I've posted in the past about stockpiling and expiration dates, but just to catch you up, check out these two great articles that will help you figure out which items are okay to store, and for how long:
- This "Real Simple" article on 77 Surprising Expiration Dates
- This Harvard Medical School article on Drug Expiration Dates - Do They Mean Anything?
Thanks to reader Jana B. for another great resource on stockpiling: check out StillTasty.com. They've got thousands of foods in their extensive "Keep It or Toss It?" database and they also quote the sources for their data, which is helpful in determining the veracity of their information. This is definitely a great resource for planning both my year-round and Passover storage.
I got a few surprises in plugging in some foods that I've avoided stockpiling, because I was sure they weren't safe to store. Who knew that you could keep a can of tunafish around for 3-5 years?
I guess that one thing I need to own up to is my own personal "Ick Factor." Sometimes it's a challenge for me to buy multiples of things on sale or with coupons and store them for a while, because I hate the idea of consuming "old food," (Ick), but the fact is, many of the items that I might be averse to storing would be perfectly safe and fine to eat. Authoritative websites like StillTasty.com will go a long way towards getting me past the Ick.
Do you have a personal "Ick Factor" aversion to stockpiling certain foods? How have you been determining which foods are safe and which are not?
Thanks for posting this. I'm also nervous about storing some stuff. One year, my sister stored an open matzo meal and she had ants in it when she went to use it. That's one of the reasons I'll never store matzo meal or cereal.
ReplyDeleteReva, no matter how safe it might be or might not be to store something, you need to be smart about this! Don't store anything like that opened! Was it stored in a cool, dry place? Was it wrapped in a ziplock? Were there precautions taken to keep away insects and rodents, regardless of what was being stored? I think it's perfectly fine to store things like matzoh and matzoh meal as long as the boxes or canisters are closed.
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