Does anyone in the Latter Day Saints Society or anyone else know how long evaporated milk can be safely stored?

I know once the can starts bulging, it is time do ditch it, but can it go bad otherwise?

Bountyhunter

Not in the LDS, but...

12 months from date of purchase, invert can every other month to prevent separation.

I have kept and used evap. milk that I have had stored for 48 months. Buy the name brand milk though. The name brand milk has a lined can so that the lactic acid in the milk won't corrode, rust the inside of the can, or cause the milk to go bad due to a chemical reactionwith the metal can.

I am LDS and do not know I shall find out though. You might try powdered milk in cans. Beprepared.com has it and might know.

Lee

Leeman:

Have not found a powdered milk yet that looks or tastes like nothing more than white colored water.

The nuetrients in the powdered milk may be helpful, but everything I have mixed to date sucks, even when I double up the mixing percentage.

I like evaporated milk better than anything I have found in powdered form.

Bountyhunter

powdered milk supposedly has a shelf life of only six months.

All the info I am posting on this subject comes from a university study, will post link if anyone's interested.

bh,
have you tried this one from REI? My wife loves it:

Milkman Instant Lowfat Dry Milk

Dry milk is supposed to be good for two years if refrigerated.

It's better for cooking than for drinking.

Sue

Goatrider:

I have a strong aversion for anything that says; low fat, no fat, diet, light, reduced calorie, no sugar, artificially sweetened, lean, meat free, recommended by (Insert weight loss doctor or group.), burns calories while you sleep, or "Sure I'll come to your apartment tonight, my psycho husband who can beat you into a puddle will never find out".

Bountyhunter <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Billy Guttery:

I believe they seal those bags of powdered milk with whatever air is in the processing plant,

I wonder if the same limitations would apply if you soaked the powder with an inert gas and then evacuated it with a vacum pump before sealing it in a heavier plastic bag?

Bountyhunter

Interesting that you brought it up....from personal experience:
I use nitrogen saturation followed by high vacuum to seal cleaned parts at work (medical repair at a hospital). Normally these parts tarnish by the end of the day...I have parts that are ten years old that look like they are chromed.

Supposedly grain (wheat, popcorn, etc) sealed with this technique will last as long as the packaging. Removing the oxygen prior to vacuum sealing takes away anything the food might react to (oxidize/"rust"). Only caveat would be the amount of vacuum your pump could reach--ideal would be thirty inches of mecury (think the vacuum of space); I use an expensive two stage pump that gets past twenty nine inches. Most home machines, I fear (with no evidence to back this up) would probably only get 15 or so inches.

Then there's this:
http://www.viworld.net/pumpnseal/index.htm

Billy Guttery:

I am a certified HVAC-R technician and although I have not been active for years because of my knees, I still have all my equipment which includes a 2-stage vacumn pump and a refrigerant recovery unit.

These items by themselves should remove sufficient air and water vapor so that inert gas is not even necessary. I mention the inert gas specifically for people with home type vacumn units.

Carbon dioxide in dry ice form is recommended on a web site dealing with long term storage of powder and grain foods in sealed containers.

That site recommends putting dry ice at the bottom of cans or plastic containers and hand agitating the contents occaisionally so that the air is expelled as the dry ice goes directly to a gaseous state. Since carbon dioxide is heavier than air, the air will tend to be displaced and flow over the top of the container. They recommend that when you see the dry ice practically gone, you lay a sealing type cover on it loosely so that air movement does not allow the air to work its way back into the container. When you feel the dry ice has evaporated, screw down the lid.

I have heard of wheat and corn in Pharoahs tombs being made into edible bread and the corn sprouting when planted which leads me to suspect that it is moisture in the air that does the most damage and not the air itself.

Bountyhunter

Found a site, "Colorado State University Cooperative Extension" that indicates a 12 month storage time for canned milk, and a 24 month storage time for powdered milk at "room" temperature.

While I doubt the powdered milk, properly packaged would come to harm at most freeze-thaw temperature cycles, canned milk would have to be protected from freeze-thaw temperature differences.

Bountyhunter