Properly Storing Then Opening Your Food

After your food is preserved, it's always a good idea to label what's in your buckets. You don't want a bunch of buckets with no clue what's inside or when they were packed. You should date each container so you can rotate foods in and out of your food storage. As a minimum, you should at least place the date and the food on the label.

You should store your food as cool and dry as possible with a temperature goal of 70° or less. A cool basement is ideal. But several people have built underground storage rooms for this purpose. Your preserved food should last a long time in cool conditions. Please see our Storage Life of Dried Foods for more information on this. And as a general rule buckets should not be placed directly on concrete or touch concrete walls due to moisture. Simple shelving like 2x4's can keep them protected this way.

Many people are concerned about how long their food will stay fresh after they open their buckets or cans that have been preserved. They feel they should have some extra absorbers around so they can re-preserve their food. The truth is this just isn't a big deal unless you are planning on keeping this newly opened food around for several years. When my family opens up a can or bucket that has been preserved in this way, we throw away the absorbers, take out whatever food we need and install the plastic lid. Then we throw the can or bucket in the pantry. As long as you use it up within a year, just about any kind of dry food will remain in good condition as long as it is kept dry, out of the heat, and free from pests.