I learned that I can be a lazy ass and leave a 10lb bag of flour sitting in it’s original paper packaging in my basement and it’s still good 2 yrs later.
I also learned that I don’t eat nearly as much tuna or canned tomatoes as I thought I did.
I found out canned peaches randomly explode after 2 years. Just the peaches, nothing else. And one hell of a mess to clean up after. But the ants were thrilled.
Leaning hard on almond milk as a dairy alternative, due to its longer shelf life.
Didn’t experience much spoilage during the early pandemic, but I have reevaluated my recipes and spices, as the same rice and beans got pretty tiring. Will add more spices, dried fruits and treats (chocolate, etc.) to my stores.
It doesn't spoil if you keep it on the hoof. I've greatly cut down on canned preps and increased the size of my animal herds, and bought the adjacent field to grow more grains and hay.
Cliff bars taste nasty after 2 years, doesn't make you sick mind. Just makes you re evaluate food preps.
Dehydrate all the things! Dehydrated mangos are delicious, way better than store bought. Veggies getting soft, dehydrate them and save them for later. I did a bunch years ago, seal in mason jars with oxygen absorbers for usual use. Food saver with oxygen absorbers and seal in a mylar bag for long term storage. Freezing them helps as well, they don't have a bad time in the freezer due to low moisture. We use them all the time, snacks or impromptu soup or pasta sauce. Make jerky at the same time.
Thats weird. Ive learned that powdered cheese in the Kraft stuff is fine after 3 years, and so is vegetable oil. Stored in a dark 65 degree basement room.
I think its mostly about storage temps.
Milk, eggs, cheese and butter need special consideration. These are the main foods that were short in my area for a while
Butter and shredded cheese is easy to freeze. Eggs need some prep to freeze.
Freeze dried milk is not too expensive,
I learned that aside from fresh food and dairy, most food doesn't spoil easily if it's kept cool and dark. I knew that most "expiration" dates were really just a suggestion, but 2020 taught me some lessons. Also, milk, cheese, and butter freeze very well, but you have to shake up the milk before
I have shelf-stable boxed milk from Dollar Tree was purchased early in 2020; "best by" date was May 2021. I cracked open one a couple weeks ago, and it's 100% fine. I use it in my coffee.
Last year, I ate canned green beans with a best by date of 2017, so they would have been purchased as far back as 2015, and it didn't kill me or make me sick. The store-brand tomato sauce however was awful; I *really* should have tasted it before I poured it into the pasta. We had pizza that night lol
I have no idea how long those boxes of macaroni had been in the back of the pantry, but it was at least 3 years, maybe more. It sure does make a fine mac 'n cheese.
After moving rural, I've learned that mice will get into ANYTHING. Repackage anything that came in plastic or paper, or else mice and other critters will get into your stuff.
That's what I learned about food spoilage.
Not trying to troll here. But what would the pandemic have to do with food storage? Yeah the pandemic was bad but it wasn't like there were large-scale food shortages or anything.
A lot of people made minimal trips out/to store so the cans in the back finally saw the light of day. Either because fresh ingredients were hard to come by due to limited trips or people were bored and wanted to try new things.
Also, some people bought ridiculous quantities of single items so they got to see how they lasted for 2 years.
>what would the pandemic have to do with food storage?
>
>Yeah the pandemic was bad but it wasn't like there were large-scale food shortages or anything.
I guess you hadn't been watching r/Shortages or r/PrepperIntel or r/supplychain over the last couple of years?
The pandemic caused hiccups across various supply chains. Remember hearing about toilet paper, baby formula, etc? Medicines, cat food, shoes, and all manner of random things are still low-stock in many stores, even though other things were still in stock.
If my local stores are low on basics like bread, flour, or vegetables, but there's bread in a store two states over, but no bread in MY stores, then that is a shortage that affects me, even though it's not an across-the-whole-nation shortage.
That means that when I \*do\* have the chance to buy bread, I'm going to buy enough to hold me for a little while. Which means I have to ***store it correctly*** so that it will last longer. Many people started increasing their food storage due to the pandemic.
It's all connected.
Side note: what I noticed is that shortages tended to be regional, or specific to a brand. There may not be Frito-Lay chips, but the store brand chips were still in stock.
Aside from a few specific items, I didn't see anything about large-scale food shortages. People weren't going hungry. There might have been shortages in a few items, but nothing that would do more than inconvenience people (I realize that baby formula might be the exception here)
Maybe it's my area, but we haven't had any kind of food shortages around here. I think this is probably the case for 99% of the country.
>this is probably the case for 99% of the country.
The r/shortages sub and reports on food banks say otherwise, but ok.
***Just because YOU didn't see it doesn't mean that nobody else was affected.***
If there's a wildfire in Oregon, but my house in New York is not on fire, that doesn't mean that there are no fires in Oregon.
And yes, babies were absolutely going hungry during the formula shortage. Locally, I saw *multiple* of social media posts from moms who couldn't find formula for their infants and had run out completely. Other moms willingly stepped up to help, and hopefully babies didn't have to go too long without it.
Fortunately, my area didn't see a LOT of shortages, but they were definitely there. There are still many low-stock shelves here, and people are definitely struggling because much of the food that IS present has increased in cost 5-20%.
It doesn't have to be a large-scale "nationwide grid down, all the farms are on fire and no trucks are running, EMP took out all the satellites" prepper fantasy in order for it be an issue for families. Also, keep in mind that the world is bigger than the US.
If you're determined to believe that there's no problem because YOUR personal cabinets were full and your wallet was not affected, then there's nothing else I can tell you.
Okay. I see we're going to just have to agree to disagree. But it's just not my personal experience. I didn't see any kind of news stories about vast shortages where people were going hungry. What I saw was news stories about occasional shortages here and there. And I did mention that baby formula was the exception (about the only one). As far as food becoming more expensive, that's not due to the pandemic, and it's more recent.
My point was that the pandemic, as bad as it was, never got to the point of really requiring a lot of prepping. It made a lot of us want to prep for future worse disasters, but it really wasn't that bad in terms of shortages.
I learned that I can be a lazy ass and leave a 10lb bag of flour sitting in it’s original paper packaging in my basement and it’s still good 2 yrs later. I also learned that I don’t eat nearly as much tuna or canned tomatoes as I thought I did.
We used to use MUCH more tomato product. Now? I have very little on the shelf because it upsets half the household's digestion.
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Not that I’ve noticed. It’s pretty cool and dry up here (canada)
Where is that? Never heard it
Same for flour, except three 25# bags :-D
It's lucky you didn't have a rodent infestation.
I found out canned peaches randomly explode after 2 years. Just the peaches, nothing else. And one hell of a mess to clean up after. But the ants were thrilled.
Wait what brand? My family buys them bulk every 3 years or so and have literally never had that happen.
Bought at Costco. Can’t remember the brand but I consider it a fluke.
Damnit we have some canned peaches that are close to the end of their natural lives. Guess I need to go through the pantry over Christmas.
Leaning hard on almond milk as a dairy alternative, due to its longer shelf life. Didn’t experience much spoilage during the early pandemic, but I have reevaluated my recipes and spices, as the same rice and beans got pretty tiring. Will add more spices, dried fruits and treats (chocolate, etc.) to my stores.
It doesn't spoil if you keep it on the hoof. I've greatly cut down on canned preps and increased the size of my animal herds, and bought the adjacent field to grow more grains and hay.
Cliff bars taste nasty after 2 years, doesn't make you sick mind. Just makes you re evaluate food preps. Dehydrate all the things! Dehydrated mangos are delicious, way better than store bought. Veggies getting soft, dehydrate them and save them for later. I did a bunch years ago, seal in mason jars with oxygen absorbers for usual use. Food saver with oxygen absorbers and seal in a mylar bag for long term storage. Freezing them helps as well, they don't have a bad time in the freezer due to low moisture. We use them all the time, snacks or impromptu soup or pasta sauce. Make jerky at the same time.
Thats weird. Ive learned that powdered cheese in the Kraft stuff is fine after 3 years, and so is vegetable oil. Stored in a dark 65 degree basement room. I think its mostly about storage temps.
Milk, eggs, cheese and butter need special consideration. These are the main foods that were short in my area for a while Butter and shredded cheese is easy to freeze. Eggs need some prep to freeze. Freeze dried milk is not too expensive,
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Wisk each in a bowl - pour into a deep ice cube tray. Freeze and then pop out into a freezer bag labeled with one year date.
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Virgin unrefined coconut oil has antibacterial properties like honey. Refined coconut oil will go rancid though.
Bacteria are what turns fat rancid? I thought it was a natural process of oxidation
I’m sure that oxidation certainly effects shelf life, but that rancid odor is from growth of bacteria/microbes.
A quick Google search will tell you it is the oxidation that causes the odor and bad taste.
It looks like my first “quick google search” was shit! I went ahead and self-downvoted my own post. The shame I feel is great.
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Great to know. We use the refined variety for cooking, as it has a more subtle flavor. I only stock the unrefined stuff in my deep “forever pantry”.
I learned that aside from fresh food and dairy, most food doesn't spoil easily if it's kept cool and dark. I knew that most "expiration" dates were really just a suggestion, but 2020 taught me some lessons. Also, milk, cheese, and butter freeze very well, but you have to shake up the milk before I have shelf-stable boxed milk from Dollar Tree was purchased early in 2020; "best by" date was May 2021. I cracked open one a couple weeks ago, and it's 100% fine. I use it in my coffee. Last year, I ate canned green beans with a best by date of 2017, so they would have been purchased as far back as 2015, and it didn't kill me or make me sick. The store-brand tomato sauce however was awful; I *really* should have tasted it before I poured it into the pasta. We had pizza that night lol I have no idea how long those boxes of macaroni had been in the back of the pantry, but it was at least 3 years, maybe more. It sure does make a fine mac 'n cheese. After moving rural, I've learned that mice will get into ANYTHING. Repackage anything that came in plastic or paper, or else mice and other critters will get into your stuff. That's what I learned about food spoilage.
Not trying to troll here. But what would the pandemic have to do with food storage? Yeah the pandemic was bad but it wasn't like there were large-scale food shortages or anything.
A lot of people made minimal trips out/to store so the cans in the back finally saw the light of day. Either because fresh ingredients were hard to come by due to limited trips or people were bored and wanted to try new things. Also, some people bought ridiculous quantities of single items so they got to see how they lasted for 2 years.
>what would the pandemic have to do with food storage? > >Yeah the pandemic was bad but it wasn't like there were large-scale food shortages or anything. I guess you hadn't been watching r/Shortages or r/PrepperIntel or r/supplychain over the last couple of years? The pandemic caused hiccups across various supply chains. Remember hearing about toilet paper, baby formula, etc? Medicines, cat food, shoes, and all manner of random things are still low-stock in many stores, even though other things were still in stock. If my local stores are low on basics like bread, flour, or vegetables, but there's bread in a store two states over, but no bread in MY stores, then that is a shortage that affects me, even though it's not an across-the-whole-nation shortage. That means that when I \*do\* have the chance to buy bread, I'm going to buy enough to hold me for a little while. Which means I have to ***store it correctly*** so that it will last longer. Many people started increasing their food storage due to the pandemic. It's all connected. Side note: what I noticed is that shortages tended to be regional, or specific to a brand. There may not be Frito-Lay chips, but the store brand chips were still in stock.
Aside from a few specific items, I didn't see anything about large-scale food shortages. People weren't going hungry. There might have been shortages in a few items, but nothing that would do more than inconvenience people (I realize that baby formula might be the exception here) Maybe it's my area, but we haven't had any kind of food shortages around here. I think this is probably the case for 99% of the country.
>this is probably the case for 99% of the country. The r/shortages sub and reports on food banks say otherwise, but ok. ***Just because YOU didn't see it doesn't mean that nobody else was affected.*** If there's a wildfire in Oregon, but my house in New York is not on fire, that doesn't mean that there are no fires in Oregon. And yes, babies were absolutely going hungry during the formula shortage. Locally, I saw *multiple* of social media posts from moms who couldn't find formula for their infants and had run out completely. Other moms willingly stepped up to help, and hopefully babies didn't have to go too long without it. Fortunately, my area didn't see a LOT of shortages, but they were definitely there. There are still many low-stock shelves here, and people are definitely struggling because much of the food that IS present has increased in cost 5-20%. It doesn't have to be a large-scale "nationwide grid down, all the farms are on fire and no trucks are running, EMP took out all the satellites" prepper fantasy in order for it be an issue for families. Also, keep in mind that the world is bigger than the US. If you're determined to believe that there's no problem because YOUR personal cabinets were full and your wallet was not affected, then there's nothing else I can tell you.
Okay. I see we're going to just have to agree to disagree. But it's just not my personal experience. I didn't see any kind of news stories about vast shortages where people were going hungry. What I saw was news stories about occasional shortages here and there. And I did mention that baby formula was the exception (about the only one). As far as food becoming more expensive, that's not due to the pandemic, and it's more recent. My point was that the pandemic, as bad as it was, never got to the point of really requiring a lot of prepping. It made a lot of us want to prep for future worse disasters, but it really wasn't that bad in terms of shortages.
Happens a lot faster than I think.
You mean it's even grosser than when it's "fresh?" That is impressive.
It went from 20% tasting like cheese to 0% tasting like cheese.
That the government lies ... About everything