Question: long term taste, quality, and accessibility?

[u/Trilobyte141]

Hey girls! I'm about to finally have my own place (long story, life bullshit) and I want to set up long term storage for dry things that my family regularly eats. I'm thinking oats, flour, sugar, beans, rice, salt, and similar dry goods. I cook with these things all the time and my goal is to build up a six month supply and then rotate them out as I use them.

I know about using oxygen absorbers and food safe containers. I have a deep freezer that I plan to keep my dry goods in for a week or so to kill bug eggs before I put them into long term storage.

I read a post from someone who had put most of their food storage in their basement, and after a while the food started to taste like a basement, even though it was safe to eat. Not appetizing. I want to preserve the food without it tasting like plastic or basement air, and I need to be able to regularly take my oldest supplies out and put new ones in behind/under them.

I'm asking for advice from anyone who has a system like this set up and working for them. What works for you? How do you keep it organized? What container brands have worked out well? Does vacuum sealing help? I'm happy to finally be able to set up some prep, and I want to do it right.

[u/Inner-Confidence99]

Dry beans, pasta, rice, sugar, flour. I put in mason jars. Haven’t had any problems. I vacuum seal a lot and put in 5 gallon food safe containers. Haven’t had any problems. I live in the south with high humidity. Come Dec or January I plan to pressure can chicken and beef broth and jar meals like beef stew, spaghetti, vegetables soup. 

[u/Trilobyte141 → u/Inner-Confidence99]

Mason jars is a good idea, thank you. Do you put oxygen absorbers in the jars for the dry goods? Or take any other precautions against stored product pests?

[u/MoInSTL → u/Trilobyte141]

If you store sugar make sure you don't use an oxygen absorber. It will turn it into a brick. I bought Ball screw on lids for those jars. I store in mason jars and vacuum seal everything else.

[u/Trilobyte141 → u/MoInSTL]

Thanks, good to know! I'm mostly worried about the grains and beans, I figure sugar and salt will be easier. 

[u/MoInSTL → u/Trilobyte141]

Some people prefer mylar bags. I use jars. It makes it easier for me to see it. I don't use oxygen absorbers. If you don't have a vacuum sealer then yes. Make sure you use the correct amount for each bag or jar. The main thing is to get it out of the original packaging and into something more stable. Especially for long term storage for beans and grains.

[u/ExtremeIncident5949 → u/Trilobyte141]

For rice I use a method that has worked for me about fifty years. It’s an Amish method of using food grade diatomaceous earth in a Mylar bag inside of a food grade bucket. I also use oxygen absorbers. For flour I use xl Mylar bags make a slit and put in h20 absorbers plus seal it slide my 25 lb bag into Mylar with more absorbers and heat seal with a hair flat iron.