Processing methods: Not all food processing is the same. Wet-packed (canned foods) are intended for a shorter shelf life then storable foods. These foods are prepared with ingredients that can degrade their quality and shelf life. Many of these foods contain acids that will effect their taste, texture, and the packing longevity. This is generally not a problem because they are intended to be consumed before their expiration date which is 2 - 5 years on average. After that, they are pulled from the supermarket shelves and either tossed out (according to their expiry dates) or found at dollar stores, but if they expire, they have to be thrown away.

Packaging type: None of the supermarket foods provide long-term packaging. Paper boxes, plastic bags, cellophane wrappings and even frozen food in plastic will all leak oxygen through pin holes, poor sealing, poor wrapping or osmosis penetrating through these packages. Even canned food has a packaging problem using cans not designed for long-term storage. After several years, the packaging will degrade on boxes, plastic bags, cellophane and even can liners. This is why these foods have an expiration date. You're supposed to consume these foods before they get stale.

Canned wet-pack food will last a few years at best (2 - 5 years, please review Still Tasty for the actual facts on wet-pack food shelf life), but much beyond that it would be extremely risky to dare eat it. Nobody is going to be eating decades old canned food as shown in the movies. Real food storage supplies have a far longer shelf life.

Storage: Supermarket food requires constant rotation as a food storage method. This isn't a problem - if you do it. First-In-First-Out (FIFO) to keep your pantry food storage fresh. But these foods are bulky, heavy and require constant management (eat it!), otherwise they begin to stale and expire. Not a problem and we're not suggesting you don't do this (you should) but this isn't a long-term solution for food storage.

Consider: What happens when the supermarket runs empty? Now what? You've eaten your store-bought food storage supplies and then? You'll be fine for a while if the supermarkets don't stay empty and hopefully, they won't. You'll need plenty of space to keep more then a few months on hand, and rotate, rotate your stocks you must remember to constantly resupply what you've eaten or tossed out.

At best, the supermarket method is a short-term food storage strategy, but it's definitely not a long-term food storage strategy. It's definitely better then nothing and we recommend doing it - but understand the limitations and requirements.

This is definitely doable if the supermarket food supply is still available and you are willing to keep at it. But lots of people don't follow through with this and wind up tossing out expired food. We hear about this issue all of the time.

Supermarket food must be constantly replenished due to consumption or expiration. Head back to the supermarket and get some more, paying the current price. Sounds easy enough, but prices generally keep going up and up. Food storage that actually last several decades means you paid those prices long ago which is a far better investment. If saving money is what you're after and not having to constantly rotate and replenish, buy real food storage supplies designed to last a long time. Real food storage supplies can be stored away and forgotten about without the need for constant rotation - but if you do eat a substantial quantity of these supplies, we do suggest you replace it eventually so you still have enough for long emergencies.

In effect, real food storage requires a lot less management, it also takes up a lot less space and is much more concentrated then the food found in a supermarket which uses enormous quantities of wasteful packaging.

This is a myth, promoted by almost everyone and it's just garbage. Remember mom & dad tossing out expired food? There's a reason, it's actually not safe to eat because it was not processed or packaged for long-term storage. Store bought "supermarket" food is not designed to last decades. Not even close.

Can you eat expired cans of food? People do it - but we don't advise it. You're risking your health and even your life. Hollywood movies pretend that people are going to be doing this in the apocalypse or some catastrophic event but what they don't show you is the effects this will have if you get sick. Supposedly, the survivors are healthy and energetic enough to scrounge food supplies for abandoned homes and stores, surviving on what they find. That's definitely not going to happen as these food supplies will have long been consumed, spoiled or horded away. Whatever exists in such a scenario will be gone.

The United States depends on a just-in-time nationwide food delivery system that produces, processes and delivers food nationwide on a near-perfectly timed schedule. That system contains less then a 3-month supply of food in warehouses and distribution centers. That's a very big deal for anyone concerned about the nation's food supply capabilities. This means that if the system breaks down, the food runs out rapidly (even if it could be delivered). Virtually everyone in this country except a very few is entirely dependent upon this food supply and system to always function. Sometimes it doesn't.

Take the time to read Food Security is National Security for an eye-opening reality of how unprepared we are. The reality is we are all on our own if the food supply and system breaks down for very long. In any emergency or event, the supermarkets are stripped bare in a matter of hours, we've all seen it before. If they can resupply, we get through those emergencies, but it they can't - everyone is in serious trouble. If the emergency lasts longer then a few months - starvation will result. This is no joke.

Very few people grow their own food, and even fewer grow enough of their own food to meet yearly nutritional needs. This skill takes significant time to develop (years), and requires constant time and attention, and then you must still process the food grown into food storage before it spoils (canning, drying, packaging, cold storage). The reality is very few people actually do this and pretending that your panty with a 3-month supply of food will give you the time necessary to start growing your own is dead wrong. You'd be long dead before the first crops came to harvest. Even the season when things go south matters - you can't plant sufficient food crops in winter or even fall. Then you must wait months before you can eat any harvest.

This timing issue of just-in-time food deliveries, how food is grown and how long it actually takes and the processing requirements of growing your own food is a HUGE issue. We know that this is NOT going to work out for most people who lack time, skills, land, resources, protection from pests, predators and other humans. Starvation and hunger would be rampant as competition for food would be extreme.

If you haven't planned for your own food storage - you have adopted a plan of failure. It's that simple.

It's strange to us how little consideration is given to this topic. This was well-known knowledge by our parents and their parents, going backwards in time. Don't eat contaminated food, you will either get sick and survive, or you could even die. Food must be processed in a safe-manner, then properly stored and then eaten before it becomes unsafe to eat. This was taken for granted because everyone knew this and was taught this from a young age. Don't eat spoiled food.

Nowadays, we just toss out expired food because it's easy to replace it. But that practice would change drastically if there was no more food resupply. Everyone would horde what they had, eat what they could and then they'd eat what they probably shouldn't. This would happen fairly quickly as the 3-month national food stocks dwindled quite rapidly. In a grid-down or other national emergency, whatever food stocks were around would swiftly be consumed. Farmers would have a terrible time trying to provide anything. If you were lucky enough to live near a food source, it would be overwhelmed with demand. After the easily obtained supermarket food was consumed or horded - expired food would be eaten next. That's a risk that needs to be addressed.

Food poisoning from botulism, Salmonella or E. coli. is real and it kills a fair number of people every year. It would be far worse if the food supply dried up as people attempted to eat whatever they could find (even their own food storage). You can survive this, but you can also die from this. The better solution is quite simple - don't risk it. Eat food that is safe. Even fresh food carries this risk of course, so knowing and understanding if your food is safe, prepared and handled correctly and stored properly matters.

Right now, what we buy from the store meets these criteria almost all of the time. But when the food runs out - this will all change and not for the better. You will need a safe food supply and the only way to do that is to store your own food and learn how to grow your own and process it correctly and safely.

All food must be considered for it's safety and risk of any contamination - that's just a fact of life. We take this for granted because manufacturers and food suppliers do this for us. But nobody should take this for granted, especially when any kind of emergency or event takes place. The responsibility to ensure that you actually have food, and that it is safe to eat, falls on you.