If you want to prepare your own dehydrated fruits, vegetables and other treats, look into purchasing Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers. By rotating your food, you can make sure youвЂ™re eating what expires first while maintaining a stocked pantry that can last you for several years. One more tip is to rotate your food as you eat it. ItвЂ™s recommended that shelf stable food be stored in the home rather than the garage because the garage typically has greater temperature fluctuations.

Typically this is in a pantry or basement where temperatures remain stable year-long.

The simplest way to extend the life of your food is to keep it away from light, heat, moisture and oxygen. Some products can have a longer shelf life if theyвЂ™re stored in the refrigerator or freezer but they risk losing flavor or nutritional value. Most likely, the shelf life of those products will be significantly less than a product which contains less moisture. There are products that itвЂ™s nearly impossible to do this because theyвЂ™re very water dense. The best advice I have heard for food preservations is to create an environment that is inhospitable to bacteria by removing the presence of oxygen and moisture. Having long-term food stored at home will also benefit us in short and long-term emergencies.ДonвЂ™t wait for your local grocery store to look like this: Water and food are our lifelines and we must have plenty of provisions to cover our future needs, not just tomorrowвЂ™s. It's crazy to say the least.Д¬onsidering the instability of world economies, itвЂ™s important to be prepared for whatever may come. If youвЂ™ve observed the news, you may have noticed that shopping around the time that evacuation orders are set in place is almost as bad as shopping during Black Friday. This is a prime example of stores charging outrageous prices for otherwise cheap items during Hurricane Harvey. In fact, there is a pattern of food shortages and inflation during every major natural disaster. Countries in extreme poverty deal with this constantly whether theyвЂ™re involved in a war or not.ДЄlthough our country parades abundance in every store front, it doesnвЂ™t mean that we are exempt from a food shortage at some point in our future. During the Great Depression in the United States, people had to count every penny, nickel and dime to see whether or not they could afford to eat. During WW2, there was a major lack of food all across Europe. The depletion of food and provisions is a recurring thing in history and has been experienced around the world too many times. This statistic is inconceivable considering Venezuela was one of the richest countries in South America not too long ago. A recent report determined the average person has lost 24 lbs over the last year and about 90% of the population currently lives in poverty. A couple of its many problems include the lack of food provisions and huge inflation prices. ItвЂ™s overwhelming, honestly, especially if youвЂ™ve seen scarcity in countries who have never experienced such abundance.Д¬an you envision going to the grocery store and finding aisles and aisles of empty shelves? Venezuela at this moment is facing a major nationwide crisis. Walk into any Costco, Walmart or local store and youвЂ™ll notice the shelves are practically overflowing with stuffвЂ¦all kinds of stuff! Oftentimes multiple brands offer different varieties of the same type of item.

In a prosperous country like the United States, itвЂ™s difficult to imagine what вЂњlackвЂќ looks like.

The long dark food