Real shelf life of prepacked meals

[thewildmanoutdoors]

I've got a stock of canned and dried goods as the bulk of my food storage. However I have recently been using prepacked pre cooked hiking meals while out on camping trips just for convenience. They say they have a 3 year shelf life but I'm pretty sure it could be far higher. The brand I'm using is wayfarer. Does anyone have any experience with this brand or know how long it could realistically be stored?

[Frnc]

Dunno, there may be some advice on the net about freeze dried foods, how to tell if they are off. There are a few sites dedicated to how long food lasts for. I use Fuel Your Preparation as most of theirs are 7 years. But I just have a few in my bugout bag.

[jennyjj01]

I've got a stock of canned and dried goods as the bulk of my food storage. However I have recently been using prepacked pre cooked hiking meals while out on camping trips just for convenience. They say they have a 3 year shelf life but I'm pretty sure it could be far higher. The brand I'm using is wayfarer. Does anyone have any experience with this brand or know how long it could realistically be stored?

No familiarity with that brand, but as a generalisation it depends on how it's preserved.
Cans typically good for 4 years beyond BBE. Might just need a bit of astir and simmer for a while.
Freeze dried probably good for a decade or more if well sealed.
Tubes such as tomato Puree could be a problem, because they often get air in..

[thewildmanoutdoors]

Thank you, the one so have currently are precooked packed prepacked meals. I will switch to freeze dried food

[pseudonym]

Thank you, the one so have currently are precooked packed prepacked meals. I will switch to freeze dried food

I have a mixture of all, each do a job. For long distance/multiple days out the Freeze dried assist with the weight; an overnighter a wet pouch will do.

[grenfell]

No particular experience of the brand either. A site I enjoy visiting is mreinfo.com. They tend to eat a fair few old rations , some good some bad. One guy did an experiment where a case of meals was left outside in all weathers for a year.
https://www.mreinfo.com/forums/viewtopi ... =1&t=12126

[Sneddle]

What are they packaged in?

There's a lot of talk on the net about "freeze dried foods last for 25 years". Which, given optimal conditions, they might do. A thick mylar bag, with an O2 absorber, kept cool will quite possibly last that long, I reckon. Moisture and light won't be a problem inside mylar, but temperature can still rise and fall. Fats can go rancid without oxygen, given heat, but most freeze dried food will have very little fat in it, by design.

I have my long term freeze dried stuff in 7mm mylar, double sealed, with O2 and moisture absorbers in the bag. Some would say it's overkill, I would say it's better to be sure. I'm expecting ten years storage, at least. Short term freeze dried stuff is in vacuum sealed glass jars, again with O2 and moisture absorbers. Glass rather than mylar because it's easier to reuse, which I'll probably be doing with short term stuff. Fatty stuff like some meats gets canned.