# What foodstuff has the longest shelf-life? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 20, 2012, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foodstuff-has-the-longest-shelf-life/616280 "2012-03-20T04:42:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foodstuff-has-the-longest-shelf-life/616280/21 "2012-03-20T15:50:22Z")
Actually Twinkies have a fairly short shelf life. > **[Twinkies Shelf Life](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/forever-twinkies/)** > > Do Hostess Twinkies have an indefinite shelf life? Less than a Month. Which isn’t bad for a baked snak food, but it’s hardly survival food. Incidentally, around this time of year, you can often buy matzo bread below cost. If you keep the pantry moths out of it, it doesn’t go bad for a very long time. Along with some sealed peanut butter, and of course lots of water, it can make a decent basis for your two weeks of disaster rations. I like to add some canned pineapple or other fruit. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foodstuff-has-the-longest-shelf-life/616280/22 "2012-03-20T16:47:23Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > For the non-subscribers, what does it say about honey? It’s shelf stable in any climate, even if it crystallizes or freezes, or stays warm. Honey has my vote. Sorry, I’m not a subscriber either - I’m just going from memory. [This site, however,](http://urbansurvivalsite.com/foods-that-last-forever/) does advocate honey as a very long-lasting food. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foodstuff-has-the-longest-shelf-life/616280/23 "2012-03-20T19:07:26Z")
Grains. Ya gotta keep them in the Great Pyramids, though. Supposedly, grains found buried with some Pharoah for 2000+ years still sprouted in recent times. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foodstuff-has-the-longest-shelf-life/616280/24 "2012-03-20T19:16:26Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > I was - first line of the OP: “Assuming it’s being kept in an ideal environment…” (whatever the ideal environment for that particular thing would be). For some given level of “ideal”, I would think you could come up with a whole list of foods that would last indefinitely. ---
**Author:** ![eldowan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@eldowan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eldowan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foodstuff-has-the-longest-shelf-life/616280/25 "2012-03-20T19:32:08Z")
From memory, honey from ancient Egypt is still a viable food stuff. Something with the ph level inhibition.g bacterial growth. My vote: water in a sealed non degrading container. Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foodstuff-has-the-longest-shelf-life/616280/26 "2012-03-20T20:02:07Z")
> [@JBDivmstr](#): > > I think there are some Doper nutritionists, perhaps one of them may have more to offer on the subject of how long one could survive on a diet consisting solely of honey. [According to legend, if you eat only honey long enough, _you’ll_ become a foodstuff.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellified_man) (I mean, not that you aren’t one already; you’ll be a _different_ foodstuff.) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foodstuff-has-the-longest-shelf-life/616280/27 "2012-03-20T21:08:51Z")
Sugar, in a dry environment, would surely keep a long time. As others have said, though, an awful lot depends on storage. If you have a truly airtight container, lots of foods will keep a long time without spoiling. I reckon Marmite would also keep a long time. Some would argue that it couldn’t get any worse, at any rate. 🙂 (I’m not one of them, BTW) ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foodstuff-has-the-longest-shelf-life/616280/28 "2012-03-20T21:52:47Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > ]I was - first line of the OP: “Assuming it’s being kept in an ideal environment…” (whatever the ideal environment for that particular thing would be). In that case 99.99% of all food have an infinite shelf life. None will last any longer than the others under ideal conditions. The only exceptions are those tiny proportions of foods that have ingredients that will chemically react and cause the food to spoil at temperatures of 4oK. Even then, the process would take hundreds of thousands of years. So any food will last hundreds of thousands of years under your “ideal conditions”. Most foods will last longer than the Earth has existed, which is as close to forever as makes no difference. There just isn’t enough energy in a typical food sample stored at 4oK to allow it to decay at a rate that will render it inedible in less than a few billion years. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foodstuff-has-the-longest-shelf-life/616280/29 "2012-03-20T23:31:42Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > I’m guessing honey. It’s been found in Egyptian tombs, apparently still edible after a couple of millennia. I’d find the stories, but it’s a PITA from my phone… Yep! ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foodstuff-has-the-longest-shelf-life/616280/30 "2012-03-21T00:40:18Z")
The company that makes Twinkies just went out of business. So start your experiments now if you’re late to the party. Isn’t there some repository of DNA, seeds, I have no idea what else, in the Arctic for post-apocalypse regeneration? ---
**Author:** ![Woodenspoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bc79bd/32.png) [@Woodenspoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Woodenspoon)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foodstuff-has-the-longest-shelf-life/616280/31 "2012-03-21T01:24:39Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > Tweenkies. They probably last longer than paper. I have a pet twinkie, its been dehydrated for years at this point, but yea its held its shape, the dust on the wrapper is kinda gross though. how about grains like rice..can a bone dry grain actually rot? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foodstuff-has-the-longest-shelf-life/616280.md?page=1)