How to Survive Off the Grid

Good To Know: What It Is & How Long It Lasts

Does an unopened bottle of ketchup last longer than a jar of fruity jam? Assuming that you've stored your food in a cool, dry, dark place, it should last for its maximum shelf life under these ideal conditions. Here are some relative durations of common foodstuffs.

Chocolate chips, semi-sweet: 2 years
Cocoa: 1 year
Honey: indefinitely
Nuts, shelled: 4 months
Olive oil: 6 months
Dry spices: 2-3 years
Cereal (unopened): 6-12 months
Dried fruit (raisins, apricots, etc.): 6-12 months
Jerky, commercial packaged: 12 months
Cookies, packaged: 2 months
Crackers: 8 months
Rice, brown: 6 months
Hot sauce: 5 years unopened
Jam: 2 years

Tim MacWelch has been an active practitioner of survival and outdoor skills for over 26 years. His love of the outdoors started at a young age, growing up on a farm in the rolling hills of Virginia. Eating wild berries, fishing, and learning about the animals of the forest were all part country life. Tim became interested in survival skills and woodcraft as an offshoot of backpacking as a teen-out in remote areas, it seemed like a smart plan to learn some skills. The majority of his training over the years has involved testing survival skills and devising new ones, but the biggest leaps forward occurred as a result of teaching. Tim's teaching experiences over the years have been rich and diverse, from spending hundreds of hours volunteering to founding his own year-round survival school 18 years ago. He has worked with Boy Scouts, youth groups, summer camps, and adults in all walks of life, as well as providing outdoor skills training for numerous personnel in law enforcement, search and rescue organizations, all branches of the United States Armed Forces, the State Department, and the Department of Justice and some of its agencies. Tim and his wilderness school have been featured on Good Morning America and several National Geographic programs, and featured in many publications including Conde Nast Traveler , the Washington Post, and American Survival Guide . Tim has written hundreds of pieces for Outdoor Life and many other publications. Tim's current and past articles can be found at survival.outdoorlife.com and you can learn more about his survival school at www.advancedsurvivaltraining.com.