Several factors define the shelf life of your long term food storage. If you are just considering starting food storage or you already have one, you should definitely know these factors that will allow you to have the maximum shelf life for our food.

There are four main factors that have an impact on the food’s shelf life such as temperature of the storage, moisture content in the food products, the storage container and the atmosphere in this container.

The most important factor of them all is the temperature in the storage area. If you store your food in a warm temperature it will not last as long as in cool and dry places. Some people believe that the best temperature for your food storage is 40F degrees or even less. But it would be hard to achieve for many of us. Another important think to keep in mind that our food will be better stored in the places with constant temperatures. If the temperature changes frequently, it may also decrease the shelf life of your food.

So, what you need is a dry, cool and dark place with the constant temperatures for your long time food storage.

The moisture content of your food is also important, because the foods with big moisture content can spoil in the containers. You should choose the food for your long term storage with about 10% of moisture content or less. Due to the absence of the appropriate equipment it is hard to achieve that. That is why it is a good idea to buy freeze-dried foods. These foods have been specifically prepared for this.

You should use the airtight containers for your food storage. This way you will be able to achieve the longest life for your food. Various cans and food-grade sealable buckets are good for these purposes. It is important to make sure your containers are food grade and that the cans are #10 and have the enamel lining. There are also 5 gallon food grade buckets you can purchase for your food storage purposes. You just have to keep in mind that buying quality food storage buckets is of the most importance. You can also use oxygen absorber packets that create a sight vacuum in the container and absorb oxygen to provide longer shelf life for your food. So, your storage containers should be able to handle pressure. Most of the food for long term storage is packed in the #10 cans using nitrogen. Nitrogen is popular for storing food and works very well.

You should remember these food storage factors when creating your long term food storage, because you are ensuring health and survival for your family in case of emergency.

Are you aware that food storage can save you from lots of troubles during different emergency cases. Learn more about food storage on this food storage website.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 3:58 am and is filed under Fun Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.