by troubleScottie » Sat May 19, 2018 6:44 pm
Water does not spoil. It does not degrade.
The major issue is how clean are your containers. It is possible for algae to grow there -- more a maintenance issue then bad water. Filtered, the water is still good.
If you have containers which leach chemicals, then the water has a life time. Again, filtered, the water is still good.
Fuel (gasoline, diesel) does degrade. Hence why our emergency generator is natural gas fueled. Propane and butane should be stable. The bigger issue is evaporation.
There is a concept of shelf stable food. Dry/dried food is most stable eg jerky, pasta, rice, powdered milk. Drying has been around for thousands of years. Salting is another form. Canning is only about 200 years old. Freezing is only since electricity has been available. Some canned food is shelf stable but not all. It all depends on how the food is processed, effects to container eg rusting, etc. Not all micro-organisms are killed by the food processing. And then you want store everything in a dry, shaded environment below 85F and above freezing. Freeze dried/vacuum packed is only good for 5 years and then only is stored below 70F. The USDA has lists of how long products should last.
To store food, you really need to be able to turn-over the supplies.
Personally, I only have 2-14 days of food in the house at any given time. In fact, I have more dog food eg typically 15-45 days supply. I generally depend on the big commercial storage eg grocery stores for long term storage.
Michael Krolewski
Scottish Terrier Fancier