Good food storage guideines include food rotation, shelf life, food safety, and how to pack food for long term storage.
If, after reading through these topics, you find that I have not answered all your question(s) on food storage, please ask your question here.
The best guideline for good food storage is to store what you eat.
Yes, it's a good idea to store wheat for long term use as many foods contain wheat in some form. But don't count on it for your main diet if your family is not used to eating a lot of wheat. But DO learn to cook with it.
Store a variety of foods like fruits, vegetables, snacks, and desserts along with your staples of wheat, beans, powdered milk, and sugar.
Rotate Your Food Storage
An initial investment is required to stock a pantry, but it is the most economical, convenient, and self-reliant way to live. Once your pantry is stocked, it's necessary to rotate your food storage, using the older products before newer ones.
Leftovers should be put into clean, sanitized, shallow containers, and covered, labeled, dated, and put in the freezer if you have one. Generally, leftovers in the refrigerator should be tossed after 48 hours.
Shelves like those pictured above make it easy to keep the older products in front while the newer products are inserted and roll down behind the older ones.
If you don't have access to this type of shelving, keep a marker on the shelf and quickly put a date on the cans and packages when you put them away. At a glance, you can see what needs to be used first.
P.S. I just found some very clever and inexpensive can rotation organizers at TheCanOrganizer.com. They come flat - just fold on the guidelines and pop in your canned foods. There's even a video on their website with explicit instructions. And they fit almost all can sizes! No more worries about rotating your canned food storage.
Know the Shelf Life of Foods
Food storage guidelines state that no food's shelf life is indefinite, no matter how it is packaged. Freeze-dried food however, can be stored up to 25 years. The shelf life of a food does not mean how long you can keep it on the shelf without having to actually eat it. A better meaning for shelf life in a preparedness context is that you have learned to store your food properly so that it will "give you life" after it has been on your shelf for a while.
Short-Term Shelf Life
3-Month Food Supply
Check out these suggestions for apartment and city dwellers. You too can prepare!
The reason for covering the short-term shelf life is that these are foods you would keep on hand in your pantry. I call it the "pantry method." The purpose here is to have at least three month's supply of staples and recipe contents so that you can feed your family or any unexpected guests without needing to run to the grocery store. Or, if a crisis of some kind makes it impossible to get to the store or the grocery shelves are empty, you can provide nutritious meals for your famly for at least three months.
Therefore, it is important to know the shelf life of these foods so you can avoid spoilage and know when to replace foods. Also, take a look at this food storage chart for quick look-up of every day foods for short-term storage.
Long-Term Shelf Life
This long-term shelf life chart is for long-term food storage items. These are the food products that are to be stored for years. This would include dehydrated foods like wheat, beans, oats, powdered milk, pasta, etc. Also included would be freeze-dried foods and water.
If after reading this, you still have questions about the shelf life of foods, please ask your questions here. I will be glad to answer as many as I can in a timely manner.
Know How to Safely Store Food
Safe food storage means knowing how to store food to keep out bugs and rodents, and prevent spoilage of the food you have spent time and money preparing. Proper storage will keep your food delicious and nutritious for the time when you really need to use it.
Learn how to dry can dehydrated foods, 
how to use oxygen absorbers, and why metalized bucket liners (Mylar bags) are important for keeping food storage safe.
how to use oxygen absorbers, and why metalized bucket liners (Mylar bags) are important for keeping food storage safe.Food Storage "How to" Guidelines
Sometimes we just need to know how to store certain foods. This section will list several food products that we have researched based on questions asked by our readers. If there is a particular food that you need to know how to store, please ask here.
- How to Store Sugar(s)
- How to Store Powdered Milk
- How to Store Fats and Oils
- How to Store Water
- How to Purify Water
- How to Store Garden Seeds
- How to "Dry Can" Bulk Foods (watch the video)
These food storage guidelines will be continually updated as my readers ask about storage of different types of foods and methods of storage. To be alerted about new helpful storage ideas, sign up for our Family Survival Planning Alert. Some of the topics we cover are . . .
- Foods that will almost keep forever
- How to rotate your food storage to avoid spoilage.
- Ways to painlessly start your food storage planning.
Seriously! Follow the links thoughout this Food Storage Guidelines page and prepare for whatever comes. If nothing happens in the next 25-30 years, freeze dried food will still be edible and nutritious. Put it in your will to your children.
Topics to Help You Prepare
Read more: http://www.family-survival-planning.com/food-storage-guidelines.html#ixzz1mnXC5dWX
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