BUCKHORN CLIFFSA preparedness field manual

Food · Supply

Sugar

Why sugar never spoils, white against brown against raw, the one storage rule (no oxygen absorber), softening a brick of brown sugar, how much to keep, and the jobs sugar does beyond sweetening.

INDEFINITENO ABSORBERMULTI-USEWorks without power

Quick facts

  • Real shelf lifeIndefinite
  • Label date saysIndefinite; brown sugar 18 months for softness
  • Best storage
    • Airtight
    • bone dry
    • no absorber
  • Watch forHardening, which is harmless; moisture and pests, which are not

Where this sits on the food shopping list

Sugar does not spoil. It's one of the field guide's Indefinite 15, and the only thing that happens to it in storage is that it picks up moisture and sets into a brick, which is a texture problem with a two-minute fix. It's also calories (1,750 a pound), a preservative, a medicine for a sore throat and the thing that makes a stored diet bearable. Store it airtight and dry, and store more than you think.

Which to buy

White granulated sugar in 10 to 25 pound bags is the store; it keeps forever, bakes, preserves and sweetens. Brown sugar is white sugar with molasses and keeps the same but hardens faster; a jar of molasses beside the white sugar makes brown sugar on demand and saves the trouble. Raw and turbinado keep the same. Powdered sugar keeps the same and cakes. Honey, maple syrup and corn syrup are the liquid sweeteners with their own pages. Buy at the low price before the holidays and pack it the same week.

How long it really lasts

By how it is kept

FormLabel saysReal, stored well
White granulated sugar, airtight and dryIndefiniteIndefinite
Brown sugar, airtight18 months for softnessIndefinite; it hardens and softens again
Powdered sugar, airtight2 yearsIndefinite; it cakes
Molasses, sealedYears; a year opened at full flavor
Sugar in the paper bag on a shelfYears, until the bag tears or the ants find it
The Preparedness Food Shopping List (PDF), a one page printable PDF

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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.

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How to store it

Airtight and dry is the whole method: a food-grade bucket with a gasket lid, Mylar without an absorber, or a jar. The Mylar ranking is specific: salt and sugar take no oxygen absorber, because the absorber's moisture and the vacuum set them into a brick you will need a chisel for. A bucket holds about 35 pounds. Keep it off the floor and away from anything that smells. Brown sugar in a jar with a piece of terra cotta (a clay sugar saver) or a slice of bread stays soft.

How to tell it has turned

Hard sugar is still sugar: break it up, or warm it in a low oven, or for brown sugar seal it for a day with a slice of apple or bread. The only things that end a bag of sugar are water that has turned it to syrup and mold, and ants or pantry moths that have found it. Clumps that break with a spoon are fine.

Keep it

A brick of brown sugar, caked powdered sugar, white sugar years past any date.

Discard on sight

Sugar that has gone to syrup and molded, or a bag with insects in it.

How much, and how to use it

About 60 pounds a year per person is the traditional food-storage planning figure, which sounds like too much until the jam, the bread, the oatmeal, the coffee and the preserving are counted. Beyond sweetening: a cup of sugar to a cup of water is simple syrup and the base of every drink and glaze; sugar and salt in warm water is an oral rehydration drink (six level teaspoons of sugar and half a teaspoon of salt to a liter of clean water); a spoonful in hot water with lemon or vinegar is the sore-throat remedy in the Indefinite 15; and sugar is the preservative in jam, fruit leather and candied anything. The uses list below is from the field guide.

When the power goes out

Sugar needs nothing and keeps the coffee, the oatmeal and the morale going. The rehydration drink above is the one to know when someone is sick and the pharmacy is closed.

What else it does

  • Sweetener
  • Caramelizing
  • Baking
  • Fruit preserving
  • Body scrub
  • Sore-throat tea

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 sugar last?

Indefinitely, white, brown, raw and powdered alike. It hardens and cakes with moisture, which is harmless and fixable, but it does not spoil.

How do I store sugar long term?

Airtight and bone dry: a gasketed bucket, Mylar or jars, with no oxygen absorber, which would set it into a brick. About 35 pounds fills a 5 gallon bucket.

How do I tell if sugar has gone bad?

It does not, unless water has turned it to syrup and mold or insects have found the bag. A brick of hard sugar is broken up or warmed and used.

How do you soften hard brown sugar?

Seal it in a jar for a day with a slice of apple or bread, or warm it in a low oven for a few minutes and break it up. A clay sugar saver in the jar keeps it soft.

Keep going

Read nextTea BagsHow long tea bags and loose tea keep, which teas last longest, how to store them, how to tell tea has faded, how much to keep, and the jobs cold tea does beyond the cup.Food · Supply

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