Many people have long term food storage in their homes. And they need to know about the factors that influence the shelf life of their food products. It is very important to learn about these factors as they will allow you to extend the shelf life of your stored food products.
There are four main factors that you need to know about. Let us take a closer look at each one of them.
The first factor is the temperature of the storage area. This is in fact the most important factor as temperature has the largest impact on the shelf life of the foods. Storing your food products in a warm place will lead to their quick spoilage. A cool and dry place is the best place to keep your food storage at. Many articles state that the best temperature for storing food products is no more than forty degrees. However, it could be rather hard to achieve this for many people in their houses. Another important concern is the stability of temperature. Frequent temperature changes may shorten the shelf life of foods. To make your food storage last longer you need to find a cool place with constant temperature. This place should also be dark and dry.
The second important factor is the moisture content of the food. If food products contain lots of moisture they could easily get spoiled. When choosing food for long term food storage pick products that have less than ten percent of moisture in them. It could be rather challenging to find such food products as most of us do not have specialized equipment. Freeze dried food is a good alternative. This food has been prepared for the purpose of long storage. And free dried food products do not have any excess moisture in them.
Another important factor in storing foods is the atmosphere in the storage container. Oxygen is the main enemy of foods in long term good storage. It oxidizes some components of the food and makes food products spoil. The best option is to fill your food storage containers with nitrogen instead of air. However, this is impossible to do at home.
Oxygen absorbers also work well. They should be placed into food containers before sealing. Just make sure you use food containers that are able to withstand high pressure. The oxygen absorbers remove oxygen from the air inside the container and create a slight vacuum.
Foods that have been commercially prepared for long term storage were packed with nitrogen in most of the cases.
And the last factor is the storage container itself. Make sure you choose air tight containers for long term food storage. Sealable food grade storage buckets could be a good choice.
Do you know that food storage can save you from lots of problems during all sorts of emergency cases. Find out more about food storage on this food storage web site.
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