I'm thinking specifically of boxed cous cous and Idahoan mashed potatoes repackaged in freezer bags.

How long should they stay good assuming a good seal on the bags?

I'm thinking a while, but have no clue.

For best taste use up in a couple months - especially if you have dry milk in them.

On the other hand....one of my friends found some meals she had forgotten about and ate them. They were a year old and she said they tasted fine ;-)

One thing to consider....often we leave boxes of couscous and potatoes not so tightly sealed in our cupboards. They are pretty hardy items :-)

PS: If you have added dried or freeze dried meat to any of the meals, don't let those sit around - keep them in the freezer till trip time. That is why I don't add the meat in till I am out there - I know everything is fresh that way.

Hey Sarah,
what about home made dehydrated fruits and veggies? How long will they normally last? Thank you for the feedback.

On home dried stuff:
Rice and pasta are bone dry so you can get a good year out of them.
As for fruits and veggies - it depends on the moisture left behind. If you got them good and dry you have a year if kept tightly sealed and in a cool dark area (the cupboard). If you like stickier fruit (flexible) a couple months - or stash in the frig or freezer for longer storage.

When I was growing up I would dry strawberries for weeks on end - some years we ate them for 2 years time. I always dried them till very dry so we never had a mold issue. (And if a fruit/berry/veggie turns it is pretty noticeable - the smell is very recognizable - sour - and you would see fuzzy mold).

Sarah, a couple of weeks ago I had some oatmeal using your coconut oatmeal recipe, with just the powdered coconut milk, and spices.
It was only about 4 months. When I ate it, it had a weird flavor to it, I wondered if the water was to hot and it reacted to the plastic, but I prepared it the same way as usual. My thought was the coconut powder went rancid.
Do you have any other ideas?

Edited by bestbuilder on 02/11/2009 14:41:14 MST.

That it was the coconut cream powder. It has a very high fat ratio. It might have been more stale than rancid though. I try to use my packets up fast when I open them (I buy the 1.76 to 2-ounce packets).

Usually a serving of CCP is 9 grams of fat (hence why it is so good for hiking!)

I just replace all of mine.

I didn't have much left and it was stored in an air tight jar, but it developed a "funny" smell. Out it goes!

"When in doubt... Throw it out..."