Storing food in campers / cabins / etc.

I am sure most of us know that food storage is dependent on many factors, and any of those factors can reduce the storage life of dried food. Namely: temperature, moisture, ozygen, and sunlight. In general, these factors should be reduced as much as possible.

I recently read something on another forum about a couple who have a full year's supply of food stored in an RV, ready to go if SHTF. Struck me as a really bad idea for obvious reasons.

But then I ran across some notes from a USDA article (I do not have the original source) in specific to storage temperature. For dried foods, temperature impacts the overall storage life more than any other factor. The chart below was published about seeds, but the USDA claims similar impacts on all dried food storage.


The USDA states, "Each 5.6 C. (10.08F) drop in temperature doubles the storage life of the seeds." Obviously, there is a limit as to how far this statement can be taken. However I expect it basically holds true from room temperature down to freezing. No doubt, the inverse could also be considered true. "Each 5.6C. (10.08F) rise in temperature halves the storage life of seeds." This theory holds true for non-garden seeds as well.

Storage Life Differences
Depending on Temperature

Storage life Temp in degrees F In Years
39.76 - - - 40
49.84 - - - 30
59.92 - - - 20
70.00 - - - 10
80.08 - - - 5
90.16 - - - 2.5
100.24 - - 1.25
Note: the above chart is not for a specific food but shows the relationship between temperature and storage life.


I never realized how drastic the temperature impact actually is. If you can keep your properly packaged dry food below 60 degrees, you can reasonably get a 20 year shelf life. But if you take the most expensive professionally packaged dried foods and store them at 90 degrees, they could be nearly inedible in under 5 years.

And of course, as suspected, storing food in a parked RV is a really bad idea. Not only will interior temperatures get very high on hot days (frequently 10 to 15 degrees hotter than the outdoor temperature), but unless the food is in extremely durable packaging, the vast diffrerences in air temperature could create seal issues with storage containers due to expansion and contraction - causing them to slowly burp air in and out - accelerating their decline.

So, if someone wanted to keep their survival food in their RV, they either need to keep the AC turned on year round so the temperature never exceeds 70 degrees, or they need to constantly rotate their food stock so the it is replaced pretty much annually. I feel very fortunate to have space in my basement that rarely gets above 62 degrees.

We keep our trailer stocked and rotate things out on a yearly basis. Never had a problem with taste,color, or texture. We store things that tend to stay stable. Rice,dried beans,flour.......The big thing that I think helps is that we repackage or if possible double package items. I use one of those vacuum sealer machines that sucks the air out and heat seals the edges. we devide up things and store them in smaller serving sizes so we dont have open packages to deal with. Example. we buy beans and rice in large bulk and break them down into 1lb portions to use in the trailer and use large containers that the vacuum machine can pull the air out of. We store everything that is for long term storage low in the trailer to keep heat down. Under the front bed works great in my trailer. We also store our trailer with a full tank of fresh water. We use stabilized oxygen to keep it clean and drinkable.

Funny you posted this. I'm getting ready to sell my full time tow camper and was cleaning all the stuff out of it a few weeks ago. I threw out all the dry goods and most of the canned goods that had bulged or split but there were a few cans of beans that looked okay. When I opened the beans they looked all mashed up but I was adventurous and cooked them up [ROFL1]. They were by no means tasty but they were edible and I had no side effects.
They had been in the camper for over 13 years !!! I just wanted to see if after all that time they were edible due to the extremes in temps. Take it for what it's worth but shelf life was a lot longer than I thought it could be. [Beer]

I had some cans split when my trailer was parked in CA. I believe due to heat. Thats why we store them low in the trailer now. Havent had that problem again since. Even with CA summer temps in the high 90s low 100s. I agree shelf life can be longer than label states. I went out to do some dune riding once and pulled a can of soup out to eat. as I was finishing it the wife looked at me and asked if it tasted ok. i told her it tasted a little flat but was still good. She showed me the can that had "expired" 3 years earlier. Oh well im still here and didnt have any adverse reaction.[ROFL1]

Not saying you can't store food in an RV at all, or that food stored in an RV for a couple of years would be inedible. But the data from the USDA shows pretty clearly that temperature plays a huge role in the shelf life of dired foods, and that when that temperature is frequently above 70 degrees, the lifespan of that food plummets. And 90s and low 100s is not unusual for Colorado summer temps.

Personally, I consider it an unnecessary way to seriously shorten the shelf life of your food supply.

The tables and charts from the USDA were originally published for seeds but also applies to "dried foods" like grains, flour, wheat, rice, dried beans. So the type of food you consider stable is exactly what the USDA says is temperature sensitive and its shelf life will decrease by 50% for every 10 degrees of ambient temperature increase.

Unfortunately, all the vacuum packing and double packing does absolutely nothing to protect from the effects of temperature. Oxygen exposure is another factor in food storage, but protecting from oxygen exposure will not reduce heat exposure.

So, can you eat a can of soup that has been in your RV for 3 years? Probably. Would that can of soup had kept twice as long at lower temperatures. Probably. And according to the USDA, your rice, beans, wheat, and other stable foods have a shelf life that could be as much as 80% shorter than the same food stored in a cool basement at a consistent temperature.

As for storing things low in the camper, that might make a couple of degrees difference. When the camper is all closed up, on a 90 degreed day, the temperature of the camper floor is not lilely to be more than 2 or 3 degrees cooler than the ceiling. Unless you are leaving windows open all summer, I can't see how that matters at all.

I am not saying don't do it. I am mainly pointing out the limitations people should be willing to accept if they are going to do it. And I am the first to say, I don't consider it worth it.

It sounds like you rotate your food out often enough to make it viable. But most people would not rotate a year's supply of dried storage foods nearly often enough to do make it worthwhile.

And as for a can of beans that was 13 years old?

I am not shocked that it was edible. But there was a definite risk involved. Canning food has been done for more than 200 years. In 1820, William Perry led an expedition to the North Pole. On the ship was canned meat. At least one can was not used and later wound up in the basement of a British museum. In 1938, the can was opened and the contents were chemically analyzed before being fed to a cat, who ate the meat with no ill effects. The meat had been in the can 118 years. But most experts believe the reason it survived was that the can had been stored at very cool temperatures for its entire life. Had the can been lost in the desert, it probably would have been inedible within 10 years.

All storage limits and expiration dates are guidelines, and many of them are very conservative. The Internet Grocer claims you could easily get a 15 to 20 year life from most of their canned foods even though they are only guaranteed for 3 years.

I have learned over the years not to store anything in the camper. This is also why I rotate the MRE's out of the car/truck emergency kit every year.

All our goods are in the basement in a room that may get to 65 in the heat of the summer. In the winter it runs about 50. There are no water lines that run though that part of the house so freezing is not a problem. I am glad ya brought it up since I went back to the food thread and I did not bring up temperature in the food storage.

Colder is better for everything and dark is good as well for home canned goods. I completely blocked and insulated the small window that is in the store room.

Another point that is often overlooked in food storage is that storing food is more than simply a matter of maintaining it as edible. Stored food isn't simply good or bad with no in between.

It is easy to overlook the fact that as food ages, it loses its nutritional value. It isn't only a matter of whether or not you can eat it. You also want to maintain the highest amount of nutritional value in the food as possible. Otherwise, in a longterm survival scenario, you may find yourself opening up bags of flour or rice that taste fine, but have marginal nutritional value compared to a fresher, or better stored product.

Storing food is a big investment. A year's worth of stored food for a family of 4 will typically cost 5 figures. I do not want to reduce the value of that investment simply because of where I choose to store it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thecatsfan

Another point that is often overlooked in food storage is that storing food is more than simply a matter of maintaining it as edible. Stored food isn't simply good or bad with no in between.

It is easy to overlook the fact that as food ages, it loses its nutritional value. It isn't only a matter of whether or not you can eat it. You also want to maintain the highest amount of nutritional value in the food as possible. Otherwise, in a longterm survival scenario, you may find yourself opening up bags of flour or rice that taste fine, but have marginal nutritional value compared to a fresher, or better stored product.

Storing food is a big investment. A year's worth of stored food for a family of 4 will typically cost 5 figures. I do not want to reduce the value of that investment simply because of where I choose to store it.

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Flour lets you know when it is time. :) This is one of the reasons that I have had some Mylar classes for everyone.

In the food thread I do stress being diversified in your food storage. You also need to use and be sure that your family will eat it. When I had Teenagers in the house we learned to prepare meals not letting them know where it came from.