Heat and stockpiling

[madhen]

As I've mentioned in some of my posts, I don't have air-conditioning. I also live in central California, where it can get 100+ and stay that way for days.

The most sensible place for me to store my stockpile is on the southwest side of my house. It is an unfinished room, so the cross beams are still available and make great impromptu shelves. The DOWN side is that it is on the southwest side of the house and not insulated, so it gets 105F and stays that way for days sometimes. Even if I stockpiled in the house, it can get 102F and stay that way for several days.

How does excessive heat affect the shelf life of stockpiled items? I know that paper goods would be okay, and I suspect grains and dry beans would survive, but what about canned goods? I can protect most items from light, but I can't even protect MYSELF from the heat.

[Grandma Lewis]

The shelf life for the canned goods will be shortened so it will be imperative for you to be vigilant about rotating and using the oldest products first.

I can't point you to a specific website to verify this, but I think the taste and consistency would be affected before there are health hazards. Therefore, I think you would know when a product has been stored too long.

Look for changes in color and consistency.

I did find a website to decifer codes on canned products so you can easily determined the date and shelf life. Since you are storing food above the recommended temperatures, you would be wise to stay within these guidelines.

http://www.y2kkitchen.com/html/can_code_decoder.html

While researching this, I kept seeing that it was important to store canned good in dark places, so, can you darken the room by covering the windows? This should also help lower the temperature some.

Hope this helps.

[madhen]

Yes, I always thought light was more destructive than heat. Most items can be stored in dark places but ironically, some of the darkest places in my house are also the hottest.