Nuts and Seeds

Nuts and seeds are the densest food in the store, 150 to 200 calories an ounce, mostly fat, with protein and the minerals the grains lack, and that fat is also their clock. Oxygen turns it rancid in months at room temperature, which is why the field guide puts them in the fridge or freezer and gives them 6 to 12 months. They are not a Mylar food. They are a rotating food, bought fresh, kept cold, and eaten within the year.

In the shell when you can: the shell is a natural barrier and in-shell nuts keep about twice as long. Raw over roasted for storage; roasting cracks the cells and speeds rancidity. The ones that keep longest are almonds, pistachios and hazelnuts; walnuts and pecans, high in the most fragile oils, go first; pine nuts fastest of all. Seeds: sunflower, pumpkin, chia and flax, with flax best bought whole and ground as used. Buy from a store with turnover, in sealed packs, and date them.

Airtight and cold is the whole method: a jar or a vacuum bag in the fridge for the month's supply and the freezer for the rest, where they keep a year at full quality and are still good after two. Keep them away from onions and anything that smells; nut oil absorbs it. The Mylar ranking puts nuts and seeds on the list of foods too oily for an oxygen absorber and warns that some sit above the moisture limit; the freezer is the long-term store, not the bucket.

Smell first: rancid nuts have a sharp, bitter, paint-like or crayon smell that is unmistakable once you know it, and a bitter taste; they will not hurt you in a handful but they are done. Look for mold, especially on peanuts and in-shell nuts, which is a discard. Webbing or small moths mean pests. Shriveled, dark or soft kernels are old.

An ounce a day per person, about a quarter cup, is 160 to 200 calories, protein and fat the rice and beans lack. Nut butter is the shelf-stable form and has its own page. Trail mix for the bag is nuts, dried fruit and chocolate, replaced every spring. Seeds sprout: a tablespoon of sunflower seeds in a jar is a salad in four days. Toast old nuts in a dry pan to bring the flavor back.

Nuts need nothing to eat and belong in the first-week food. A freezer full of nuts that thaws in an outage is fine; move them to the coolest room, keep them sealed, and eat them over the following weeks before the oil turns.

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.