you store and where should you put it all?
Food Storage Part Six: Tips On Stocking Up and Affording it all.
Food Storage Part Seven: Food Boredom to Survival Cooking .

 
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What are food staples?

Wikipedia has a pretty good explanation of what staple foods are. In short it says a staple is a food that is “eaten regularly and in such quantities as to constitute the dominant part of the diet and supply a major proportion of energy and nutrient needs.”

What are some staples that can be stored long term? – Note, in many of these explanations I say, “When stored correctly”, I’ll cover this in greater detail in the next article. For now just know that in general this means dry, cool, dark, oxygen free and secure from pests.

This is not an exhaustive list of staples. If you notice one that is missing and feel it should be added, please let me know. A quick disclaimer; the information here has been gathered over many resources and should be viewed as “best practices”. I have not stored any of these items for 30 years to see if they’re still edible.
 

Grains

Grains store very well because the hard outer shell is protecting the inner seed. When stored correctly, they have a shelf life of 30+ years. One of the most popular types of grains to store is wheat. Different types of wheat are better for different things. Wikipedia has a good description and explanation of different kinds of wheat. In the section “Major Cultivated Species of Wheat”

-Note; if you store grains, you will need a mill to grind them.

Some examples of hard grains are: Buckwheat, Kamut, Millet, Durum wheat, hard red wheat, hard white wheat and Spelt.

Some examples of soft grains are: Barley, Oats, Quinoa and Rye.
 

Flour

After the shell is broken and can no longer protect the seed, the nutrients begin to degrade. Wheat is then ground into flour. Don’t try to store flour for more than a year. I have read that flour stored correctly can be stored for five years.

Types of flour: All Purpose Flour, Bakers Flour, Unbleached Flour, White
Flour, Whole Wheat Flour, Cornmeal.
 

Rice

Brown rice has the shell containing fatty acids attached. These acids go rancid after six months or so.

White rice has had the outer shell removed. Because of this, it has less nutrients but will store much longer; as long as 30 years if stored correctly.

Rice that has a very long storage life: White, Wild, Jasmine, Arborio and Basmati.
 

Beans

The magical fruit if stored correctly can have a shelf life of 30+ years. Aged toots.

Some types of beans: Kidney, Garbanzo, Great Northern, Lentils, Lima, Pinto and Soy.
 

Beans and Rice

I have heard that beans and rice are a complete protein, I’ve also heard they are not. So I did my own research and the following is what I found. A complete protein contains all essential amino acids. Animal based protein such as meat, milk, eggs are good sources of complete proteins, whereas most plant based proteins are not. A combination of grains, legumes or vegetables can be made to create a complete protein; one of which is beans and rice.

The reason that beans and rice are a popular choice for preppers is that you can put up a large amount fairly inexpensively. I caution you against making this the bulk of your stored food. As I mention in part two, diversity is important. One of the reasons it is important is food boredom. Beans and rice every day would wear thin quickly but they could be mixed in now and then to stretch your other food supply. A side note; unless beans are a part of your normal diet, they can do a number on your digestive system. I have read that over time your body will adjust and the gas will lesson. You can also mitigate this and other digestive problems with other preps. I’ll cover those at another time.

Here are some of the articles that explain how beans and rice make a complete protein.

Laissez “Fare” Nutrition: Protein

Incomplete vs. Complete Proteins

What’s a Complete Protein? Inquiring Vegetarians Want to Know.
 

Pasta

Pasta will store longer then flour but probably not as long as un-cracked wheat. I got a really good tip from a friend that I haven’t tried yet; you can cook pasta and then dehydrate it. The benefit of this is that it is already cooked and can be reconstituted and eaten.
 

Dehydrated Dairy Products

If a dehydrated product has fat in it, the shelf life is probably about 5 years. If it is fat free then the shelf life is 20 years. Some of these things don’t taste very good on their own, but if used for baking taste just fine.

Types of Dehydrated Dairy Products: Dehydrated Milk, cheese powder, cocoa powder, powdered eggs, butter or margarine powder.
 

Honey

There are three types of honey. Pure honey won’t go bad. It can crystallize but it turns back into liquid if warmed. (Avoid boiling, as that will kill nutrients.) The other two types are adulterated and artificial. Adulterated honey is real honey with another ingredient added. Artificial honey is, well, artificial. The honey found as condiments at restaurants is most often adulterated or artificial. Here is an article that explains How to Distinguish Natural Honey and Artificial Honey.
 

Salt and Sugar

If salt and sugar are kept dry they should store for a very, very long time. Sugar has a tendency to harden. It can be broken back into granules. These are two items I recommend storing a fair amount of. They are used in a lot of things and chances are you can’t reproduce them. Most of the uses for sugar are related to food but here are Sixty Uses For Table Salt

Keep in mind there are many kinds of salt. Here is an article called Beyond Table Salt — A Guide To Different Types Of Salt.
 

Yeast

Yeast, if kept in its foil container, should have a storage life of at least one year.
 

Cornmeal

As I mention in the section on flour, cornmeal has a pretty limited shelf life. However, you can make cornmeal out of popcorn seeds and popcorn seeds have a much longer shelf life. You’ll need a grinder for this as well.
 

Baking Soda

Also known as sodium bicarbonate, baking soda is another one of the staples that has many uses. It acts to neutralize acids and break down proteins. This makes it useful as a tenderizer and a leaven. It has a neutralizing effect on acidic scent that makes it an effective deodorizer. Added to the water when doing laundry, it stabilizes the pH level, enhancing the detergent’s effectiveness. If kept in the cardboard box the storage life is probably around a year. If kept oxygen free and moisture free it should store indefinitely.
 

Herbs And Spices

The shelf life of spices and herbs varies greatly so I’ll just give some general rules. Whole spices have a longer shelf life and often have a better taste and smell when freshly ground. Herbs lose their flavor faster then spices. If they have little to no smell when crumpled in the palm of your hand they should be replaced. The same rules apply for storage of spices, which means that keeping them above the oven, as is very common, probably isn’t the best place to store them. We have some individual spices, but also stock some of the mixes. Herbs and spices are one way to combat food boredom.

Here is an article from the Mother Earth Network called Forever foods: 10 cooking staples that can outlast you.
 

Cooking With Staples

For those of us that don’t have a lot of experience cooking with staples, here are a few resources.

The Food Network offers 100 Wheat Recipes.

Chef Keith Snow created a website called Harvest Eating. On it, he shows people how to cook with locally grown foods, with techniques people of any skill level can use. I have heard him interviewed on a couple of different Podcasts and was impressed with his approach. I think his site is a fantastic idea.

Here are two books that I own;

The Amazing Wheat Book

Making the most of basics
I can’t recommend this book enough. It not only has information on cooking with staples, but a wealth of information on basic skills that not many in our culture retain.

Lastly I want to give you a few sources for finding staples, both on-line and locally.

Here are some links to help you find sources locally to you that you can
purchase staples in bulk.

Local Harvest
Coop Directory
Sustainable Table
FoodRoutes.org
Eat Well Guide

Here are some links to help you find sources on-line that you can purchase staples in bulk. I would recommend checking a few of them before placing an order. Prices and shipping prices will vary.

Wholesale Bulk Foods.com
Pleasant Hill Grain
WHEAT MONTANA FARMS & BAKERY
Honeyville Grain
Organic Wheat Products
Barry Farm Foods
Bob’s Red Mill
King Arthur Flour Company
War Eagle Mill
USA Emergency Supply
Dutch Valley Food

Here are the links to the other food storage articles.
Food Storage Part One: Why Store Food And The Rules For It.
Food Storage Part Two: The Kind Of Foods That You Can Store
Food Storage Part Three: Shelf Life of Staples.
Food Storage Part Four: The Process and Enemies of Food Storage.
Food Storage Part Five: How much food should you store and where should you put it all?
Food Storage Part Six: Tips On Stocking Up and Affording it all.
Food Storage Part Seven: Food Boredom to Survival Cooking .

 
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