How to Store Flour So It Lasts Over 10 Years

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

If you’ve ever opened up a bag of flour to find bugs crawling around in it or smelled a rancid odor, you may wonder how this food item makes it onto most survival pantry lists. The answer all comes down to proper storage methods.

A versatile and affordable staple, flour can go bad in as little as six months on your kitchen shelf. As with many foods, the major culprits are moisture, oxygen, and insects. However, with attention to a few details, it can remain shelf-stable for a decade or more. This article provides an overview of what you need to know to store flour for the long term.

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1. Freeze the flour

Your first step for extending the shelf life of your flour is to freeze it. Placing the bag of flour in the freezer for three to five days will kill any insect eggs and larvae that may not be visible to the naked eye. (The freezer will work for longer-term storage, but it won’t do much good in a power outage.)

2. Return to room temperature

After this period, bring the flour to room temperature before readying it for storage in a different container. For short-term storage of up to a year, you can pour the flour into glass jars with tight-fitting lids.

For longer-term storage, the preferred method is to place the flour in Mylar bags inside food-grade plastic buckets.

3. Place in Mylar bags

After bringing the flour back to room temperature from the freezer, pour it into Mylar bags and then seal the bags. One-gallon bags work well for storing flour.

Mylar bags like these are made from a strong, metal-like material that is impervious to light, oxygen, and moisture.

4. Add oxygen absorbers

For extra protection, add oxygen absorbers to the bag before sealing. Without oxygen, insects cannot survive in the four.

5. Seal the bags

You’ll find that different preppers have their own preferences for sealing their Mylar bags. Here are the options.

• clothes iron on a high setting that is not the steam setting
• hair straightener on its high setting
• clamshell heat sealer
• vacuum sealer

With the first three options, gently squeeze out air or any dust particles before beginning the sealing process. Then start heating the seal at the middle of the bag and work your way outwards.

If you’re using an impulse or vacuum sealer, try angling the bag so that one corner remains unsealed. Then, squeeze out any remaining air through that corner before completing the seal.

6. Place bags of flour in plastic buckets

Although the Mylar bags on their own offer good protection, you can go one step further. Placing the sealed bags inside a food-grade lidded bucket offers the best protection for long-term storage.

You may be able to used food-grade buckets from restaurants or food manufacturers for free or at a reduced price. Just make sure they are labeled as food-grade before using them. Or, you can purchase five-gallon food-grade buckets with tight-fitting lids like these.

With this system, you can take out flour one bag at a time without disturbing the rest of your supply.

7. Store the lidded buckets

The best place to store your buckets is a cool, dark location inside your home. A basement or inside a closet can work well. Here are some factors to keep in mind.

• In a temperature range of 40 to 70 degrees
• On a shelf off the floor and away from the wall
• Away from sunlight from windows or other light sources
• Away from heat sources, such as a furnace or heat vent

8. Rotate your flour supply

The best way to make sure your flour is of optimal quality is to use the first-in-first-out food rotation method. Although flour and other dry goods you prepare for long-term storage will remain edible, they will lose some of their taste and nutritional value over the years.

Check out this study of bread baked with 18-year-old and 28-year-old stored white flour for more information.

Q and A on flour storage

Why does flour go bad?

The obstacles to successful long-term flour storage are the following:

• Insects. Often called flour worms, pantry weevils, or wheat bugs, tiny beetles can invade flour that is stored in their original paper packaging. Larvae and weevils can be in the packaging, as well as adult bugs. Freezing the flour will kill these pests.
• Moisture. When the flour is exposed to humidity or other forms of moisture, mold and fungus can form in the flour. Also, avoid exposing the flour to extreme temperatures.
• Oxidation. Exposure to oxygen can cause the flour’s nutrients to break down.

How can you tell if flour has gone bad?

Trust your senses when it comes to spoiled food. Here are the signs of flour that has gone bad.

• The presence of mold or lumps
• Evidence of insects, such as brown rice-like weevils
• Inconsistent color or yellow or gray color
• Sour, stale, musty odor (Fresh flour should have no smell or a mild, nutty smell.)

What happens if you eat spoiled flour?

In most cases, consuming spoiled flour will not make you sick. It will just affect the taste of the food you make with it. However, extremely spoiled flour may contain large quantities of toxic compounds called mycotoxins.

The good news is that flour containing mycotoxins will have an obviously “off” smell.

Here are some more tips for successful long-term flour storage.

• If you are storing flour at different intervals, label your Mylar bags with storage dates.
• Keep flour away from other foods with strong odors. Flour tends to absorb odors.
• The information in this article is primarily geared toward all-purpose flour. Different types of flour have different levels of oil content, meaning they may spoil at a faster rate.

And finally, here are a few links to videos that demonstrate how to store flour in your survival pantry.

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