Testing Old Storage Food

Food

During my recent move, I was drawing down some stocked items.  One of the things we decided to consume and restock post move, was a bunch of Spam that I had acquired from 2011 to 2014.  My wife, who rarely allows me in the kitchen, had never taken an interest in the preps I had stocked, so the Spam didn’t rotate.  This gave us a nice test of how well Spam stayed on a shelf in long term storage.

The Spam had been stored in our basement, which was temperature controlled, so it wasn’t subjected to years of wild temperature fluctuations, but it had been sitting on the shelf for 5 to 8 years.  Our basement in that house was also dry.  There was no point in moving the Spam rather than using it and replacing it after the move.

First Try

My wife decided to give Spam a try by cooking some in a fry pan and serving it with various meals.  It all seemed to be okay, but was a slight change to what we were used to.  Ultimately, she decided it was a great breakfast meat, as opposed to bacon or sausage, and started to serve it regularly for breakfast.  At this point I would say we have gotten used to Spam for breakfast.  When we restock, I believe we’ll rotate more than we did in the old house.

My reaction is that Spam is perfect for the meat portion of your long term storage food due to its long shelf life and general good taste.

5 gallon buckets

I also pulled out the oldest 5 gallon bucket of long term storage food that I had.  This stuff was a no name bucket of mixed packets of long term storage foods.  They were intended to have water added, heated, and then consumed.  My wife needed to use this stuff or let me in the kitchen.  She elected to prepare it.  😊

The first dish came out like a soup.  We discussed it and determined that when it said “add one cup of water” on the directions that did not mean some random coffee mug, but an actual measuring cup.  On the second try the dish was still watery, but at least it wasn’t soup.  On the third try we tried a different dish, which wasn’t particularly tasty, and concluded that the bucket was not worth moving, . . . or eating short of a real disaster.  ☹

This caused me to review all the 5-gallon buckets, of which there were a fair number.  Fortunately, most of these were single type contents, so instead of a bucket with 270 servings of random stuff to be mixed with water, I would have a bucket of rice, or a bucket of beans, etc.

As I restock, I can avoid the stuff that seems less desirable, and include more of the food that we are likely to eat.

Energy Bars

Back in New Jersey I had tried several types of energy bars.  Most of the bars you’ll find in grocery stores are pretty tasty, but they don’t have much of a shelf life.  They are great because they take up minimal space and require no preparation at all.  Looking for shelf life I tried Datrex, MayDay, and Millennium bars.  These not only have a longer shelf life, but also have more calories, making them a great desert for a post-apocalyptic meal.  😊

The Millennium bars are the best tasting of the three.  They all manage to store more calories in less space than just about anything else you can buy.  For a new prepper in an apartment or otherwise space constrained, I recommend buying a case or more of Millenium bars.  I’ll replace what I used and probably add to our inventory.

Meals Ready to Eat

A lot of preppers have some Meals Ready to Eat in their food inventory.  I had acquired some that were nearing their expiration date by the time of our move, and decided to eat them rather than move them.  The meals tasted okay, but the mass of packaging, etc. demonstrated that they are not storage friendly.  A case of these takes up lots of space, which I had in New Jersey, but not so much in South Carolina.  I will not replace them for that reason.  For someone with plenty of storage, a few cases make sense.

If you are someone who travels a lot, tossing a couple of these into your luggage when traveling might be a good way to rotate your stock, since they have a 5 year shelf life.

Conclusion About Storage Food

Moving has caused us to rotate stuff that would not have otherwise been rotated and in so doing, refined our purchasing plans as we restock.  If you are getting to where you have a decent inventory of food, you might want to sample things that you bought to see if they are what you expected.  We also are rebuilding our “deep pantry”.

Previously, I was targeting food for 20 people for a year.  Now I am targeting 10 people, so I am automatically much closer to my goal than I was before.  I should be able to stock up here and be in pretty good shape going forward.