Want to build a pantry that lasts for years? In this video, you'll discover 30 foods with incredibly long shelf lives that are perfect for emergency preparedness, saving money, and reducing food waste. From pantry staples like rice, beans, and salt to surprising foods that can stay edible for decades when stored properly, these are the essentials every home should consider.
You'll learn:
Which foods can last the longest
How to store them correctly
Common storage mistakes to avoid
The best foods for emergency preparedness and long-term savings
Whether you're preparing for emergencies, building a survival pantry, or simply want to make smarter grocery purchases, this list will help you stock your shelves with confidence.
Disclaimer: Shelf life depends on proper storage conditions and packaging. Always inspect food before consuming and follow food safety guidelines.
#StockpileFoods #LongTermFoodStorage #PrepperPantry #EmergencyPreparedness #PantryStaples #FoodStorage #SurvivalFood #NeverExpire #Prepper #SelfSufficiency
You'll learn:
Which foods can last the longest
How to store them correctly
Common storage mistakes to avoid
The best foods for emergency preparedness and long-term savings
Whether you're preparing for emergencies, building a survival pantry, or simply want to make smarter grocery purchases, this list will help you stock your shelves with confidence.
Disclaimer: Shelf life depends on proper storage conditions and packaging. Always inspect food before consuming and follow food safety guidelines.
#StockpileFoods #LongTermFoodStorage #PrepperPantry #EmergencyPreparedness #PantryStaples #FoodStorage #SurvivalFood #NeverExpire #Prepper #SelfSufficiency
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00There is a quiet wealth in a well-stocked pantry that most folks have forgotten, and it is this.
00:06There are foods, plain, ordinary foods you can buy cheap right now that will keep not for months but for
00:14years,
00:14and some of them for a lifetime and beyond, if only you store them right.
00:19A full pantry of such things is money in the bank that you can eat,
00:24a wall against hard times and high prices, and a lean stretch between paydays.
00:30And it was the ordinary wisdom of every household not so long ago.
00:35So today I am going to give you 30 of these foods that keep near forever, one by one,
00:41and just as important, the plain way to store them so they truly last, for the keeping is half the
00:48secret.
00:48Let me take you through them.
00:50Here is the thing to understand first, for it is the key to all 30.
00:55Food spoils when three things get at it, moisture, air, and warmth,
01:01and the little living things and the pests those bring.
01:05Take those away, keep a food dry, sealed from the air, cool, and safe from the bugs and the mice,
01:12and it will keep a very long time.
01:14And the foods that keep the very longest are the ones already dry,
01:19or already so salty or sweet or sour that nothing can live in them.
01:24So as I name each one, listen for why it keeps, for it is always one of those,
01:30and the storing of every one is the same, dry, cool, dark, and sealed.
01:36Now to the 30.
01:38Quick word before we go further.
01:40My name is Esther Yoder, and the old household ways handed down to me,
01:45the kind I am sharing today, and a great many more besides,
01:49are far more than I could ever fit into one video.
01:52I have gathered the whole of them into a book, and you will find it at EliasYoder.com.
01:58If today's tips serve you, that is where the rest of what my mother and grandmother taught me lives,
02:04all in the one place.
02:06Now to the pantry.
02:08My grandmother kept a pantry that could have fed us through a year of trouble,
02:12and she used to say that a full larder was a kind of peace,
02:16that a woman who knew her cellar was stocked slept easy through a hard winter,
02:21and that the truest wealth was not money, which can lose its worth,
02:25but food put by, which a family can always eat.
02:29She stocked it not with fear, but with good sense, a little at a time.
02:33So here are the 30, her kind of list.
02:37Number one, white rice, the staple that has fed whole peoples for thousands of years.
02:43Kept dry and sealed, it keeps for decades, near a lifetime,
02:47for it is dry and has no oils in it to turn.
02:51Mind, it is the white rice that keeps so.
02:54Brown rice has its oils and turns rancid in a year or two.
02:58A bag of white rice is the cheapest filling food there is and the longest keeping,
03:03so it is the foundation of any pantry.
03:06Number two, dried beans.
03:08Kept dry, beans of every kind keep for many years and more.
03:12They grow harder and want longer soaking and cooking as the years pass,
03:16but they keep and they feed you well,
03:19for a cup of dried beans has more good protein in it than you would think,
03:23and cheaper than any meat.
03:25Rice and beans together make a whole good meal, and both keep for years.
03:30Number three, dried lentils and the split peas.
03:34Close cousins to the beans and every bit as good a keeper.
03:37They keep for years dry and sealed,
03:39and they cook far quicker than beans, wanting no long soaking,
03:44so they are a fine thing to have by for a quick nourishing pot of soup.
03:48Keep a store of them alongside your beans.
03:51Number four, whole dried corn.
03:53It keeps as long as the rice and beans, and it is versatile,
03:56for you can grind it into cornmeal for your bread and your mush,
04:00or soak it whole to cook.
04:02The old folk lived on it, and it keeps near forever dry.
04:06Number five, oats.
04:07The good rolled or steel-cut oats, not the instant.
04:11They keep for many years dry and sealed,
04:13and a bowl of oats is a warm, filling breakfast for pennies.
04:16The steel-cut keep especially well and are the more nourishing.
04:20Number six, plain salt.
04:22Salt keeps quite literally forever, for it is a mineral and cannot spoil.
04:27It may clump if it takes up a little damp, but it is never harmed.
04:31And salt is precious beyond its small price,
04:34for your very body needs it to live,
04:37and it is the oldest preserver of meat there is.
04:40Every pantry wants a good store of it.
04:43Number seven, white sugar.
04:46Like salt, sugar keeps forever,
04:49for it is so sweet that nothing can grow it.
04:52It may harden to a lump if damp gets to it,
04:55but it is never spoiled, and you can always break it up.
04:59And sugar is itself a preserver,
05:01for sweet things keep,
05:03so it does double duty in a pantry.
05:06Number eight, honey.
05:08Blessed honey, the one food that truly never spoils at all.
05:13They have found honey thousands of years old in the old tombs,
05:17still good to eat,
05:18for it holds so little water and is mildly acid,
05:22and has its own keeping power.
05:24If your honey goes hard and grainy,
05:26that is not spoiling, but only the honey crystallizing.
05:30Set the jar in warm water,
05:31and it goes clear and liquid again.
05:34Good as ever.
05:35Keep a good store of it.
05:37Number nine, maple syrup.
05:39Another of nature's sweet keepers.
05:42Sealed, it keeps a very long time,
05:44for like honey, it is mostly sugar with little water.
05:47Once opened, keep it cool.
05:49It sweetens and flavors,
05:51and a bottle laid in during the sugaring season
05:54when it is cheapest is a fine thing to have.
05:57Number ten, molasses.
05:59The dark, thick syrup left from the sugar making,
06:02and it keeps for years sealed.
06:05It is worth knowing that molasses is rich in iron and good minerals,
06:09more than any other sweetener,
06:10and in hard times past, families leaned on it for that.
06:14Keep it in a tight jar in the cool dark,
06:17and it holds well.
06:19Number eleven, white vinegar.
06:21It keeps forever, for it is acid,
06:23and nothing can live in a good sour vinegar,
06:25and it is one of the most useful stores you can keep,
06:28for it does triple duty.
06:30It preserves your pickles and food,
06:32it cleans your whole house, as I have shown you,
06:35and it never goes off itself.
06:37A few gallons of it in the pantry is wisdom.
06:40Number twelve, apple cider vinegar.
06:43The same.
06:44It keeps long and well sealed.
06:46Good for your cooking and your keeping both,
06:48and many folk like it for its flavor.
06:51Another sour keeper worth a place on the shelf.
06:53Number thirteen, cornstarch.
06:56Kept dry and sealed, it keeps near forever,
06:58and it thickens your gravies and sauces and puddings.
07:02One drop of damp will ruin it,
07:04so keep it very dry and tightly sealed,
07:07and it lasts and lasts.
07:09Number fourteen, dried herbs.
07:11Your dried parsley and oregano and thyme and the rest keep for years,
07:16and make your plain stored food good to eat.
07:18I will be honest that herbs slowly fade in strength over the years,
07:22rather than keeping forever at full force.
07:25So use your oldest first.
07:27But kept in the dark and sealed,
07:29they hold their flavor a good long while.
07:32Number fifteen, whole peppercorns and the whole spices.
07:35These keep their strength far, far longer than the ground spices do,
07:39for the flavor is locked up whole until you crack it.
07:43So buy your pepper and your spices whole,
07:45and grind them as you need,
07:47and they will keep for years and years.
07:49A pepper mill and a jar of whole peppercorns is a lifetime of pepper.
07:54Number sixteen, instant coffee.
07:56It keeps for years sealed,
07:58and in a hard stretch or a cold morning,
08:01a cup of coffee is a real comfort worth having put by.
08:04Cheap and long keeping.
08:06Number seventeen, tea.
08:08Black tea and the green both.
08:10Keeps well for a good long while sealed and dry and dark.
08:13The green fades a little quicker than the black,
08:16so use it sooner.
08:18But both are a comfort to have stored,
08:20and both keep far longer than you would guess.
08:23Number eighteen, a good vanilla or other extract.
08:26Being mostly strong spirits,
08:28it keeps near forever,
08:30and it flavors your baking and your puddings.
08:33A bottle of real vanilla laid by keeps indefinitely,
08:36and is worth far more than the cheap imitation,
08:39which does not keep near so well.
08:41Number nineteen, dried pasta.
08:44Kept truly dry and sealed away from the air,
08:47pasta keeps for many years,
08:48well over a decade,
08:50for it is dry as a bone.
08:52It is cheap and filling,
08:54and the children love it,
08:55and it stores small and light,
08:57so it is a fine staple to keep a good store of.
09:01Number twenty, hard candy.
09:03Being near pure sugar, boiled hard,
09:06it keeps for years and years,
09:08for nothing can live in it.
09:10A jar of hard candy put by
09:12is a small, cheerful comfort in a lean time,
09:15and the peppermint kind settles a queasy stomach besides.
09:19Keep it sealed against the damp,
09:20so it does not go sticky.
09:22Number twenty-one, dried seaweed,
09:25if it suits your table.
09:26Keeps well a good long while dry and sealed,
09:29and it is uncommonly rich in the good minerals,
09:32the iodine especially,
09:34that our bodies want.
09:35A quiet, long-keeping,
09:38nourishing thing to have by for those who use it.
09:41Number twenty-two, popcorn kernels.
09:44The dry, hard kernels keep for years,
09:46and a pot of popped corn is a cheap, warm comfort,
09:50and a filling snack.
09:51Keep them sealed and dry,
09:53so they hold the little moisture inside that makes them pop.
09:56Number twenty-three, powdered milk.
09:59Kept very dry and sealed and cool,
10:02it keeps for years.
10:03A real boon when there is no fresh milk to be had,
10:07for your baking and your drinking both.
10:09It is not truly forever,
10:11being a food with some substance to it,
10:14so rotate it and use it,
10:15but it keeps a good long while,
10:17and is worth storing.
10:19Number twenty-four,
10:21chia seeds,
10:21and the like,
10:22small seeds.
10:23They keep a few years sealed and cool,
10:25and they are nourishing out of all proportion to their size.
10:29An honest few years,
10:30not forever,
10:31but a good keeper and a healthful one.
10:34Number twenty-five,
10:35dark chocolate.
10:36It keeps a good few years cool and sealed and out of the light,
10:40far longer than most treats,
10:42and it is a real comfort and a quick bit of energy in a hard day.
10:46Keep it cool and dark,
10:47not in the icebox,
10:48and it holds well for years.
10:50And now,
10:51number twenty-six through twenty-eight,
10:53the fats and the rich things,
10:55and here I must give you an honest word,
10:58for these keep a good while,
10:59but not forever,
11:00and I will not have you believe otherwise,
11:02and eat a spoiled one on my say-so.
11:05Number twenty-six,
11:07coconut oil.
11:08It keeps a good while,
11:09a year or two and often more,
11:11cool and sealed,
11:13far longer than most oils,
11:14for it resists turning.
11:16But it is a fat,
11:17and fats do eventually go rancid,
11:20so you keep it and use it
11:21and watch and smell it,
11:23and do not trust it for decades
11:24the way you trust your rice.
11:26Number twenty-seven,
11:28ghee,
11:29which is clarified butter.
11:30The butter cooked down till the milk is out of it.
11:33It keeps longer than butter ever could,
11:35a good while cool and sealed,
11:37for the milk that would spoil has been taken out,
11:39and the old folk kept it a long time.
11:42But it too is a fat.
11:43Keep it,
11:44use it,
11:45and watch it,
11:46and know it is not truly forever.
11:48Number twenty-eight,
11:50bouillon or stock cubes,
11:51those little dried cubes of savory flavor.
11:54They keep a good couple of years and more,
11:56sealed and dry,
11:57and one little cube turns a pot of plain rice
12:00or a thin soup into something rich and good,
12:03which is worth a great deal
12:04when the fresh things run low.
12:06They have a little fat and salt in them,
12:08so they are a keeper of years,
12:10not forever,
12:11but a mighty useful one.
12:12Number twenty-nine,
12:14soy sauce,
12:15if it suits your cooking.
12:17Being so salty and fermented,
12:19it keeps a long while,
12:20even after opening if kept sealed,
12:23and a spoonful lifts a plain meal of rice
12:25into something with real savor,
12:27a long-keeping flavoring worth a place
12:29for those who use it.
12:31And number thirty,
12:32baking soda,
12:33which I put last,
12:34though it is not eaten alone,
12:36for it keeps quite literally forever,
12:38being a plain mineral,
12:39and no pantry should be without a good store of it.
12:42It leavens your quick breads and biscuits,
12:45it sweetens and scours in your cleaning,
12:47as I have shown you,
12:49it settles a sour stomach,
12:50and it keeps forever sealed and dry,
12:53a humble powder that does a dozen jobs
12:55and never spoils.
12:57There are your thirty,
12:58now the keeping,
12:59for I said the storage is half the secret,
13:02and it is,
13:02and it is the same for near all of them.
13:05First,
13:06get your dry goods
13:07out of those flimsy store bags
13:08the moment you bring them home,
13:10for the bags let in air and damp
13:12and are no barrier at all
13:14to the pantry moth
13:15and the weevil and the mouse.
13:17Put your rice and beans and grains
13:20and sugar and the rest
13:21into good airtight containers,
13:24glass jars,
13:25or the food-grade buckets with tight lids,
13:27sealed up tight,
13:28and they keep many times longer.
13:31Second,
13:32keep them cool and dark,
13:34for warmth and light
13:35both shorten a food's life.
13:37A cool, dark cellar or pantry
13:39or a low cupboard
13:41is far better
13:42than a warm shelf up high
13:44or over the stove,
13:45which is the warmest,
13:46worst spot in the kitchen.
13:49Third,
13:50keep the damp out,
13:51for moisture is the great enemy.
13:53And here is an old trick,
13:55for salt and sugar
13:56and the dry things that clump,
13:58put a few grains of dry rice
14:01in with them
14:01or one of those little silica packets
14:04that come in with new goods
14:05and it drinks up the stray damp
14:07and keeps the thing loose and dry.
14:10And fourth,
14:11guard against the pests,
14:13the pantry moths
14:14and weevils
14:15and the mice,
14:16for these ruin a store
14:17faster than time ever would.
14:19The sealed jars
14:21are your first defense.
14:22And here is a plain old trick
14:24worth its weight.
14:25Tuck a few bay leaves
14:27into your bins of rice
14:28and grain
14:29and beans
14:30and flour
14:30for the pantry moths
14:32and weevils
14:33dislike the bay leaf
14:34and it helps keep them out,
14:36a natural thing
14:37that harms not the food
14:39and even lends it
14:40a little flavor.
14:42And one last piece of wisdom,
14:44the most important habit of all,
14:46store what you eat
14:47and eat what you store.
14:49Do not lay in
14:50a great store
14:51of some strange food
14:52you never eat
14:53and let it sit.
14:55Stock the foods
14:56your family truly eats
14:58and use from your store
14:59and replace as you go,
15:01the oldest first,
15:02so your pantry
15:03is always fresh
15:05and always full
15:06and nothing is ever
15:07wasted forgotten
15:08till it turns.
15:10A pantry is not a museum.
15:12It is a living larder
15:14you eat from
15:15and refill.
15:16Now think a moment
15:17about why so few families
15:19keep a proper pantry anymore.
15:21Why we were taught
15:23to buy just enough
15:24for the week
15:25and run to the store
15:26again and again
15:27dependent on the shelf
15:29being stocked
15:30and the price being fair.
15:32It is worse than a plot
15:33for no one had to arrange it.
15:36There is a great deal
15:37of money in a family
15:38that must shop
15:39every few days
15:40and pay whatever
15:41the price has risen to
15:43and none at all
15:44in a family
15:45with a year of rice
15:46and beans
15:47and salt put by
15:48that can wait out
15:49a high price
15:50or a lean time.
15:52So the old wisdom
15:53of the full larder
15:54that a stocked pantry
15:56is peace and independence
15:57just stopped
15:58being handed down
15:59because no one profits
16:01by your being provided for.
16:04My grandmother's larder
16:05could have fed us a year
16:06and somewhere between
16:07her day and ours
16:09we were taught
16:10to keep only a week's food
16:11and trust the store
16:13for the rest.
16:14The mending of it
16:15is a little bought
16:16a little at a time
16:17and stored right.
16:19You lay in your grains
16:20and beans
16:21and lentils
16:22and corn
16:23and oats
16:23and pasta
16:24your salt
16:25and sugar
16:26and honey
16:26and syrup
16:27and molasses
16:28your vinegars
16:29your cornstarch
16:30and herbs
16:31and spices
16:32and coffee
16:33and tea
16:34and extract
16:35and soda
16:35your popcorn
16:37and candy
16:37and chocolate
16:38and seeds
16:39and seaweed
16:39and your watch
16:41and use things
16:42the milk
16:43and the oils
16:43and the ghee
16:44and the cubes
16:45and you keep them dry
16:47and cool
16:47and dark
16:48and sealed
16:49with a few bay leaves
16:50against the bugs
16:51and you store what you eat
16:53and eat what you store
16:54oldest first
16:55always full
16:56and you build
16:58a little at a time
16:59a larder that is a year of peace
17:01food put by
17:03that no rising price can touch
17:05wealth you can eat.
17:07So here is what I would ask of you
17:09this week
17:10do not try to lay in
17:12all 30 at once
17:13start with just five
17:15a good store of rice
17:17and beans
17:17and salt
17:18and sugar
17:19and honey
17:19sealed up right
17:20and put by
17:21and begin
17:22and then come back
17:24and tell me in the comments
17:25which five you started with
17:27and what you will add next
17:28for I do love to hear
17:30of a family
17:31building its larder
17:32and tell me too
17:33while you are there
17:34your county
17:35and the age of your house
17:37for the old houses
17:39so often
17:39have the real cellars
17:41and cool pantries
17:42built for just this keeping
17:44and the climates
17:46differ so
17:46in what stores
17:47easily wear
17:48and I learn
17:49from every one of you
17:51how the keeping goes
17:52where you live
17:53and if your own mother
17:55or grandmother
17:56kept a food
17:57that lasted for years
17:58that I have not named
18:00among the 30
18:01tell me that
18:02most of all
18:03for that is how this goes
18:05we share
18:06what we were given
18:07I read every comment
18:10and I learn from you
18:11the way the old women
18:12learn from one another
18:14across the fence line
18:15one pantry
18:17and one season
18:18at a time
18:18next time
18:20I will show you
18:21how to put up
18:21and store the food
18:23you grow
18:23and cook yourself
18:24the canning
18:25and the drying
18:26and the cellaring
18:27that fill a pantry
18:29from your own garden
18:30alongside
18:31these bought staples
18:33so that between
18:34what you buy
18:35to keep
18:35and what you grow
18:36to keep
18:37your larder
18:38is full
18:39the year round
18:39from your own hands
18:41there is a right
18:42and an old way
18:43to provision
18:44a household
18:45that runs on foresight
18:47and good keeping
18:48rather than a daily run
18:50to the store
18:50but this week
18:52you start with the five
18:53you lay in your rice
18:55and beans
18:56and salt
18:56and sugar
18:57and honey
18:58you seal them up dry
18:59and cool
19:00and dark
19:01with a few bay leaves
19:02against the bugs
19:03and you begin
19:04a little at a time
19:06to build your thirty
19:07and you will understand
19:09as my grandmother did
19:10at her own full pantry
19:12that the truest wealth
19:14is not money
19:15but food put by
19:16that a stocked larder
19:18is a kind of piece
19:19no rising price
19:21can trouble
19:21and that the plainest
19:23cheap foods
19:24rightly chosen
19:25and rightly kept
19:26will feed a family
19:28through anything
19:28for years and years
19:30the household kept
19:32the plain old way
19:33is the one
19:34one that remembers
19:34how the old women
19:36built a larder
19:37that was a year of peace
19:39from a little rice
19:40and salt
19:40and honey
19:41and good keeping
19:42and that is a thing
19:43we are only just
19:45starting to remember
19:45remember
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