Dry rice/pasta packets

[hubste5]

Forgive me if this has been covered... Was looking at the "Knorr" (formerly Lipton) packs of dried rice and pasta "just add water" meals (or sides, more likely). These have expire dates of 1 to 2 years out. Any of you guys storing these? they run about $1 apiece on sale, and likely have a longer shelf life than whats advertised.
What about vacuum sealing? would that help extend the pantry life of these?

[Loshali]

These would be good to store in a vacuum sealed container. The shelf life is much longer than posted.

However, if cost is something to consider, you are spending a lot more money than you would if you made your own, plus you can control the amount of salt and preservatives in your food. Nutrition is something to consider even in a survival situation. I try not to eat MSG if at all possible, and when some of the ingredients take more than 20 letters to spell, kinda scares me.

50 lbs rice, chicken boullion, spices and herbs, then add a can of tuna or chicken to it and you have a meal. You can make 300 packets for about $50-$75 compared to $300 for 300 packets, if you can catch them on sale at that price. You dont even have to package the entire bulk of rice out if you didnt want to, but its a convenience to have some packages done beforehand for traveling. Storage bags, resealable bags, containers, jelly jars, or even just in bulk in a bucket (1 cup of rice to 2-3 tbls of seasoning in some water).

My suggestion is the last one, package your rice in 5 gallon containers with a mason jar filled with the seasonings placed in the bucket with the rice. Scoop out what you need of rice and seasoning as you need it. Why waste prepackaging it when a bulk or mini-bulk container (gallon plastic jars) woudl be just as simple.

*** Store long term in 5 lb buckets, but as you open one bucket, pour some from that bucket into a smaller 1-2 gallon container that would be opened daily or weekly, that way you arent opening the big bulk container as much and it stays more airtight. Be sure to store in a cool dry place away from direct sunlight.

[Skyowl's Wife]

That's what we do - when we open one of our 5 Gal buckets, we repackage into 2-5 lb vacuum sucks, depending on what it is.

I have two standard canister sizes, to use depending on what goes into it. If I use a LOT of something, use the large one, if not so much, use the half-size one. I package bulk stuff or coming-out-of-the-5-gal-bucket stuff in quantities that will almost fill one of those, so when I'm running low on something in the kitchen, grab a vacuum bag, dump into a clean canister, dump the older one on top and wash the old cannister. Handy rotation for both cleaning canisters and the stuff in them.

When I break into a 5 gal bucket, it's time to evaluate if I need restock, if I'm not already aware.

It's absolutely incredible the money you save buying bulk.

50 lbs of wheat is running about $16 right now. That makes about 50 1 lb loaves of bread with a little yeast, salt and lard thrown in. Do the math!

Bulk Cream of Wheat is running about $21 for 50 lbs. Bulk Corn Meal is under $18 for 50 lbs. Read about Pinole at http://xcolony.com/x/showthread.php?t=340&page=4 and you are surviving!

Bulk Granola is about $42 for 25 lbs. Throw in some honey and bake, then vacuum seal and you have road food.

You are asking a good question!