4,21,08 -- old storage food

Boy was I happy to see the "ask an expert" in the recent BYU Magazine this month!Actually happy and sort-of sad, because I had thrown away my storage from 1976. I wonder but what no one really knows how long food storage in those air-tight cans last, because not enough years have lapsed since they started storing food that way.Anyway this "expert" says:"There is a wide range in the shelf life of dried foods, depending on the specific commodity and its originl quality, storage terperature, and so on. Some commodities should be used withion a couple of years, like salad oil and dried eggs. But many dried foods--packaged to remove oxygen and kept at room temperature or below--will store well for 20-30 years or more. . . . Wheat and rice were very acceptable after 30-plus years of storage; beans, dried apples, macaroni, potato flakes, and oats up to 30 years; nonfat dry milk up to about 20 years."This expert, Oscar A. Pike, also said that "there is sufficient nutritional value to justify storing dry foods long term. In a survival situation, you need caleries to stay alive, and stored foods provide calories. Vitamine C is another important nutrient and, fortunately vitamin C tablets retain a high percentage of their potency for more than 20 years. ....store food to Minimize the exposure to moisture, air, light, and warm or hot temperatures. Of these, temperature is the most crucial. If you ever have to eat your food storage, you'll wish you had stored the food in the house and the furniture in the garage."He then advised that the wise thing to do is to store "a three-month supply of foods we are accustomed to eating, drinking water, a financial reserve, and a longer-term food supply. Our research indicates that dry foods are ideal for longer-term storage since they do not need to be rotated as frequently as we once thought."Send suggestions to Veda Hale, Box 596, Panguitch, Utah 84759 or email vedahale@hotmail.com