BUCKHORN CLIFFSA preparedness field manual

Food · Supply

Dark Chocolate

Why dark chocolate is the chocolate for a food store: 4 to 5 years stored cool, what bloom means, how to store it through heat, how to check it, and the calories and morale it carries.

4-5 YRBLOOM IS SAFEMORALEWorks without power

Quick facts

  • Real shelf life4 to 5 years
  • Label date says2 years
  • Best storage
    • Sealed
    • cool and dark
    • under 70°F
  • Watch forAn off smell; bloom is safe

Where this sits on the food shopping list

Dark chocolate, 70 percent cocoa and up, is sugar, cocoa solids and cocoa butter with almost no water and no milk, which is why it keeps 4 to 5 years stored cool against a label of 2 and why it is the chocolate in the food store and the bug-out bag. It's 170 calories an ounce, needs nothing, and does something for morale on a bad night that the buckets cannot. The one thing that happens to it in storage is bloom, and bloom is harmless.

Which to buy

Bars of 70 percent or higher with a short ingredient list: cocoa, sugar, cocoa butter, maybe vanilla and lecithin. The higher the cocoa, the less sugar and the longer it keeps. Skip anything with nuts, fillings, caramel or milk. Buy sealed bars after the holidays when they are cheap and write the date on the box. Cocoa powder, which keeps indefinitely, is the backup for cooking.

How long it really lasts

By how it is kept

FormLabel saysReal, stored well
Dark chocolate, sealed, cool and dark2 years4 to 5 years at full quality; edible long after
Dark chocolate, frozen, wrapped tightYears; thaw in the fridge still sealed
Dark chocolate, openedMonths in a sealed jar before it goes dull
Dark chocolate chips1 to 2 yearsAs the bar
The Preparedness Food Shopping List (PDF), a one page printable PDF

Free download

Get the one-page food shopping list

What to store, how much of it for one person for one month, and how long it keeps. One page with checkboxes, built from the Survival Foods field guide. Print it, multiply by your people and months, and take it to the store.

The PDF comes by email, with my newsletter now and then. Already on the list? You still get it. Read the full page.

How to store it

Sealed in its wrapper inside a jar or a bag, in the coolest, darkest cupboard in the house, under 70°F and away from anything with a smell; chocolate absorbs odors. It melts at about body temperature, so a summer without air conditioning means the coolest room, the cooler, or the fridge in a sealed bag. The freezer keeps it for years wrapped tight; thaw it sealed in the fridge so condensation does not land on it and make sugar bloom.

How to tell it has turned

The white or gray film is bloom, cocoa butter or sugar that came to the surface after a temperature or moisture change; the chocolate is fine and melts back to normal. A dull surface and a grainy or crumbly bite are age. The chocolate is done when it smells off or rancid, which is rare in plain dark chocolate, or shows mold, which only happens if it got wet.

Keep it

Bloom, a dull surface, a grainy old bar, bars years past the date that smell of chocolate.

Discard on sight

A rancid or off smell, or mold.

How much, and how to use it

One bar in every bag and a box in the store, rotated through the year; an ounce a day is a 170 calorie ration and a reason to get up. Bloomed or grainy bars melt into hot chocolate with powdered milk and sugar, into sauce, and into baking. A square of dark chocolate with the instant coffee is the morning in a long outage.

When the power goes out

Heat is the only enemy. Move the chocolate to the coolest place in the house and keep it sealed; a bar that melted and reset is bloomed, not spoiled.

Shelf-life figures are from the Survival Foods field guide; fridge, freezer and pantry times are from the USDA cold and pantry storage charts. Run the look, smell, taste check before eating anything past its date.

Questions this answers

Tap a question for the short answer.

How long does dark chocolate last?

Four to five years stored cool and dark against a label of 2, and edible long after. Frozen and wrapped tight, years. Opened, months in a sealed jar before it goes dull.

How do I store dark chocolate long term?

Sealed in its wrapper inside a jar, under 70°F, dark and away from smells; the freezer for years, thawed sealed in the fridge.

How do I tell if dark chocolate has gone bad?

An off or rancid smell, or mold, which only happens if it got wet. The white film is bloom and is harmless; a grainy bite is age.

Keep going

Read nextSpoilage Cheat SheetA one-page recap. When something looks off, run these in order and trust the result.Food · Guide

Related to this

Food · Supply Chocolate Dark chocolate keeps 2 years by the label and 4 to 5 stored cool; milk and white about a year; cocoa powder indefinitely. White bloom is harmless DARK 4-5 YRBLOOM IS SAFE Food · Supply White Rice for Preparedness: How to Store It for 30 Years Sealed in Mylar with an oxygen absorber and kept cool, white rice keeps 20 to 30 years. On the shelf in its bag, 4 to 5 years. Brown rice, a year. 10 TO 30 YRCALORIE BASE Food · Supply Cooking Oil Real shelf life: 1 to 2 years sealed, cool and dark; months once opened. Coconut oil keeps 5, ghee and shortening longer, and the fat is the hardest calorie to store 1-2 YRFAT CALORIES
Everything in FoodNever-mix checkerShelf life tableFind a recipe by needWalk-around auditStart here

Membership · $49.95 per year

There is a lot more behind the lock

158member pages in full
125recipes with exact amounts
11field guide PDFs, 278 pages
1manual of your own, built from any page

Every recipe and resource from the Prepper's Chemical Survival Guide, all eleven field guides to read here and download, the full audit and logbook, all twelve reference charts, and no ads.

My Manual · included

Build your own field manual

The most useful thing a membership gives you. Save any page on this site, recipes, charts, and whole field guides included. Arrange them in the order you want, name it, and print one manual with a cover and contents, or keep it as a PDF that opens with no signal.

  • It works when this site does not
  • Only your pages
  • Anyone in the house can use it
  • One current copy, not a pile of printouts
  • The house binder
  • A copy for the bug-out bag or truck
  • A copy for family
  • An offline PDF

Join for $49.95 per year

Membership

Save to My Manual is a member tool

Members build their own manual from the pages that fit their household, then print it or keep it as a PDF.

Why it matters

When the grid goes down, this site goes with it. Paper does not. Membership is how you get the whole manual off the screen and onto the shelf: every page in full, every field guide, and a binder built for your own household.

The field guide library

All eleven field guides. 278 pages. Included.

The complete Buckhorn Cliffs PDF set, yours to download, print, and keep from the day you join.

$100if bought one at a time

  • Cover of Stockpile Essentials Field GuideStockpile Essentials39 pagesEverything to keep on hand, category by category, plus the 20 multi-use items.
  • Cover of Survival Foods Field GuideSurvival Foods35 pagesStoring, extending, and using the food supply. Real shelf life by the numbers.
  • Cover of Chemical Compounds Field GuideChemical Compounds29 pagesThe 33 compounds: storage, top uses, hazards, and the never-mix chart.
  • Cover of Spare Parts and Repair Stock Field GuideSpare Parts and Repair Stock40 pagesWhat to keep on hand to fix the home and land when the supply chain breaks.
  • Cover of Walk-Around Preparedness AuditWalk-Around Preparedness Audit33 pagesFifteen systems scored 1 to 5, with the printable scorecard.
  • Cover of The Preparedness LogbookPreparedness Logbook30 pagesThe household information that needs to be on paper.
  • Cover of Off-Grid Portable Solar Power Field GuideOff-Grid Portable Solar Power16 pagesSize a power station and a folding panel, pair them, wire them, keep them alive.
  • Cover of Home Backup Power System Field GuideHome Backup Power System20 pagesA battery and a hybrid inverter wired into the house: hybrid against off-grid, the wiring, the mistake to skip.
  • Cover of The Four KnotsFour Knots6 pagesWhich knot for the job, and how to tie each one in four moves.
  • Cover of The Bug-Out Bag Field GuideBug-Out Bag18 pagesOne bag per person for three days: the twelve jobs, the afternoon build, the packing plan, every item by job, and the checklist.
  • Cover of Home Security and Defense Field GuideHome Security and Defense12 pagesThe four layers from the property edge to the people inside, what to build first, the night something feels wrong, and the plan with or without a weapon.

My Manual · included

Build your own field manual

The most useful thing a membership gives you. No book fits your household exactly. My Manual does. Save any page on this site, recipes, charts, and whole field guides included, arrange them in the order you want, and print one manual with your name on the cover. It holds only what is relevant to you, and nothing you would skip.

Why it matters

  • It works when this site does notNo power and no signal means no website. A printed manual and an offline PDF still open, which is the whole point of writing any of this down.
  • Only your pagesThis site covers every household. Yours needs a fraction of it. Your manual holds the pages that match your water source, your climate, and your gear, so nobody digs through the rest under stress.
  • Anyone in the house can use itThe person who reads this site may not be the one home when it counts. A binder on the shelf, in the order you chose, is something a spouse or a teenager can follow.
  • One current copy, not a pile of printoutsEvery page prints in the same field guide layout with a cover and the print date. Change a page, print again, and the old copy is easy to spot.

What to build with it

  • The house binderYour water source, your climate, your gear. Only the pages you would reach for.
  • A copy for the bug-out bag or truckA short version that travels: water, first aid, comms, and the recipes you rely on.
  • A copy for familyHand a parent or a grown kid a manual built for their house and their supplies.
  • The shop and the barnParts lists, repair skills, and the never-mix chart, kept where the work happens.
  • A recipe book of your ownThe cleaners, fuels, and remedies you make, with exact amounts, in one place.
  • An offline PDFSaved to a phone, a tablet, or a drive in the Faraday bag. It opens with no signal.

How it works

  1. 1Save what fitsPress "Save to My Manual" on any page: a recipe, a chart, a guide, a parts list, or a whole field guide.
  2. 2Arrange it your wayOn My Account, drag the pages into the order you want. Name the manual and add your household name.
  3. 3Print it or save a PDFOne button makes a real PDF file, laid out for 8.5 x 11 inch paper with a cover. Print it from any device or keep the file. Field guides go in exactly as the PDFs are laid out. No ads, no photos.
  4. 4Keep it currentAdd a page, pull one out, print again. The cover carries the date, so you always know which copy is the latest.

Also included

  • The entire site, unlockedAll 158 member pages open in full: exact amounts, every step, every warning, every parts list. Nothing held back.
  • Every recipe and resource in the bookAll 138 recipes and 33 compounds from Prepper's Chemical Survival Guide, with exact amounts, every step, every warning, and the reference charts.
  • A clean PDF of any entryOne press turns any page into a field guide sheet for the binder, the truck, or the shop wall.
  • Checklists and audit scores that follow youSaved to the account, so the phone, the laptop, and the shop computer always match.
  • No adsMembers read the whole site without a single ad.
$49.95per year. About 14 cents a day. Cancel any time and keep the year you paid for.
Join now