There are four critical factors that determine the shelf life of your long term food storage items. If you are looking to start a food storage program for your family, or you already have one, then you must know these four factors in order to obtain the maximum shelf life possible. The four critical factors are the temperature of the storage area, the percentage of moisture in the food, the atmosphere inside the storage container, and the storage container material itself. Let's look at each of these factors. 1) The Storage Area Temperature The factor that has the most to do with how long storable foods will last is temperature. Food stored in a warm environment will last only a fraction of the time that it would last in a cool, dry place. Generally, you want the area to be as cool as possible, but certainly above freezing temperature. Another important consideration is that the storage area temperature be relatively constant. Frequent temperature changes will also shorten the food's life. Remember to store you food in a cool, dry area with a relatively constant temperature. 2) Moisture Content of the Food Foods with a high percentage of moisture can spoil in their containers. Usually, you want your storable food to have a moisture content of 10% or less. This may be hard to achieve without specialized equipment. Freeze dried foods are specially-prepared for this purpose. Their moisture content has been addressed in the preparation process. 3) Storage Container Atmosphere Foods packed in storage containers with air will not last as long, because oxygen oxidizes many of the compounds found in food. Therefore, many people choose to pack their food in nitrogen or carbon dioxide. One other alternative is to use oxygen absorber packets. You just place one of these in the storage container and seal it. The absorber will absore the oxygen in the container and create a vacuum. So, the storage container must be able to withstand the vacuum pressure. Many food storage units are made up of food packed in nitrogen in #10 cans. 4) The Storage Container You want your storage containers to have a hermetic seal, which means they are air-tight. Food-grade storage buckets and #10 cans work very well for this. I'll stress again, that a very important factor of storage containers is that they must be food-grade. There are many 5 gallon buckets made of food-quality plastic. Since #10 cans are popular, they often have an enamel lining which makes them suitable for food storage. If you buy a commercially-prepared food unit with #10 cans, then the second, third, and fourth factors are already addressed for you. In order to satisfy the first factor, you will still want to store the food in a cool, dry, dark place. To pack your own food, you would need to purchase food-grade plastic buckets, then rent a nitrogen cylinder from your local welding supply house. As you pack the buckets with nitrogen, the oxygen will be displaced, leaving only a nitrogen atmosphere. Remember all these things when you are purchasing or creating a supply of food for your family.
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