Imagine a possible future scene with me for a moment. An emergency situation has shown up at your doorstep. Your family is hungry, and you have reached the end of the food in your cupboards. You are now faced with opening that food storage that you have had stashed away in the basement for years, forgotten and dusty. Do you really want to be nervously sniffing that can of food and crossing your fingers that it’s not going to make you all horribly sick? Unless you get your kicks out of risky and possibly quite disgusting experiences, I don’t think you do. This, my friends, is why the shelf life of your food storage matters. When that emergency situation comes, you don’t want to be questioning the shelf life of the food you and your family are now meant to survive on. You want to be able to rest assured that you have made a good purchase. Having emergency food stored that is designed to last a very long time—25 years or more—offers a peace of mind that cannot be overstated.
I think we all know someone who is unflinchingly fearless when it comes to eating food that’s gone over its expiration date. When I was in high school, I had a friend who loved—I might even say obsessed over—canned mandarin oranges. One day, I was at her house and she pulled out a can of oranges and offered me some. As she did, I noticed that the expiration date on the can was about six months in the past. I pointed this out to her, and she shrugged her shoulders and proceeded to open and devour the entire can. I thought she was crazy and told her as much, but she assured me the oranges tasted good, so she finished her can and we forgot about it…for about an hour. At that point, she started to look really pale, and she told me in a weak voice that she didn’t feel so good. She proceeded to throw up all over the place, and I later found out that’s what she did for the rest of the night and the next few days. Luckily, the spoiled food didn’t cause her more harm than temporary discomfort, but from that time on, she could never stomach mandarin oranges again.
I tell this little story because I think of that friend every time I go to open something that has been in my cupboards for a longer time than I think it should have been. I know plenty of die-hard people who test the limits of expiration dates and are just fine (my husband is particularly gutsy in this area), but this memory of my mandarin-orange-loving friend has kept me extremely suspicious of any food that has been around for a long time. For me to be able to eat my food storage, I have to know that it is still going to be good when the time comes to use it. This is my biggest motivator in having emergency food like Legacy Premium food that is made to last up to 25 years.
Not only does having food storage with a 25-year-shelf life protect you from unpleasant and dangerous conditions, it also makes your life in the interim between now and a disaster situation a whole lot easier. If you buy food storage items that are only going to last a few years, you are going to have to be very organized and worry about rotating things out frequently and replacing them with new items. If you are like me, you probably don’t have much room on your to-do list, and this is not a very appealing prospect. Also, having to rotate and replace emergency food can become an expensive habit. In contrast, if you invest in food that will last a quarter of a century, you will only have to worry about replacement a few times in your life.
I hope I’ve convinced you that the shelf life of food storage is a crucial consideration to make when you are buying emergency food, and there is simply no reason to settle for food that has a shelf life of less than 25 years. Be aware, though, that as you go out in search of long-term food storage, you are going to find that the food storage industry is filled with companies who make big claims they cannot back up. Many food storage companies claim their food has a shelf life of 25 years or more, but often their claims are simply fancy words to put on their label and make them look good. Some emergency food companies have simply not done their research when it comes to ingredients that keep, and they include ingredients in their emergency food that spoil after a short amount of time. Uneducated food buyers then end up with a worthless product after just a few years.
Through extensive research and years of experience, Legacy Premium has designed its emergency food to last 25 years. Because of our freeze-drying process, our meticulous oxygen-removal system, and our knowledge about the most effective ways to package and store emergency food, we are confident in our claim of a 25-year shelf life. But we don’t want you to just take our word for it. As consumers, it’s important that you know the factors that affect the shelf life of emergency food so that you can make informed decisions when you are building up your food store. In next week’s post, we’ll talk about these factors in detail, so stay tuned, and be prepared to learn a little more about what makes emergency food last and why Legacy Premium foods are the ultimate in long-term food storage.
Foods that lasts are what we all need during crisis. If for instance an earthquake or tsunami or any disaster strikes, these foods can lasts for a long time, but be very careful on reading the labels and the expiration date.
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Najala Greene
Hello,
I just discovered your website, and I am very interested & will explore this site more thoroughly & most likely will purchase some storable food. I especially commend you for offering GMO free, low sodium & USA grown food! These options are hard to find from other companies. By the way, how long has the company that makes Legacy Premium foods been in business making long-term storable food?
One problem I have is with the above article about the dangers of eating canned food which is just a few months past the expiration date. First of all you are confusing the expiration date & the best by date (the best by date is what is printed on most if not all canned food now a days). The best by dates mean that the food is at its best (in terms of nutrition, texture, color, & flavor) until that date. It does not mean that the food is unsafe after that date. Canned food does not have an expiration date.
Let me tell you a little story. Before Y2K in 1999, I was preparing with food & water supplies and decide to call several major canning companies regarding the shelf life of their canned food. I called Dole, Del Monte, Libby’s & one other (I can’t remember which). All these companies told me that as long as the can is undamaged (ie. no rust, no dents, no bulges, & an intact seal on the lid) the food inside will be edible indefinitely! Over time it might lose some nutrition, color, texture or flavor, but you can still eat it & it will keep you alive & not make you sick. I have recently eaten Del Monte canned peas that were purchased in Jan. 2002 (that’s right eleven years ago). The can was undamaged. The peas were no different from fresh canned peas in terms of their flavor, color or texture. In fact I would have challenged anyone to tell the difference. I ate the entire can & felt no ill effects! I would not hesitate to do it again, if the can is undamaged!
I do not work for any food canning company, nor do any of my relatives or friends & I have no financial interest in any food canning company. The reason I am writing this because I believe that the above article is very misleading, & unethical for you to publish on your website, since it will probably scare many people into wasting a lot of perfectly good canned food just because it is a few months past the best by date! I realize you are in the business of selling other types of long term storable food, but consumers interested in being prepared should be storing a multitude of different types of storable food including freeze dried, dehydrated, canned, frozen, etc. not just the type of food that you sell.
I would suggest that you remove the above article, since I believe that you are not being honest with the responsible person trying to prepare themselves & their families for whatever the future may bring.
Thanks Very Much,
Bart Telep
Hi Bart,
Thank you for your input on the article and your interest in our products. The example I used in this article about my friend eating mandarin oranges past their expiration date was not meant as a scare tactic. It was meant to explain my own hesitance to eat food that is past its expiration date (and I admit that I am a bit of a wimp when it comes to this). Your information about canned foods being good sometimes a decade past their expiration date is pretty interesting.
To be clear, I wasn’t stating that canned foods should not be eaten if they are past their expiration date or sell by date (In fact, I mentioned specifically that this is a practice my husband and others regularly do without ill effects). I was simply trying to state the importance of knowing what the shelf life is of your emergency food–whether it is freeze-dried or canned or in MRE packages. There are plenty of emergency food companies who advertise a 25-year shelf life without having anything to back it up. This article was meant to emphasize the importance of being able to trust the shelf life of all emergency foods.
Thanks for reading,
Amanda
im very interested in your product and would like to open up a cen ter here
in my fiji islands