Posted: 5/14/2012 2:54:36 AM EDT
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The basics like beans and rice get mentioned consistently, but what about desserts/sweets to keep on hand with a reasonable shelf life?
ETA: I'll start with honey and sorghum molasses |
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Honey is nearly indestructable*, and very useful. Dont give it to children under 18 months though, because it contains fungi to which very young tots are susceptable.
Do NOT store canned citrus! A recent thread was about some stored stuff that was a few years old, and stored in the desert; the citrus had destroyed the cans and the juice dribbled all over. Fun food can be very important for morale, especially if there are young children involved. Honey can be used in first aid situations, too. It is very hygroscopic (means: absorbs water), to the point that bacteria EXPLODE when exposed to honey. I myself have used it on a 2nd degree burn on my forearm; it all but killed the pain, and there is no scarring at all. |
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In addition to things already mentioned,
We have dehydrated apple slices (LDS in #10 cans) Honey coated banana slices (Augason Farms in #10 cans) Freeze dried blueberries, strawberries, pears, peaches, mango, raspberries (mredepot in #2-1/2 size cans) Freeze dried neapolitan ice cream and ice cream sandwiches. (Mountain House - individual packs) Other fairly LTS items are MRE items such as: Assorted pound cakes, filled french toast, brownies, raisin nut mix, dried cranberries, apple cinnamon first strike bars, etc. My wife also has canned peaches, apples, apple pie filling and various jams. Let me tell you, homemade jams are way better than anything you can buy at the store. 
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Quoted:
Honey is nearly indestructable, and very useful. Dont give it to children under 18 months though, because it contains fungi to which very young tots are susceptable. Do NOT store canned citrus! A recent thread was about some stored stuff that was a few years old, and stored in the desert; the citrus had destroyed the cans and the juice dribbled all over. Fun food can be very important for morale, especially if there are young children involved. Strange on the citrus. I wonder how many years was "a few"? I put away a ton of citrus as mostly manderin oranges and pineapple (which i guess is not technically a citrus). On the other hand we go through 2-3 cans a week so I dont think ours ever see the 6 month mark, let alone years. |
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Honey is nearly indestructable, and very useful. Dont give it to children under 18 months though, because it contains fungi to which very young tots are susceptable. Do NOT store canned citrus! A recent thread was about some stored stuff that was a few years old, and stored in the desert; the citrus had destroyed the cans and the juice dribbled all over. Fun food can be very important for morale, especially if there are young children involved. Strange on the citrus. I wonder how many years was "a few"? I put away a ton of citrus as mostly manderin oranges and pineapple (which i guess is not technically a citrus). On the other hand we go through 2-3 cans a week so I dont think ours ever see the 6 month mark, let alone years. We store citrus as well, I think a lot has to do with storage conditions. Ours is stored in an air conditioned pantry. - Got to check and rotate them, though. I think he is referring to this thread. Desert storage, not climate controlled, 4-5yrs. Interesting thread. It was actually the pineapple cans that burst. The other fruit cans survived, but the contents were not so good. |
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I store lots of canned citrus and have eaten some of it that was several years past the expiration date. NO problems. But I do try to keep the room at least below 75 degrees or so.
I also try to buy muffin, cookie, bread, etc mixes that only need water added. They don't last forever, so we try to rotate. Sweets are definitely comfort food and though I'll be living on rice and canned goods... it's good to know that there'll be occasions where we can get something sweet to eat. |
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Honey is the obvious one that comes to mind. A few other things:
- Plain ol' sugar + some knowledge on candy making. You can do all kinds of fun things with sugar. I've even seen a homemade cotton candy machine, how would that be for morale during SHTF? - Couple with this some of the flavorings from candy/cake stores and you have a basically infinite variety of flavors to mix and match for hard and various candies. - I had 7 year old+ (it had expired 7 years ago) Peanut Butter Captain Crunch and it tasted the same as brand new. This has now become a small part of my preps. - I have 6 year old Jelly Belly jelly beans and most taste just fine. The Peanut Butter ones don't, and some of the varieties have gotten a little hard, but most are perfectly fine (and stored in a normal plastic container with a screw top). - Dum-dum lollipops are incredibly cheap, last forever and make excellent filler in prep containers. After placing mylar bags in my storage totes, I dump a bag of dum-dums in and close it up. - A box or two of 'make your own bubble gum' will last quite some time (3 years is all older I've had) and makes a fun activity in addition to sub-par bubble gum. But when there isn't anything else, I imagine it will taste better. - Maple syrup may not have an incredible shelf life, but if sealed it will last quite some time. I buy the jugs from Costco and they taste fine for the 2-3 years it takes to eat. - High fructose corn syrup would seem to have an indefinite shelf life if sealed, but don't quote me on that. I've tasted stuff that was at least 10 years old (unopened) and it didn't make me sick. Plus, it can be used to make other types of candy as well. - Powdered Cocoa. I use the dark chocolate Hershey's in basically everything. Along with sugar, it will make the worst powdered milk drinkable. - Stevia seeds (for growing). I made a homemade sweetner from my stevia plants that really isn't all that bad. I like it better than aspartame (tastes bitter to me) but not as much as sugar. But it's easy to grow and refine and will probably make you popular among neighbors post-SHTF. It really condenses down too, just a few drops in a glass of ice tea makes it (non-southern) sweet. - Sugar beet seeds. I will be trying these in small quantity this year. Home-refineable sugar can't be a bad thing! |
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Honey is nearly indestructable, and very useful. Dont give it to children under 18 months though, because it contains fungi to which very young tots are susceptable. Do NOT store canned citrus! A recent thread was about some stored stuff that was a few years old, and stored in the desert; the citrus had destroyed the cans and the juice dribbled all over. Fun food can be very important for morale, especially if there are young children involved. Strange on the citrus. I wonder how many years was "a few"? I put away a ton of citrus as mostly manderin oranges and pineapple (which i guess is not technically a citrus). On the other hand we go through 2-3 cans a week so I dont think ours ever see the 6 month mark, let alone years. It was the canned pineapple that rusted through the cans. eta HERE IS A LINK to that thread. |
| Molasses has a shelf life of indefinity. Is there such a word? LOL! A tablespoon of molasses also has way more potassium than a banana. Maple syrup was used to sweeten things back when there was a move to abolish slavery, and it also has an indefinite shelf life. |
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Honey is nearly indestructable*, and very useful. Dont give it to children under 18 months though, because it contains fungi to which very young tots are susceptable. Do NOT store canned citrus! A recent thread was about some stored stuff that was a few years old, and stored in the desert; the citrus had destroyed the cans and the juice dribbled all over. Fun food can be very important for morale, especially if there are young children involved. Honey can be used in first aid situations, too. It is very hygroscopic (means: absorbs water), to the point that bacteria EXPLODE when exposed to honey. I myself have used it on a 2nd degree burn on my forearm; it all but killed the pain, and there is no scarring at all. I think you're referring to botulism in honey. So, not really a fungus. And the recommendations are 12 months, but I suppose waiting longer won't hurt. |
| a lot of hard candies will last indefinitely - make them now - vac pack in single layers so you can brreak them apart 20 years from now and store in 5 gallon buckets lined with mylar bags - cooked sugar and water have an indefinite shelf life - look for indefinite shelf life flavors and you can make 3 or 4 5 gallon mylar lined buckets that will hold a lot of candy. |
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Honey and sugar. With honey you want the unpastureized, no I don't feel like using spell check, to get the one that has the most benefits for you. Someone mentioned using honey from their area helps with their allergies, the natural honey that no one processed will do this. Plus everyone should read up on honey from china and all the extra goodies it comes with so they just buy from their local fella anyway. With sugar it might clump up a bit while stored but as long as you keep bugs out of it and don't let it get wet and nasty it will keep just about forever. Do not use oxygen absorbers when storing sugar since the heat from that will cause the sugar to turn into a rock hard lump that is very hard to deal with afterwards. I vacumn pack my sugar if storing for long term. On a shelf I have a popcorn tin full of sugar, one of the big 20lb or whatever size bags fills it and then some. Every few years or when I get on a kick to put more back I mess with it. If storing chocolate run some searches about storing hard dark chocolate. A lot of the stuff mentioned in other posts, candy bars and m&ms and what not, will store for a while with ease. I don't know about long term storage. Honey has been found from centuries ago, found in pyramids in egypt, and was fine. Sugar will also keep for a very long time as well. With honey I just find a local place every year, usually a few times a year, and buy glass jars full of honey. Generally just a wide mouth canning jar but I mostly just want a decent glass jar with a good metal lid. Over time honey will darken and sometimes crystalize but honey can be heated gently and the crystals will melt down. If I had a wife or serious girlfriend I would be a lot more serious on the dark chocolate vacumn packed sort of thing. I am a big fan of stuff I can store for years and years and not care about or worry about. So the above works for me. |
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We are currently baking cookies with chocolate chips in them. The best by date on the side of the chocolate chip box was some time in 2004. These were misplaced in an unsealed metal can for rodent control, but there was no temperature or humidity controlled. We just found them in the last month. This was a 25 lb box, with a simple plastic bag inside it containing the chocolate chips.
They are fine. |
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Yeah, LDS list advise you to store honey. (BTW, local honey really helps reduce my seasonal allergies.) HOWEVER, this could be a great excuse to stock up on a year's worth of sweets!  From a current GD thread... http://i.imgur.com/wUw0R.jpg Might be a snack size, with a baby arm!!!! 
Sign me up for lots of honey, and about 100 lbs of sugar. |
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Hard candy will store well too. Something like Jolly Ranchers. Keep the humidity away and it will keep for a while. +1 Had to ass more since this is my 1000'th post. I still have some of the 60's Civil Defence candy in the metal tins. Just dont eat the red ones. 
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Hard candy will store well too. Something like Jolly Ranchers. Keep the humidity away and it will keep for a while. +1 Had to ass more since this is my 1000'th post. I still have some of the 60's Civil Defence candy in the metal tins. Just dont eat the red ones. http://go-armynavy.com/components/com_virtuemart/shop_image/product/3867.jpg Back in the late 60s and early 70s, while in the boy scouts, we moved tons of these tins from trucks to underground storage areas owned by the gov't. You know one or two were opened and we would eat this stuff by the handful. We would fill our pockets full before leaving too. |
