Does heat kill food storage items?

[Jack Dupp]

About 11 years ago, I bought a bunch of food storage items. The ones in question are the big, white 25lb plastic buckets of rice, beans, oatmeal, wheat, etc. When we moved in Nov several years ago, we just stacked them in a corner of our non-insulated garage. So they sat in that hot garage for probably 5 years. I finally made room for them inside the house, but the question remains. Do you think they are still good? Or did the heat through 5 summers ruin them?

[Lobo2087]

Should be ok, may taste a bit stale but would still do the job you want if you should have to use them.

[TacMedic]

Generally those items would be fine in the heat, it is preferred to store them in a better temperature, but I don’t think it affects them too much. However here is a article that can help.

https://makesurepantry.com/2019/10/07/i ... he-garage/

[Jack Dupp]

Thanks, gentlemen!

[Dace]

Probably okay, they dont really go bad more stale as they age. Just make sure you have enough water on hand to be able to use them. Beans and rice take a lot of water to make edible and the fuel to cook them.

[Flash]

Probably okay, they dont really go bad more stale as they age. Just make sure you have enough water on hand to be able to use them. Beans and rice take a lot of water to make edible and the fuel to cook them.

If you want to be truly well prepped and not worry about fuel to cook, get a Sun Oven. I've had one for a long time and it'll even work when it's completely overcast outside.

[rgregory1965]

I have a few cases on the canned dry beans and rice says 25 years to expire. I keep i. The garage

[792mauser]

Dry food should be fine for many years, as long as its sealed.

[Harrier]

Interesting you should mention it... About 2008-2009 I put up 35 buckets of various foods (rice, beans, wheat, grains, coffee, pastas, etc- all in Mylar bags, nitrogen filled, oxy absorbers, vacuum sealed... best recommended practices per Frugal Squirrel's prepper site) and 40 cases of freeze dried #10 cans bought from Emergency Essentials (Mountain House and Provident Pantry brands). Along with a bunch of other survival things including MRE's (both the old 80 dark brown pouch and the new tan pouch I got fresh in the field). The 5 gal buckets were stacked in the unheated/uncooled garage and the cases of cans were in the house in closets.

About 6 months ago we started eating it up and quickly found out what was good and what wasn't. We've gone through close to 2 dozen cans of various items and a couple 5 gal buckets of pasta, rice and beans.

Anything with the Mountain House name on it was good tasting and I would buy again in a heartbeat. The Provident Pantry brand is hit or miss- some things are fine and reconstitute and taste as expected, some items taste stale or don't come out as expected and some of it is plain nasty- has to be tossed.

So far of the items in buckets, ALL of the ramen was very stale and inedible, the powder flavor packs went rancid too. One lesson was to not leave beans and rice in the store packages as the plastic bags get rubbery and the ink bleeds and gets sticky... but it didn't seem to affect the contents.

The rice and beans at first seemed a little stale and the beans didn't soften as expected even after soaking overnight and cooking 2x the time... then Cathy tried a teaspoon of baking soda in the cook water and voila, beans are back to normal and rice is softer.

Powdered eggs are yuck, drink, pudding, milk mixes are all good. Ate a couple older MRE desserts from the 80's and they fresh like yesterday.
We haven't tried grinding any wheat into flour but I would think it is still ok, I'm hesitant on the pasta if it is like the ramen. We roasted coffee beans from a can and found out not to follow directions but cook them suckers until they almost burn- then it's pretty good coffee... not tea!
So, try some and see... YMMV...

[Jack Dupp]

Thanks for all the replies.

Harrier, looking at your location, what are the highs like in the summer where you live compared to Phoenix? Thanks for the detailed response, by the way.

[Harrier]

At about 4300 feet the highs gets to 110 on occasion but for the most part the summers are 95-103 typically but in the winter it gets down to 15-20 regularly... Inside we keep the temp about 78-80 in the summer and 68 in the winter.

[What]

If you want to be truly well prepped and not worry about fuel to cook, get a Sun Oven. I've had one for a long time and it'll even work when it's completely overcast outside.

I'd love to hear some more tips in using it, cleaning, cooking food and what were you experiences with them. I have a set I planned on using for the Summer.

[TacMedic]

I agree with “What”

We have one of these at our home but have never used it. It’s always been around for emergencies....but if I don’t know how to use it when the emergency hits...it’s kind of useless.

[Flash]

Cleaning isn't a problem as nothing has ever boiled over on me. I've cooked on it a few times a year for around 6 or 7 years at this point, maybe longer.

There are basically two ways to do it.

1. There is a device on the bottom right hand side of the glass cover. It contains a hole to let the sun through give you a way of knowing if you're aimed precisely at the sun. You can do that and reposition the oven every hour or so throughout the cooking. That's the fastest way to do it.

2. Use it like a Crock Pot. Aim it due South at the beginning of the day and as the earth moves, the sun's position shining into the oven changes gradually until around noon or so it's aimed directly in and then as the afternoon goes on, it's aimed less and less perpendicular. You won't burn anything, it just won't do that.

Here's a tutorial video if you'd like to see what I'm saying. It's around 45 minutes and pretty comprehensive. Once you use this thing once, it's then a no brainer. Very simple device.

https://www.sunoven.com/basics-of-cooki ... ine-class/

[Cubiclerevolt]

If you want to be truly well prepped and not worry about fuel to cook, get a Sun Oven. I've had one for a long time and it'll even work when it's completely overcast outside.

I'd love to hear some more tips in using it, cleaning, cooking food and what were you experiences with them. I have a set I planned on using for the Summer.

Same! AS of right now I have a little coleman stove and some propane. Not ideal but best to use to cook #10 cans and things like that.