Commonly asked question on storing your food storage

Hi, I have a quick question for you. Your food storage lists says that oats and milk, flour and things will last 20-30 yrs if stored correctly. What exactly does that mean? Do I have to store oats in 10# cans? Can I buy oats and flour from the cannery and then put them in a 5gallon bucket and have them last that long? I am just not sure the best methods. I would appreciate some advice. Also, do you know if the cannery oats are even good? This process can be overwhelming!

Yes! Everything I have tried from the Cannery is excellent quality :) Buy the items at the Cannery in BULK 25lb. bags and you will save! They have awesome prices!!

As far as storing..here are my thoughts:

Don’t be overwhelmed!! Getting started is the hardest part, I promise!! You will find it really is fun and you will get great satisfaction as you see your storage room take shape and shelves stocked.

This is the deal with how long food lasts…I don’t worry about it!!! If you are only stocking up for a one year supply, even if you don’t rotate through the food in over five years, it will still be FINE! People get so worried about having their food ‘go bad’ that they frustrate themselves. The study that was done from the Cannery showed that food stored in #10 cans were PERFECTLY fine after 30 years. They came to the conclusion that many of these long term storage items can last even longer than 30 years, and MUCH longer than they ever thought they would.

I don’t can my food in #10 cans because it almost doubles the price. The only item I have in #10 cans is powdered milk from the Cannery. I don't rotate through this as quickly and I want to make sure it lasts and is fresh. All other items I put in the 5 gallon buckets or plastic containers, and I figure they will last as long as I need them to (5-10 years). If you are not rotating through your items in less than 10 years, you are most likely buying too much, or don’t need to restock as often. I have oats in my pantry that I bought right after I was married (nearly 10 years ago) and they are perfectly fine! I also have powdered milk that is almost that old and is still good.

The only exception is if you live in an area where you have to worry about moisture, mold, flooding, or rodents. If you do have these issues, then it may be wise to can as much of your food as you can in the #10 cans. If not, just rotate your long term food storage items once a year, check to make sure there is no weevil, and you will be set!

Hopefully that helps!