Flour Question

[Midwesterner]

Hi there, I wasn't sure which forum this should go under so I'm just going to put it here and the moderators can move it if it should be somewhere else.

 

My wife and I started stocking up more on food, everything from canned meat to hot chocolate to you name it. Anyway, I've been doing the research on the recommendations for such and such food item, like beans or wheat or what have you. Anyway, my question is about flour, the kind that you'd buy in the store in say 5 or 10 lb bags. I understand that you just can't throw it in a 5-gallon bucket, throw the lid on, and expect it to be any good in 20 years. If I take each 5-lb bag, seal it with a Foodsaver, then place it in a bucket, how long will it be good for (hypothetically)? I understand unground wheat in the Mylar bags is good for many years, but what about flour in sealed Foodsaver bags that are inside a sealed bucket?

 

Thanks much,

 

Midwest MN

[Homemaker]

I was wondering that too. The flour I just bought at Christmas has an experation date stamped on it for sometime in 2010. I wonder if food-sealing it would extend that date out.

Bleached white flour has had everything removed from it that could support life so I would imagine it could last a long time, unless it still has oils in it that could go rancid.

I usually store mine in the freezer, but we are trying to save on electricity and don't have our chest freezer hooked up.

[Canned Nerd]

All my flour is stored in FoodSaver bags which will preserve it for several years at least and will prevent bug infestation.

 

Since almost all air is removed (as much as the vacuum processing is strong enough to remove) you should be getting the same quality preservation as any container with an oxygen-absorber, though I have wondered if any further advantage would be achieved by adding an OA before vacuum sealing a bag.

 

Freezing flour for a couple days will kill an bug infestation, but I don't think that would be necessary if the flour is vacuum sealed. Freezing would only seem to have an advantage only if the other options were not available.

 

[PoGo]

Midwesterner, here's a couple threads wherein you may find more info.

 

http://www.mrssurvival.com/forums/ubbthrea...p;Number=221886

 

http://www.mrssurvival.com/forums/ubbthrea...p;Number=188016

 

http://extension.missouri.edu/explore/hesg...dnut/gh1116.htm

 

 

[Crazy4Canning]

I've stored flour for YEARS with no adverse result and it was just tossed into a container without any real seal.

[Canned Nerd]

If conditions are just right its possible, but I think most of us are forced to take preventative measures and get bug and other reminders if we don't.

 

[Midwesterner]

I had put about 10 lbs of flour in a bucket last fall, but noticed that when I checked them that the paper bag seemed damp, not wet, but just noticeabley damp. Our basement does have a little bit of a moisture problem in the spring and fall so I'm thinking I'll have to food save pretty much everything.

[Virginia]

C4C, my sister and I have both kept flour for well over a year, maybe 2 and it was fine. Didn't even know to freeze it first in the beginning. Fresher is better, but if that is all I have, I'll be glad to have it.

[Cat]

Midwesterner, you might want to check into solving a basement moisture problem...

 

There are non-electric solutions here, too.

 

http://mrssurvival.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=33132

 

 

[Leah]

Please, PLEASE - Take it out of the paper bag!!!

 

Bugs can lay eggs in the seam glue.

[serendipity]

Also, there are often already bug eggs in the flour when a person purchases it. (Yuck). Freezing it is what kills those off.

 

Disgusting, I know.

[KallieKat]

I don't have a food saver, but this is how I store all purpose white flour and seem to have had good luck with it. Not sure how long it will last, right now I'm using flour that is about 4 years old and it's fine. Freeze it for a few days to kill any buggie eggs, let it stabelize, than I put each of the 5 pound bags of flour into freezer Zip Lock bags, a 5 pound bag fits into a 1 gal. bag. Squeeze out as much air as you can, then put into another bag. Laid flat I can get 50 lbs of flour in a tote, then store them in a closet in the house. Oh, be sure to take the flour out of the original bag, double bag it in the Zip Locks.