During my recent move, I was drawing down some stocked items.  One of the things we decided to consume and restock post move, was a bunch of Spam that I had acquired from 2011 to 2014.  My wife, who rarely allows me in the kitchen, had never taken an interest in the preps I had stocked, so the Spam didn’t rotate.  This gave us a nice test of how well Spam stayed on a shelf in long term storage.

The Spam had been stored in our basement, which was temperature controlled, so it wasn’t subjected to years of wild temperature fluctuations, but it had been sitting on the shelf for 5 to 8 years.  Our basement in that house was also dry.  There was no point in moving the Spam rather than using it and replacing it after the move.

If you are getting to where you have a decent inventory of food, you might want to sample things that you bought to see if they are what you expected.  We also are rebuilding our “deep pantry”.

Source: Testing Old Storage Food – Beans, Bullets, Bandages & You

One authors’ experience with a variety of long term storage foods. If you’re going to be ready for the long term, one important thing is to rotate and test your foodstuffs regularly.