{"id":504,"date":"2019-10-02T21:37:09","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T03:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pantrypreparedness.com\/?p=504"},"modified":"2023-04-05T15:38:13","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T21:38:13","slug":"is-it-safe-to-store-food-in-the-garage-how-to-make-it-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pantrypreparedness.com\/is-it-safe-to-store-food-in-the-garage-how-to-make-it-safe\/","title":{"rendered":"Storing Food in the Garage\u2014How to Make it Safe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Food storage is essential for preparedness, but a lot of us don’t have big root cellars. Not to mention that few pantries are large enough for long-term food storage. For many of us, that leaves the garage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you safely store food in the garage? Canned food and other shelf-stable food is best stored in cool, dry, dark conditions. If you keep the temperature above freezing and below 85\u00b0F (29.4\u00b0C), keep the humidity low (below 15% if possible), and minimize direct sunlight then your garage is safe for food storage.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So yes, you can use your garage to store food, as long as you can keep it in the right conditions. Let’s look into that a bit further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which Conditions Matter for Food Storage and Why?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Shelf-stable food (canned, dried, etc.) is always given a duration of time that it’s good for. But the duration given is always based on “room temperature” conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, when you buy canned peaches from the grocery store, the expiration date on those peaches assumes that they’ll be stored in your house which you typically keep at a fairly stable temperature. Your house is also often dryer than outside during the hot\/wet months because air conditioning actually dries the air a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, canned food for tropical areas is actually processed differently from canned food for temperate areas, and the expiration dates are set using the assumption that it’ll be stored somewhere warmer and more humid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if you’re preserving your own food, you’re probably basing how long it’s good for off of guidelines you read somewhere. Well, those guidelines make those same assumptions of room temperature, fairly low humidity, and out of direct sunlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what conditions matter?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Temperature<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The USDA states in their Shelf Stable Food Safety Guidelines<\/a> that temperatures over 100\u00b0F are harmful to canned goods and that ideally, you would store canned goods in temperatures below 85\u00b0F (29.4C). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s because higher temperatures cause food to spoil faster. Yes, even sealed canned foods do spoil and how fast they spoil goes up with temperature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other end, temperatures below freezing could cause contents to freeze which can lower the quality of the food inside as it freezes and thaws, and it can reduce the structural integrity of the can causing it to lose its seal or just wear out more quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humidity<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The USDA doesn’t give specific guidelines on what level of humidity constitutes “dry”. They just say to store canned foods and other shelf-stable products in a cool, dry place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food Safety Magazine<\/a> suggests that you should store dry goods in areas with humidity below 15%. But unless you live in a desert (like I do) 15% is going to be difficult to achieve without using a dehumidifier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The USDA guidelines just say to not store food under sinks or in particularly damp basements or garages. If your garage is about as humid as your house, then it’s not going to be any worse than storing your food in a kitchen pantry (at least from a humidity perspective).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humidity is important because moisture contributes to spoiling in dry foods. It also leads to rust on cans which reduces the structural integrity of the cans storing your food. So when it comes to canned foods, it could shorten the life of the can, especially for those dry canned foods that can last up to 30 years. And for other shelf-stable dry foods (not canned) humidity could shorten their life substantially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunlight<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Direct sunlight isn’t good for shelf-stable foods because it can cause lots of good vitamins and nutrients to degrade. Direct sunlight can also cause your food (even canned food) to heat up, even beyond the average temperature of the room where it’s stored. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if you store food in direct sunlight, you may be heating it up a lot more than you think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Make Your Garage Safe for Food Storage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At this point, you may have already determined that your garage is good to go for food storage! But in most cases, temperate (at the very least) is going to be an issue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most garages aren’t temperature-regulated like the rest of the house, and in many cases, they’re not even insulated. So in the winter, it’s possible to reach freezing temperatures, and in the summer it’s possible to reach temperatures well over 100\u00b0F depending on where you live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So let’s talk about how to make your garage safe for food storage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Control Room Temperature<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

First things first, we need to find out if your garage is suitable for food storage.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The best way to do that is to start tracking the temperature in your garage over time. This temperature and humidity monitor<\/a> available on Amazon is inexpensive and will track the temperature and humidity of your garage for you over time so you can see what the highs and lows are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You probably don’t want to wait a year to see how big your temperature swings are before using your garage for food storage. So just try it out for a few weeks. If it’s winter, see how low it goes. If it’s summer, see how high it goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you live in a climate that gets pretty cold and your garage stays above freezing every day during the winter, then your garage is probably going to be okay for temperature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you live in a hot climate and it’s summer, then if your garage temperature doesn’t go much above 85\u00b0 then it’s probably going to be fine year-round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, monitor the temperature. Check in every week or two and see if the temperature is staying in the safe zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it’s not, then we need to start looking at solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are 2 big issues that cause huge temperature swings in your garage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Poor Insulation<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Lack of Temperature Control<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Insulation is tough to fix, especially if your garage has been at all “finished”. But just because you have enclosed walls in your garage doesn’t mean that you can’t insulate them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you want to insulate a finished wall, spray foam insulation could be a good option. This video explains how that works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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