Food Storage Lessons

You've decided the world is a still-dangerous and uncertain place.
You hope nothing goes wrong with the political and economic and business systems now in place that bring to your local supermarket the greatest abundance of food ever available in history.
But it could. A widespread pandemic. War that cuts off oil supplies. An ecological disaster. A local power outage.
So you've decided it only makes good sense to store up some food, just in case. You've already cleaned out your house and have made some empty space on your shelves.
Now what?
The best temperature for storing nonperishable food is between 40 and 50 degree Fahrenheit. Your refrigerator should be around 38 degrees, and of course your freezer is below 32. Freezers are good for storing food for the long term, but you can't count on them. What if your emergency is a power outage? There goes the frozen meat loaf. A freezer should be just one part of your plan.
To keep your food edible and safe, you must protect is from temperature extremes, moisture, light, rodents, insects and bacteria.
You can start out with 72 hour emergency preparedness kits. These contain a enough freeze dried food to feed you for three days. This is the government's recommendation. They believe that they'll have any emergency situation under control within three days.
And if you believe them . . . you can stop here.
You can buy enough freeze dried food from Mountain House and other such companies to feed your entire family for a year, or more. It's freeze dried in an near-instant, then popped into an airtight pouch and sealed in a metal container. If you have the storage space and the money, this is a good option. It'll save you a lot of work storing food in more old-fashioned and uncertain ways.
You can focus instead on providing fresh water and medical supplies, instead.
Some people buy their own food dehydrators. Most of these operate with electricity, but you can buy some that work just from being hung up in the sun. You can put meat, vegetable and fruit in them, and have hot air blow over the food so it's dried out and can be safely stored for a long time. Fruit dried this way makes great snacks. Having most of the moisture removed makes it taste that much sweeter.
Changes in temperature are the worst for food storage. That's why it's generally not a good idea to leave it in basements, attics or garages where it can go from too hot to too cold and back.
You must also keep it in containers that keep moisture out. That's another problem with using basements.
Light is also a problem. Keep food in closets and out of the way, if possible. If you use glass containers, use dark glass, or keep the jars in brown grocery bags.

Richard Stooker has a long-time interest in health, diet and fitness subjects, including emergency preparedness and food storage, including freeze dried foods, and emergency supplies

.

Thanks To : calphalon unison nonstick 10 piece cookware set kitchenaid 12 inch cast iron grill pan all clad copper core 3 quart saute with lid