Joined
·
21 Posts
Hi!
New here, first post, greetings from the heartland of Ohio!
I’m looking for information on techniques, preparation and shelf life for long term food storage at a constant temperature.
I have an Excalibur food dehydrator with temp control and 8 shelves, and can really crank out food in a pinch from it. We use it currently for our camping/Scouting trips and it works a treat. However I’m aware that preparing food for use within a few months is somewhat different than preparing it for multi-year storage.
My plan right now, and please tell me if I’m falling flat on my face, is as follows.
I want to incrementally create a pantry of dehydrated food for at least 1 years food for each member of my family (4 of us). I will be utilizing the FIFO rule for rotation of course.
The basic plan for dehydration is to plan a menu for each meal, in hopes of achieving 2000-2300 calories per day per person. I’ll dry items until they are extremely dry, but not burnt. I will then break the dried fruit/vege/meat/sauce into individual sized portions. I will buy one of those vacuum sealer bag machines and bag then vacuum-seal the food in question. When I have all of the foods for a given set of meals bagged, I will create a “meal pack” of everything for that meal. So for example, I’d end up with a ¼ serving of meat (as fat free as I can find), a 1 cup serving of some kind of sauce/pasta, a 1 cup serving of fruits/veges. I’d place all of these in a regular zip seal bag and label them for what food they are and what date they were made, and store them in the basement, off of the floor and walls, in a dark container. I’ll be preparing these in batch bulk of course for 4 people, not just making one full meal at a time for one person which would be a time waster.
So, is this a good procedure, and what kind of shelf life are we talking about here? I know grains and vegetables last forever if properly stored (well, close enough to forever, given FIFO). Meat has always been a question for me, I’m not planning on jerking the meat, as the salt levels in that are prohibitive. Simply frying, seasoning, maybe adding some bread while frying (helps reconstitution) and drying until crispy/very dry, then doing all of the aforementioned.
New here, first post, greetings from the heartland of Ohio!
I’m looking for information on techniques, preparation and shelf life for long term food storage at a constant temperature.
I have an Excalibur food dehydrator with temp control and 8 shelves, and can really crank out food in a pinch from it. We use it currently for our camping/Scouting trips and it works a treat. However I’m aware that preparing food for use within a few months is somewhat different than preparing it for multi-year storage.
My plan right now, and please tell me if I’m falling flat on my face, is as follows.
I want to incrementally create a pantry of dehydrated food for at least 1 years food for each member of my family (4 of us). I will be utilizing the FIFO rule for rotation of course.
The basic plan for dehydration is to plan a menu for each meal, in hopes of achieving 2000-2300 calories per day per person. I’ll dry items until they are extremely dry, but not burnt. I will then break the dried fruit/vege/meat/sauce into individual sized portions. I will buy one of those vacuum sealer bag machines and bag then vacuum-seal the food in question. When I have all of the foods for a given set of meals bagged, I will create a “meal pack” of everything for that meal. So for example, I’d end up with a ¼ serving of meat (as fat free as I can find), a 1 cup serving of some kind of sauce/pasta, a 1 cup serving of fruits/veges. I’d place all of these in a regular zip seal bag and label them for what food they are and what date they were made, and store them in the basement, off of the floor and walls, in a dark container. I’ll be preparing these in batch bulk of course for 4 people, not just making one full meal at a time for one person which would be a time waster.
So, is this a good procedure, and what kind of shelf life are we talking about here? I know grains and vegetables last forever if properly stored (well, close enough to forever, given FIFO). Meat has always been a question for me, I’m not planning on jerking the meat, as the salt levels in that are prohibitive. Simply frying, seasoning, maybe adding some bread while frying (helps reconstitution) and drying until crispy/very dry, then doing all of the aforementioned.
