Littlesister – Unfortunately, packing your food storage items in Mylar or buckets with an Oxygen absorber does not protect them from the degradation (and resulting severely reduced shelf life) that happens when the food is stored in an area that gets very hot in Summer, or that has temperature swings between hot and cold. So, you should not keep your food storage in your garage (or in a hot attic or outbuilding) unless you have absolutely no other place to put it. I would suggest that you see if you can store other items, such as extra blankets, tools, water filters, bandages, etc., in the garage, and store the food in a temperature-controlled area inside your home if at all possible. Here’s what the Utah State University Extension service says about the effect of high temperatures on food storage shelf life in its excellent article “7 Factors that Prolong Your Food Storage Supply”: “The temperature at which food is stored is very critical to shelf life. United States Department of Agriculture, USDA, states that for every 10.8 degrees in temperature rise you decrease the shelf life of stored food by half. The best range for food storage is a constant temperature between 40-60 degrees. Avoid freezing temperatures.” Here’s a link to that excellent article: https://extension.usu.edu/news_sections/home_family_and_food/foodstorage So, for example, if your food item would normally have a 20 year shef-life if stored at 70 degrees Fahrenheit, that would drop to a 10 year shelf-life if stored at about 80 degrees, and to a 5 year shelf-life if stored at about 90 degrees, etc. I found out, to my dismay, that this article is absolutely correct. I had some pricey freeze-dried food stored in a building on my late parent’s farm for about three years that was usually kept at 70 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. Then, for one year, the electricity to that building was turned off, and the summer temperatures inside rose to 90+ degrees. When I was able to access the building the following year, I re-hydrated and tasted the food to see how it had fared. Sadly, it all tasted like cardboard! I had to toss the whole lot of it. Big waste of money 🙁 I’d hate for you to go through the same thing!
