How to Keep Salt Fresh Forever: A Prepper's Guide to Storage
How to Keep Salt Fresh Forever: A Prepper's Guide to Storage
Simple steps to ensure your salt stack is always ready
Article at a Glance:
Essential for everyday cooking and seasoning.
Difficult to obtain or produce in a SHTF (survival) situation.
Extremely long shelf life with proper storage in airtight containers.
Save money by buying in bulk, especially during sales.
Crucial for food preservation methods (curing, pickling, canning).
Valuable as a barter item in times of scarcity.
Keep Your Salt Fresh Forever: Essential Storage Tips
Salt is a kitchen staple we often take for granted. But did you know, that with the right storage, this essential mineral can truly last forever? Preserving the quality and usability of your salt is crucial, whether you're a seasoned prepper or simply want to avoid those annoying clumps in your shaker. Here's how to ensure your salt stays fresh and functional for years to come.
Why Does Salt Spoil?
Salt itself has been around for millions of years and doesn't go bad in the traditional sense. It's the impurities and how we store salt that pose a problem:
Moisture: Salt is hygroscopic, meaning it loves to absorb moisture. This leads to clumping, changes in texture, and even the potential for mold growth in extreme cases.
Additives: Iodized table salt contains iodine, which degrades over time, losing its intended health benefits.
Contaminants: If open salt containers are exposed to strong odors or debris, it can affect the taste and quality.
The Keys to Eternal Salt
Choose the Right Salt: While all salt types have an impressive shelf life, for the longest storage, opt for pure salts without additives. Kosher salt and standard sea salt are excellent choices.
Airtight is Everything: Invest in quality airtight containers. Mason jars, heavy-duty food-grade plastic containers, or even vacuum-sealed bags are great options. Avoid those flimsy cardboard salt boxes!
Location Matters: Store your salt in a cool, dry, and dark location. Cupboards away from the stove and dishwasher are ideal.
Additional Tips
Rice to the Rescue: A few grains of uncooked rice in your salt shaker can help absorb excess moisture.
Smaller is Better: For everyday use, keep a small amount in your shaker and refill from your larger storage container to minimize exposure to air.
Revive Clumpy Salt: If your salt clumps up, don't despair! Spread it on a baking sheet and bake at a low temperature to remove moisture.
Special Considerations
Bulk Purchases: If buying in bulk, divide your salt into smaller, more manageable containers for easier storage. For instance, consider dividing a 25 lb bag of salt into 1-gallon mylar containers or several airtight jars.
Avoid Metal Lids: Glass jars are excellent for storing salt, but it's crucial to avoid metal lids because they can rust over time, contaminating the salt and potentially leading to an unappetizing metallic flavor.
Skip the Oxygen Absorbers: While oxygen absorbers are beneficial for maximizing the lifespan of most foods stored in Mylar bags, they are often unnecessary for salt. It naturally resists spoilage, and oxygen absorbers can sometimes cause the salt to clump tightly within the bag.
The Importance of Salt Grain Sizes for Preppers
While all salt offers the same preservative qualities, the size of the grains significantly impacts its uses in a preparedness scenario. Here's a look at the most common types and their best applications:
Powdered Salt: Extremely fine grains dissolve quickly, making it ideal for brines and solutions where even texture matters. However, it clumps easily and is not suitable for long-term storage.
Fine Salt (Table Salt): The most common type. Due to its small size, it's easy to measure and blend into dishes but dissolves too quickly for methods like curing.
Kosher Salt: Larger, irregular grains make it ideal for seasoning during cooking, as chefs can easily pinch and distribute it. It's also excellent for curing meats due to its slower dissolving rate compared to table salt. Kosher salt itself has larger crystals than table salt, and the flakes tend to be irregular in shape. This is why it dissolves slower and has a milder, less salty flavor than table salt
Coarse Salt: Large crystals offer a satisfying crunch and are often used as finishing salt. They also work well for rimming cocktail glasses.
Prepper Recommendations
Must-Haves:
Kosher Salt: A large supply remains crucial for its versatility in cooking, preserving, and potential bartering.
Fine Salt: A large supply of fine salt is essential for everyday cooking and familiarity for most home chefs. Being faced with unfamiliar ingredients during a survival situation could cause unnecessary stress.
Good Additions: Coarse salt for special occasions, flavor finishing, and potential bartering.
Avoid: Prioritize pure varieties of kosher and fine salt over heavily processed or powdered versions for maximum shelf life.
Remember: When prepping, salt's functionality and longevity are far more important than gourmet aesthetics. Choosing the right grain sizes for your intended use ensures you're well-prepared for anything.
Beyond Basic Sea Salt: Gourmet Varieties
While standard sea salt is excellent for long-term storage, gourmet salts offer unique flavors and potential trace mineral benefits worth considering for preppers seeking variety and potential added nutritional value. Here's a look at some popular choices:
Redmond Real Salt: Harvested from an ancient underground salt deposit in Utah, this salt is known for its high mineral content and spectrum of colors from trace elements. It can add both flavor complexity and a potential boost of minerals to your diet.
Himalayan Pink Salt: Visually striking with a pinkish hue due to trace minerals like iron. It's mined from ancient salt deposits in Pakistan and offers a subtly different flavor profile than sea salt.
Sea Salt (Specialty): Sea salts sourced from specific regions (Celtic Sea Salt, Hawaiian Black Salt, etc.) boast unique flavors and mineral compositions based on their origin and harvesting methods. These can be a great way to add depth and interest to your meals.
Considerations for Preppers
Cost vs. Benefit: Gourmet salts are typically more expensive than standard sea salt. Preppers must weigh the added cost against their desired flavor enhancement or potential mineral boost.
Storage: Like regular sea salt, gourmet varieties still require proper airtight storage to maintain their quality.
Prioritize the Basics: If on a tight budget, ensure you have a solid supply of regular sea salt or kosher salt before investing heavily in gourmet options.
Bottom Line: Gourmet salts can be a worthwhile addition to your preparedness pantry, adding flavor variety and potential health benefits. However, it's essential to balance them with a focus on the long-lasting reliability of standard sea salt or kosher salt.
How Much Salt Should a Prepper Store?
Unfortunately, there's no one-size-fits-all answer to how much salt you should stack. The right amount depends on several factors:
Household Size: The more people in your household, the more salt you'll need for daily consumption and potential food preservation tasks.
Desired Timeframe: Are you prepping for short-term disruptions, or aiming for years of self-sufficiency? Your goal determines the quantity needed.
Dietary Preferences: If you generally eat a high-sodium diet, your baseline salt use will be higher than someone who cooks mostly with fresh ingredients.
Other Intended Uses: Consider whether you will use salt for preserving meats, bartering, or livestock needs. These significantly increase your storage requirements.
Recommendations
Minimum: Aim for at least a year's usual consumption worth of salt per person. Here's how to estimate that amount:
Conservative Prepper Estimate: Plan on 2-3 teaspoons of salt per day per person. This provides ample room for cooking, occasional extra use, and a safety margin.
Calculation: 2-3 teaspoons/day x 365 days/year = 730 - 1095 teaspoons/year
Conversion to Usable Amounts: There are about 4.9 teaspoons of salt per ounce. To convert teaspoons to pounds, you'll need to divide by 16 ounces per pound. So, this translates to roughly 9 - 13 pounds of salt per person per year.
Ideal: Start with a several-year supply and gradually increase it as your budget and storage space allow.
Remember: With proper storage, salt can last essentially forever. It is an investment worth making to ensure you have this vital resource on hand.
Helpful Resources
Many online resources offer preparedness calculators that can help estimate your salt needs (and other supplies) based on your household size and desired level of preparedness.
For example, this calculator from Wallaby recommends 5 pounds of salt per person per year. Keep in mind that doesn’t allow for extra use, safety margin, etc.
Emergency Food Supply Calculator
Where to Buy
These are some of my favorite salts and storage solutions:
Redmond Real Sea Salt - Locally sourced in Utah
Kirkland Signature Pink Salt - Sourced in Pakistan
Celtic Sea Salt - Sourced from the Celtic Sea in France
Morton Course Kosher Salt - Available in most supermarkets
Summary
Proper storage is key for long-lasting salt. Use airtight containers like Mylar bags or food-grade buckets. Choose between fine or kosher salt based on your needs. For long-term preparedness, consider stockpiling 10 pounds of salt per person per year, though individual needs may vary. Avoid iodized table salt which degrades over time.
Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links, and I may earn commissions from qualifying purchases as an Amazon Associate. However, please note that any potential compensation I receive will not affect your purchase in any way.