Our pantry is packed to the hilt, we have food stashed everywhere…. yet with the famine in route we still need more. We have an empty single door commercial fridge in the pole building. I figure we could get 300 16oz cans or better in it.
My thoughts are to set the fridge high (like 60F) and load it down with canned food for long term storage. This would add a nice 90 days to our supply cheaply.
In Ohio, temps in pole barn range -10 to 110.
Thoughts?
Best Answer
If you're talking about commercially canned food, like from the supermarket, then at 60°F [15°C] You've pretty much got until the cans rust.
Practically, no limit. Sensibly, 2 - 5 years.
'Best Before' dates on cans in the UK are typically between 1 & 2 years - but 'best before' is only a guide as to how 'like new' the product will be, with full flavour & texture as designed. It is not a guide as to when it would become unsafe.
I can't think in Fahrenheit, so I hadn't realised how much of a swing -10 to 110 actually is, so the next part doesn't really work anymore, until you get to 'bury it underground'.
I don't think even small temperature fluctuations would affect shelf-life, but as you can control it, I would do, just to be doubly-certain… although if 90 days is going to be your top limit, then I'd probably not even power up the fridge, just keep the door shut. If you think internal temperatures may still exceed the USDA's limits, invest in a high/low [max/min] thermometer.
From comments - if this really is some kind of 'survivalist' thing, then forget the power & bury it deep enough that temperature fluctuations will no longer affect it critically. [I'm only half joking there; if there's no food, what makes you think there's going to be power… once your generator runs dry].
From Wikipedia - Shelf Life
Anecdotally, I once opened a can of condensed milk which we estimated had been forgotten in a cupboard at nominally 15-20°C for twenty years. It had solidified to a kind of jelly with huge sugar crystals in it, but smelled just fine & was still roughly the right colour. No, we didn't try eating it to see.
Late Edit:
Since the subject cropped up of fridges condensing & potentially corroding the cans, or additionally keeping the correct temperature at an ambient temperature below that it is supposed to be internally, I decided to look into this.
No fridge is good from -10 to 110°F [-23°C to 43°C]
No fridge is good below the temperature it is supposed to be keeping.
Fridges have Climate Classes, temperature ranges they can operate in.
That's it. That's all there is.
Fridges are designed to be used "indoors" in already climate-controlled conditions, not in the garage nor out in a shed exposed to massive temperature fluctuations.
You might depend on its insulation to hold off a few hours of the extreme at the sun's zenith, or a sharp frost overnight, but you are going to have to put it underground to prevent that massive heat swing from having a seriously deleterious effect long-term.