Protect Your Food And You
Below you will find a few charts to help you find out how long different items will last if
you store them. Remember to read our storage areas section to help you find the proper way
to store food. Ideal storage conditions are cool (below 70 deg. F), dry, dark, and airtight.
Less than ideal conditions, especially higher temperatures, shorten shelf life.
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Shelf life indicates when quality BEGINS to
deteriorate. Times indicated are for products without a "use by"date on them.
Date cans and bottles according to purchase date to know how long they have been stored.
Shelf-Life of Common Stored Foods
- Ideal storage conditions are cool (below 70o), dry, dark and airtight.
- Less than ideal conditions, especially higher temperatures, shorten shelf life.
- Shelf life indicates when quality BEGINS to deteriorate.
- Times indicated are for products without a “Use By” date on them.
- It is useful to date cans and bottles according to purchase date to know how long they have been stored.
- These recommendations are to provide information for a realistic rotation system. It is
not to say that these items have this time span.
***Different sources give different time spans. Use your own judgment.
| FOOD |
TIME |
| Apple sauce, can |
3-5 years*** |
| Apple juice, can |
1-2 years*** |
| Apricots, can |
2 years |
| Baked beans, can |
4-5 years |
| Baking powder, can |
18 -24 months*** |
| Baking soda, can |
2 yrs. - indefinite*** |
| Barley, pearl, bag/carton |
3 years |
| Beans, dried, bag/carton |
2 years |
Beans, dried, vacuum sealed can
Lentils
Pinto Beans
Kidney Beans
Red Beans
Navy Beans
Soybeans
|
5-8 years***
Rotate BEANS & LEGUMES at least every 8 years. If stored longer, they get so hard they will not absorb water easily. |
| Bouillon cubes |
18 months |
| Cake mixes, brownies, biscuit mix |
1-3 years*** |
| Casserole mixes |
18 months |
| Catsup, bottle |
2-4 years |
| Cereal, ready to eat |
1-2 years |
| Cereal, ready to eat, sugar coated |
1 year |
| Cheese powder, can |
3 years |
| Cherries, maraschino, jar |
2 years |
| Chili sauce, bottle |
3-4 years*** |
| Chocolate, semi-sweet chips, pkg. |
3 years |
| Chocolate, unsweetened, carton |
4 years |
| Chocolate syrup, beverage, can |
4-5 years*** |
| Chocolate bar |
1 year |
| Clams, can |
4 years |
| Cocoa mixes |
8+ months |
| Cocoa, natural, carton |
3 years |
| Cocoa, natural, can |
4-5 years*** |
| Coconut, prepared, sweetened, can |
3 years |
| Coconut, prepared, unsweetened, bag |
2 years |
| Coconut, bag |
1 year |
| Cornmeal, pkg |
1-3 years*** |
| Crackers, graham, carton |
4 months |
| Crackers, oyster, soda, carton |
6 months |
| Cranberry sauce, can |
18 months-4 years*** |
| Cream of Tartar |
Indefinitely |
| Eggs, dried, whole, can |
2-5 years*** |
| Extracts, maple, vanilla, bottle |
1 year-indefinite**** |
| Extracts, lemon, orange, peppermint, rum |
2 years |
| Flour, whole wheat, bag |
2 years |
| Flour, white, bag |
2+ years |
| Flour, white, vacuumed sealed can |
5 years |
| Fruit, can, high acid (grapefruit juice, orange juice, cherries, berries, prunes, plums, rhubarb |
18 months |
| Fruit, can, other |
2-4 years*** |
| Gelatin, plain, edible |
18 months |
| Gravy mix |
6-12 months |
| Herbs & spices - ground spices |
3-5 years |
| Herbs & spices - whole spices |
3-5 years |
| Honey |
Indefinitely |
| Jams & Jelly, can/jar |
18 months - 4 years*** |
| Macaroni, vacuum sealed can |
8 years |
| Macaroni & cheese, box |
3 years |
| Mayonnaise, jar |
10 months |
| Meat, store can |
2+ years |
| Meat, home canned in pressure cooker |
10 years |
| Milk, condensed, can |
1 year |
| Milk, evaporated, can |
1-2 year |
| Milk, instant dry, box |
2 years |
| Milk, powder, vacuum sealed can |
3 years |
| Molasses |
2-5 years*** |
| Mustard, prepared, jar |
2-3 years*** |
| Mushrooms, can |
4 ½ years |
| Oatmeal, vacuumed sealed can |
5 years |
| Oil |
1-2+ years*** |
| Olives, green, jar |
3 years |
| Olives, ripe, can |
2-3 years*** |
| Olive oil |
18 months |
| Peanut butter, creamy, can/jar |
18-24 months |
| Peanut butter, crunchy, can/jar |
1 year |
| Peas, dried, bag |
2 years |
| Pickles, relish, jar |
3 years |
| Pickles, home bottled |
10 years |
| Pie filling, apple, cherry, peach, can |
1-3 years*** |
| Potatoes, dehydrated |
4 years |
| Potatoes, dehydrated, with powdered milk and butter, vacuum sealed can |
3 years |
| Potatoes, sliced, whole, can |
2 years |
| Pudding mixes |
1 year |
| Pumpkin, can |
4 years |
| Rice, instant, carton |
3 years |
| Rice, parboiled, bag |
2 years |
| Rice, white, vacuum sealed can |
4 years |
| Rice, brown |
1-2 years |
| Rice mixes |
6 months |
| Salad dressing, jar |
12-18 months |
| Salt |
Indefinitely |
| Seafood, canned |
18 months-2 years |
| Shortening, general purpose, regular, can |
5 years - indefinite*** |
| Soup, condensed, can |
2-3 years*** |
| Soups, dried, bag |
1 year |
| Soy protein extracts (TVP) |
18-24 months |
| Spaghetti sauce, can |
2 years |
| Sugar, brown, carton/bag |
3 years |
| Sugar, white, bag |
Indefinitely |
| Sugar, white, vacuumed sealed can |
20+ - indefinitely |
| Sugar, confectioners, bag |
3 years |
| Tuna fish |
2-4 years*** |
| Vegetables, can, sauerkraut |
18 months |
| Vegetables, can, beets, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, spinach, potatoes |
2+ years |
| Vegetables, can, asparagus, green beans, hominy |
3 years |
| Vegetables, can, peas, corn, carrots |
2-3 years |
| Vegetables, can, lima beans |
4 years |
| Vegetables, can, squash |
4+ years |
| Vegetables, home bottled |
10 years |
| Vinegar |
2 years |
| Wheat, whole grains |
Indefinitely |
| Whipped topping mix |
1 year |
| Worcestershire sauce |
2 years |
| Yeast, dry |
18-24 months |
MRE Shelf Life
information taken from Emergency Essentials, Utah www.beprepared.com
| Storage Temperature (F) |
Months of Storage |
| 120 degrees |
1 |
| 110 degrees |
5 |
| 100 degrees |
22 |
| 90 degrees |
55 |
| 80 degrees |
76 |
| 70 degrees |
100 |
| 60 degrees |
130 |
- The shelf life ratings shown in the chart were determined by taste panels - panels of “average”
people, mostly office personnel - at the Natick Lab. Their opinions were combined to determine when
a particular component, or in this case the entire MRE ration, was no longer acceptable.
- The shelf life determinations were made solely on the basis of taste, as it was discovered
that acceptable nutritional content and basic product safety would extend way beyond the point
where taste degradation would occur. This means the MRE’s would be safe and give a high degree
of food value long after the timing suggested in the chart.
- MRE pouches have been tested and redesigned where necessary according to standards
much stricter than for commercial food. They must be able to stand up to abuse tests
such as obstacle course traversal in field clothing pockets; storage outdoors anywhere
in the world; shipping under extremely rough circumstances (such as by truck over rocky
terrain); 100% survival of parachute drops, 75% survival from free failure drops; severe
repetitive vibration (1 hour at G vibration); 7,920 individual pouch drops from 20 inches
and individual pouches being subject to a static load of 200 pounds for three minutes.
- Freezing an MRE retort pouch does not destroy the food inside, but repeated freezing
increases the chance that the stretching and stressing of the pouch will cause a break
on a layer of the laminated pouch. These pouches are made to withstand 1,000 flexes,
but repetitive freezing does increase the failure rate by a small fraction of a
percent. Also if MRE food is frozen, then thawed out, it must be used the same
as if you had thawed commercial food from your own freezer at home.
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