Longevity of freezer bagged foods

[Stuart Armstrong]

I'm thinking specifically of boxed cous cous and Idahoan mashed potatoes repackaged in freezer bags.

How long should they stay good assuming a good seal on the bags?

I'm thinking a while, but have no clue.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

For best taste use up in a couple months – especially if you have dry milk in them.

On the other hand….one of my friends found some meals she had forgotten about and ate them. They were a year old and she said they tasted fine ;-)

One thing to consider….often we leave boxes of couscous and potatoes not so tightly sealed in our cupboards. They are pretty hardy items :-)

PS: If you have added dried or freeze dried meat to any of the meals, don't let those sit around – keep them in the freezer till trip time. That is why I don't add the meat in till I am out there – I know everything is fresh that way.

[Jonathan Ryan]

Hey Sarah,
what about home made dehydrated fruits and veggies? How long will they normally last? Thank you for the feedback.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

On home dried stuff:
Rice and pasta are bone dry so you can get a good year out of them.
As for fruits and veggies – it depends on the moisture left behind. If you got them good and dry you have a year if kept tightly sealed and in a cool dark area (the cupboard). If you like stickier fruit (flexible) a couple months – or stash in the frig or freezer for longer storage.

When I was growing up I would dry strawberries for weeks on end – some years we ate them for 2 years time. I always dried them till very dry so we never had a mold issue. (And if a fruit/berry/veggie turns it is pretty noticeable – the smell is very recognizable – sour – and you would see fuzzy mold).

[Tad Englund]

Sarah, a couple of weeks ago I had some oatmeal using your coconut oatmeal recipe, with just the powdered coconut milk, and spices.
It was only about 4 months. When I ate it, it had a weird flavor to it, I wondered if the water was to hot and it reacted to the plastic, but I prepared it the same way as usual. My thought was the coconut powder went rancid.
Do you have any other ideas?

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

That it was the coconut cream powder. It has a very high fat ratio. It might have been more stale than rancid though. I try to use my packets up fast when I open them (I buy the 1.76 to 2-ounce packets).

Usually a serving of CCP is 9 grams of fat (hence why it is so good for hiking!)

[Dicentra OPW]

I just replace all of mine.

I didn't have much left and it was stored in an air tight jar, but it developed a "funny" smell. Out it goes!

"When in doubt… Throw it out…"

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