Freezing rations

[ladycplum78]

We've got a nice supply at home, and we live in Louisiana, which is fairly well-known for its humidity and damp weather. They're all well within date, but do you guys think it would be a good idea to freeze them, maybe to help keep them longer in case a SERIOUS emergency pops up?

[WorkmanMRE]

(From what Ive heard through this sight,) The problem with freezing is Ice crystals and damaging the bags the food is held in by sudden movement. The dropping or slamming of the frozen case would fracture or shatter some wet, now frozen, retort pouches. If frozen best not moved. Id say as cool as possible and a dry, say 40-50 deg, would be ideal. I keep mine in a basement near the ventilation unit near a cool concrete wall. Always around 55 deg down there, and dry from the ventilation.

Good luck and hope that helped a bit

[Cortexmelon]

Its been proven that long term storage in the freezer makes them basically a 20 or more year item. Defintely recommend storing in a well contained spot, so it doesnt get smashed or crushed or anything like that though.

[parafireboy]

You can, as long as they don't get jostled around. Like WorkmanMRE said though, storing it in a cool, dry, temperature-stable environment will exponentially increase shelf life. They don't necessarily have to be frozen, My rations are all kept at around 60 and have kept very well, even the foreign ones with much shorter posted shelf lives have stayed fresh for much longer.

[Dekard]

if you're handy - you could probably build your own walk-in cooler on the cheap with a few components like this:

• https://www.storeitcold.com/product/coolbot-pro/

• https://www.homedepot.com/p/SmartBlock- ... /203012853

• https://www.homedepot.com/p/Weyerhaeuse ... 094322-_-N

• https://www.homedepot.com/p/SilveRboard ... /205975329

• https://www.ebay.com/itm/Myra-Walk-in-C ... 2296678705

this type of cold box with styrofoam + concrete and a simple home AC hooked to a controller would be a great game and MRE storage cooler.

just a thought!