What are non perishable food items

You’ve probably heard people talk about how non-perishable foods are necessary in case of a natural disaster or, more recently, a public health emergency that requires self-quarantine (like the coronavirus). But what exactly are non-perishable foods—and how do you know if you’re prepared with the right ones?

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A well-stocked supply of non-perishable foods is necessary during and after power outages. When your refrigerator stops working, perishable foods (like raw meat and eggs) start spoiling immediately. Consuming these goods after they’ve spoiled can make you extremely sick.

Non-perishable foods are also important if you can’t leave your house for an extended period of time. Medical issues or disabilities might make it difficult to go to the grocery store, or a natural disaster or public health crisis might make quarantine unavoidable.

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• Perishable: Spoil quickly and should be refrigerated ASAP. Cooked foods (leftovers) are perishable. Other perishable foods are meat, poultry, fish, milk, eggs and many raw fruits and vegetables.
• Semi-Perishable: Take longer to spoil and may or may not need immediate refrigeration. Semi-perishable foods include onions and potatoes.
• Non-Perishable: Will last for a while if stored properly, though they may lose quality over time. Examples of non-perishable foods you may have in your pantry are dried beans, canned soups, and spices.

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• Dried and canned beans
• Dried rice
• Dried and canned fruits and veggies
• Canned soup
• Canned meat and fish
• Pasta
• Nuts
• Oatmeal
• Cereal
• Oatmeal
• Peanut butter
• Dried milk
• Crackers
• Boxed juices

• Bottled water
• Ready-to-eat canned goods (fruits, veggies, tuna, etc.)
• Dried fruits and meats
• Protein bars or fruit bars
• Peanut butter
• Boxed or canned juice
• Dry cereal or granola
• Food for infants
• Non-perishable/pasteurized milk
• Comfort/stress foods

• Make sure you have a working can opener.
• To conserve water, avoid foods that will make you thirsty (like potato chips).
• When preparing your emergency situation food supply, consider how many people you’ll need to feed. Will you be by yourself? Or will you need to care for a family of four?
• Choose foods your family doesn’t hate. Canned tuna is no good if your 3-year-old refuses to eat it.
• If a can is dented or swollen, throw it out—even if its contents look safe to eat.
• What if the can looks OK, but the food inside smells or tastes weird? When in doubt, throw it out.
• In the days leading up to an expected natural disaster or an event where lots of people will need to be quarantined, don’t go crazy in the canned goods aisle. Buy what you need, but don’t take so much that other people are left without food.

Wondering the best non perishable food items are to have on hand? Having a well-stocked pantry with non perishable foods means you'll be prepared for anything that comes your way. But how long do all these foods really last? Do non-perishable foods ever expire? We asked the experts.

The various dates on food labels are confusing to consumers, and some argue contribute to food waste because people toss food that may not be at peak quality but is still perfectly safe to eat.

In fact, infant formula is the only product with a federally mandated “use by” date, and it should never be used after that date.

Aside from that, those dates on the label are determined by manufacturers as guidelines to ensure optimum quality:

• Best-By: is the manufacturer’s suggestion for the best quality and flavor. This has nothing to do with safety.
• Use By: the last date recommended by the manufacturer for consumption (other than infant formula, which never should be used past its use-by date)
• Sell By: also nothing to do with safety but an indication to a retailer for how long to display a product
• Freeze By: manufacturer’s suggestion to extend quality past a product’s shelf life

With that in mind, many foods are perfectly safe to consume past these dates as long as they’re stored properly.

“The main question to ask yourself when determining the shelf life of a food is, how susceptible is it to bacterial growth?” says Janilyn Hutchings, CP-FS, a certified food safety expert at StateFoodSafety, a company that develops food-safety certification and training programs for regulatory, restaurant and hospitality clients.

Related: Shelf-Stable Milk Alternatives

“The commercial canning process reduces the number of bacteria to safe levels and seals the food against further bacterial growth,” says Hutchings.

If something is outdated, trust your senses to determine whether it’s safe to eat. Toss anything that just looks bad, with obvious signs of mold, a dark or oily appearance, signs of pest infestation or water damage to the packaging. Discard cans that are dented, swollen, corroded or rusted.

If it looks good, do the sniff test. “One of the biggest issues with non-canned shelf-stable ingredients is that naturally occurring oils found in the product can become rancid over time,” says chef Michele Sidorenkov, R.D., of My Millennial Kitchen.

Any off-putting odor, especially a grassy or paint-like aroma, Hutchings adds, is a sign food has spoiled.

Related: 30 Best Non-Perishable Snacks

12 Non-Perishable Foods That Really Never Expire

These non-perishable foods really do last indefinitely, stored unopened in a cool, dry, dark spot:

1. Baking soda: lasts indefinitely, though it can lose its leavening power over time. To test, combine 2 tsp vinegar and ¼ tsp baking soda. If it bubbles, you’re good to go.
2. Beans and legumes (dried, in general). Note: the older the beans, the longer they’ll need to soak and cook. Including: Black beans Black-eyed peas Cannellini beans (white kidney beans) Garbanzo beans (chickpeas) Great Northern beans Kidney beans Lentils Lima beans Navy beans Pinto beans Soybeans Split peas (dried).
3. Corn syrup.
4. Hard liquor: Exception: cream liqueurs – because of the dairy, heed the label regarding “use by” dates.
5. Honey (raw): natural sugar, high acidity and low moisture ensures this liquid gold lasts forever (archeologists have even unearthed edible honey in ancient Egyptian tombs). But it can crystallize over time. No worries–just set the jar in a pan of warm water to liquify.
6. Maple syrup (pure).
7. Salt: non-iodized salt (like natural sea salt) lasts forever. But even iodized table salt has a pretty long shelf life—five years.
8. Spices (dried): They will lose their aroma and flavor over time but are safe to eat indefinitely.
9. Sugar, including Granulated sugar Powdered sugar Brown sugar.
10. Vinegar, including: apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, distilled vinegar, red wine vinegar, rice vinegar (unseasoned) and white wine vinegar.
11. Vanilla extract (pure).
12. White rice.

93 Non-Perishable Foods That Last a Really Long Time

These foods may not last forever, but they will keep, stored unopened in a cool, dry, dark spot, a couple of years to decades, unless noted otherwise:

1. Almonds: freeze up to two years
2. Apricot jam
3. Avocado oil
4. Barley
5. Biscuit mix
6. Beef jerky (unopened)
7. Bouillon cubes
8. Cake mix
9. Canned artichokes
10. Canned asparagus
11. Canned beans and legumes
12. Canned beets
13. Canned cheese
14. Canned chili
15. Canned chili peppers (including chipotles)
16. Canned corn
17. Canned fish (tuna, salmon, clams, sardines, herring, etc.—unopened)
18. Canned meat (chicken, corned beef, deviled ham, etc.—unopened)
19. Canned mushrooms
20. Canned peas
21. Canned pumpkin
22. Canned roasted peppers
23. Canned spaghetti
24. Canned sauerkraut
25. Canned spinach
26. Canned sweet potatoes
27. Canola oil
28. Capers
29. Cashews: freeze up to 2 years
30. Champagne: vintage stuff will keep 20 years or more. Even less-rarified sparkling wine is good up to four years
31. Chia seeds (whole): four years in the freezer
32. Chicken broth
33. Chocolate (dark)
34. Chocolate syrup (unopened)
35. Cocoa powder (unsweetened)
36. Coconut milk (canned)
37. Coconut oil
38. Coffee (instant): lasts up to 20 years. Freeze unopened ground coffee up to two years and whole beans up to three
39. Cookie dough (purchased or homemade): freeze up to a year
40. Cooking spray
41. Corn (freeze-dried)
42. Cornmeal
43. Crackers
44. Dill pickles
45. Dried fruit
46. Dried chiles
47. Dried mushrooms
48. Energy bars
49. Fish sauce
50. Flour (white, wholewheat): up to two years in the freezer
51. Gelatin mix (like Jell-O)
52. Ghee (Indian-style clarified butter)
53. Grape jelly
54. Grits (instant)
55. Hard candy
56. Hardtack: yep, the bland cracker/biscuit that fueled soldiers, pioneers and seafarers of yore
57. Hot sauce
58. Instant beans
59. Instant dip mix (such as French onion)
60. Instant pudding mix
61. Instant soup
62. Kamut
63. Millet
64. Molasses
65. Macadamia nuts: freeze up to two years
66. Meals Ready to Eat (MREs)
67. Mustard
68. Oatmeal
69. Olive oil
70. Olives (canned)
71. Pancake/waffle mix
72. Pasta (dried)
73. Peanut butter: in a jar (unopened) up to 2 years in the refrigerator. Powdered peanut butter lasts up to 15 years
74. Pecans: freeze up to two years
75. Popcorn (unpopped)
76. Potato flakes (instant potatoes)
77. Powdered eggs
78. Powdered milk
79. Pozole (hominy, dried)
80. Quinoa
81. Ramen noodles (dried)
82. Red wine
83. Rolled oats
84. Sesame seeds (roasted)
85. Soy sauce
86. Spelt
87. Strawberry jelly
88. Tea
89. Tomato paste (in a tube)
90. Vegetable broth
91. Vegetable shortening
92. Wheat (hard red)
93. Wheat (soft white)

Unless you’re a hardcore doomsday prepper, you don’t really need food to sit around for years or even decades. And for that reason, it’s a good idea to check your pantry and freezer stash regularly to use staples approaching their use-by or best-by date (again, for best quality) and replenish with newer fare.

Related: Pro Chefs’ Pantry and Freezer Must-Haves

BONUS: Surprising non-perishable foods you can freeze

These non-perishable foods don’t last forever or even years, but popping them in the freezer can extend their shelf life up to nine months:

• Butter
• Margarine
• Cheese: hard or semi-hard cheese (such as Parmesan, Asiago, Romano, cheddar, Swiss) in a block, shredded or sliced
• Deli meat (prepackaged)
• Tofu (drain the water, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and store in heavy-duty freezer bag)
• Tortillas (flour, corn, homemade or store-bought)

What Are the Best Ways to Store Food?

Moisture, light, heat and air all encourage bacteria to grow, which is why you typically see directions to store food in an airtight container in a cool, dry, dark spot. Yup, like your great-memaw’s old-school root cellar.

“The worst place you can keep shelf-stable food items is under a sink, in a cabinet near the stove or in the garage because these places are more susceptible to moisture and temperature changes,” Sidorenkov warns.

Freezing is another option, says Hutchings. It stops bacterial growth, and frozen food is technically safe to eat forever. “The bigger question about frozen food is not if it’s safe, but whether it still tastes good,” she notes. "The longer food is frozen, the more its quality goes downhill.”

While refrigeration certainly slows down bacterial growth to extend the shelf-life of food, it’s not an option for long-term storage.

Also, consider the moisture inherent in a product—the less it has, the longer it will last. For example, unopened canned beans can last up to five years, but dried beans are safe to eat for decades.

Next, best shortening substitutes.