For the food storage newbies.

[Magus]

https://urbansurvivalsite.com/foods-that-last-forever/

 

[Weedygarden]

Vanilla extract is usually made with liquor, and is considered liquor in some places.

• Apple cider vinegar
• Bouillon cubes
• Corn starch
• Corn syrup
• Ghee
• Hard liquor
• Hardtack
• Honey
• Maple syrup
• Salt
• Soy sauce
• Sugar
• Vanilla extract
• White rice
• White vinegar

 

[Pearl]

Great thread Magus!!

 

[dademoss]

I had an EPIC "discussion" (You could hear the discussion EVERYWHERE) with the corporate QA auditors on the expiration date for sodium chloride (Table salt)

 

[Weedygarden]

I had an EPIC "discussion" (You could hear the discussion EVERYWHERE) with the corporate QA auditors on the expiration date for sodium chloride (Table salt)

Salt has been around for centuries. There are salt mines. They are required to put an expiration date. That date is for when they are going to change packaging.

 

[montanabill]

If the humidity level is so low you get nose bleeds and the temps are below freezing half the year things also keep really well.
We have wheat and rice and honey.....the wife just sprouted some tiny alfafa seeds, that were 8 years old..

 

[Proud Prepper]

Twinkies. Sealed in plastic wrapper last a very long time. In some cases forever, especially at my house. I don't like Twinkies.

 

[Weedygarden]

Twinkies. Sealed in plastic wrapper last a very long time. In some cases forever, especially at my house. I don't like Twinkies.

I don't know that I have ever eaten one.
Lots of food that we purchase now lasts a very long time. I bought a loaf of bread once, and didn't open it for more than a month. It didn't mold. It was fine. I wonder what do they put in it to make it last forever?

 

[Magus]

A Twinkie is an angel food cake stuffed with sweetened fluffy lard.
Utterly disgusting.

 

[dademoss]

Salt has been around for centuries. There are salt mines. They are required to put an expiration date. That date is for when they are going to change packaging.

Bulk bags from Morton were not labeled with expiry from the "manufacturer". QA standards required a max 2 year expiry date, and I wouldn't let the warehouse crew dump a pallet of salt in the dumpster, or to take the wrath of an idiot auditor. You did capture the bulk of my discussion, if not the actual volume and adjectives

 

[Weedygarden]

A Twinkie is an angel food cake stuffed with sweetened fluffy lard.
Utterly disgusting.

There are many foods that are similar and are pretty disgusting.

I didn't eat out or eat store made stuff until after I graduated h.s. We made all of our food. When I went to college, I still cooked things like cakes for people's birthdays. It took me many years to make cake from a box mix. My grandmothers cooked from scratch and my first roommates did as well.

We were even told not to drink soda's as kids, but we would have one here and there when we were out and about because we couldn't find water in containers then. I remember driving on a road trip once and was thirsty. I could only find soda to drink, which I didn't want to drink.

 

[Weedygarden]

Bulk bags from Morton were not labeled with expiry from the "manufacturer". QA standards required a max 2 year expiry date, and I wouldn't let the warehouse crew dump a pallet of salt in the dumpster, or to take the wrath of an idiot auditor. You did capture the bulk of my discussion, if not the actual volume and adjectives

Isn't it a crazy world? What happened to all of the salt if it didn't go into a dumpster?

 

[Haertig]

Vanilla extract is usually made with liquor, and is considered liquor in some places.

It's like 99.9% liquor!

We have visited the vanilla farm in Hawaii on a couple of different occasions. They sell vanilla beans that they grow on the property. They have an excellent tour where some very knowledgeable people tell you all about the vanilla growing process. You soak the beans they sell in alcohol for several months to make some very good vanilla extract. As your extract gets low, you add more alcohol and let it sit again, so you end up with a self-replenishing supply (to a point - eventually you have to add another bean to the mix). I don't know what type of alcohol my daughter used to make her extract with (vodka? whiskey? rum?) High quality vanilla beans are not cheap! That's why real vanilla extract is so expensive. They have to hand pollinate each and every vanilla flower, and there's a limited time window when they can do that - very labor intensive. The whole process is labor intensive and requires quite a bit of knowledge. Couple that with only a few places in the world with climates suitable to grow vanilla, and that's why it's so expensive. Artificial vanilla is cheap.

https://hawaiianvanilla.com/

 

[Weedygarden]

It's like 99.9% liquor!

We have visited the vanilla farm in Hawaii on a couple of different occasions. They sell vanilla beans that they grow on the property. They have an excellent tour where some very knowledgeable people tell you all about the vanilla growing process. You soak the beans they sell in alcohol for several months to make some very good vanilla extract. As your extract gets low, you add more alcohol and let it sit again, so you end up with a self-replenishing supply (to a point - eventually you have to add another bean to the mix). I don't know what type of alcohol my daughter used to make her extract with (vodka? whiskey? rum?) High quality vanilla beans are not cheap! That's why real vanilla extract is so expensive. They have to hand pollinate each and every vanilla flower, and there's a limited time window when they can do that - very labor intensive. The whole process is labor intensive and requires quite a bit of knowledge. Couple that with only a few places in the world with climates suitable to grow vanilla, and that's why it's so expensive. Artificial vanilla is cheap.

https://hawaiianvanilla.com/

My daughter brought some vanilla beans back from Tahiti a number of years ago. I put them in a jar and covered them with vodka.

I had a boss who lived in Houston, back when I was working in the oilfields in N.D. He told about driving to a Mexican border town. One of his purchases was many bottles of vanilla for gifts. When he was at the border, with the bottles laid across his back seat, he was asked if he was bringing in any alcohol. Nope. Well the people at the border could clearly see his vanilla in the back seat. They asked him 3 times and he said no 3 times. They pulled his vehicle over and tore it apart, looking for contraband. Of course they found nothing. It was then that he learned that his vanilla was alcohol, and he needed to declare it.

 

[Magus]

Pricks.

 

[Bacpacker]

I make our own vanilla. Use to use run, now use brandy

 

[Weedygarden]

I make our own vanilla. Use to use run, now use brandy

As a non drinker, I brought a few bottles of rum back from Puerto Rico to gift others. I still have a couple. I have vodka for vanilla, but I think I read that Everclear is also something to use.