# 3 year old vacuum sealed granola bar



## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

3 years ago I vacuum sealed some Nature Valley granola bars. Granola bars that have a best by lifespan of 6-8 months. I pin pricked each bar's packaging and then vacuum sealed them 4 bars to a bag. Several of these 4 packs went into a box and have been stored in my basement. When we go on trips I grab a few packages and toss them into the center console as an extra emergency food source to my travel bag. Last weekend we took a trip and one of my daughters *really* wanted to eat a granola bar. So when we got home I let her cut open one of the packages. It passed the visual inspection and the odor inspection no problem. I ate a small piece. It tasted fine but was obviously harder than a newly produced granola bar would be. A short time later I still felt fine. My daughter ate a few pieces of bar and she was also fine. The rest of the kids consumed the remaining 3 bars. Now I am trying to decide if I should let them just eat these all up and make up some new packages, or if I should see how long these will go until they are inedible. They are definitely on the outside edge of that time already.

Anyone else pushed the limits of lifespan on bars like this?


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## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

Sentry18 said:


> 3 years ago I vacuum sealed some Nature Valley granola bars. Granola bars that have a best by lifespan of 6-8 months. I pin pricked each bar's packaging and then vacuum sealed them 4 bars to a bag. Several of these 4 packs went into a box and have been stored in my basement. When we go on trips I grab a few packages and toss them into the center console as an extra emergency food source to my travel bag. Last weekend we took a trip and one of my daughters *really* wanted to eat a granola bar. So when we got home I let her cut open one of the packages. It passed the visual inspection and the odor inspection no problem. I ate a small piece. It tasted fine but was obviously harder than a newly produced granola bar would be. A short time later I still felt fine. My daughter ate a few pieces of bar and she was also fine. The rest of the kids consumed the remaining 3 bars. Now I am trying to decide if I should let them just eat these all up and make up some new packages, or if I should see how long these will go until they are inedible. They are definitely on the outside edge of that time already.
> 
> Anyone else pushed the limits of lifespan on bars like this?


Or freeze them.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

The only reason to let them go bad is to get an idea of their maximum shelf life. I know most ration bars have a max shelf life of 5 years, so I am wondering if I can seal up a bar and make it 5 years. Then I wonder if I can make my own bars and get then to last 5 years.


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## sewingcreations15 (Aug 19, 2017)

@Sentry18 I would let the family eat most of them now and repackage some more but leave one package left to see how long it will last to give you a better idea. I would also spread out your vacuum sealing of more bars to give you a variety of use by dates and mark the packaging date on each one so you can rotate through them.


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## Justaguy987 (Mar 2, 2013)

I read the title as “a three-year-old vacuum seal a granola bar.” As in someone who is 3 actually seal the bar in a vacuum sealer. I got a bit of a chuckle out of it when I realized my mistake.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

Justaguy987 said:


> I read the title as "a three-year-old vacuum seal a granola bar." As in someone who is 3 actually seal the bar in a vacuum sealer. I got a bit of a chuckle out of it when I realized my mistake.


I let a 7 year old vacuum seal something once. Next thing you know we had vacuum sealed legos, Barbies, matchbox cars, a sock, etc.


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## AmishHeart (Jun 10, 2016)

Kids are totally amazed with vacuum sealers. They especially like to feel the packaging after it's been vaccum sealed, like rice or beans. Try it, it feels pretty cool.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

In my bug out bags I have about a dozen or more ravioli size mini pouches of vacuum sealed dryer lint (tinder) from a child related bout of vacuum seal fun. I decided if they wanted to play I would come up with some useful. Which is how the granola bar thing happened in the first place as well.


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

Sentry18 said:


> 3 years ago I vacuum sealed some Nature Valley granola bars. Granola bars that have a best by lifespan of 6-8 months. I pin pricked each bar's packaging and then vacuum sealed them 4 bars to a bag. Several of these 4 packs went into a box and have been stored in my basement. When we go on trips I grab a few packages and toss them into the center console as an extra emergency food source to my travel bag. Last weekend we took a trip and one of my daughters *really* wanted to eat a granola bar. So when we got home I let her cut open one of the packages. It passed the visual inspection and the odor inspection no problem. I ate a small piece. It tasted fine but was obviously harder than a newly produced granola bar would be. A short time later I still felt fine. My daughter ate a few pieces of bar and she was also fine. The rest of the kids consumed the remaining 3 bars. Now I am trying to decide if I should let them just eat these all up and make up some new packages, or if I should see how long these will go until they are inedible. They are definitely on the outside edge of that time already.
> 
> Anyone else pushed the limits of lifespan on bars like this?


Seal new bars but keep one of the oldest sealed in with the new sealed; be sure to mark with sharpie the old bar.
Problem solved.


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## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

Sentry18 said:


> The only reason to let them go bad is to get an idea of their maximum shelf life. I know most ration bars have a max shelf life of 5 years, so I am wondering if I can seal up a bar and make it 5 years. Then I wonder if I can make my own bars and get then to last 5 years.


 Do you use oxygen packs? I hear they help to preserve for years.


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## terri9630 (Jun 2, 2016)

Meerkat said:


> Do you use oxygen packs? I hear they help to preserve for years.


The oxygen absorber serves the same purpose as vacuum sealing. They both remove the oxygen from the package.


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

Not granola bars but I've eaten Hershey bars that were a year old and they tasted just as fresh as something you just bought in the store. They were still in the sealed box that they were in when I bought them.


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## JKratom (Mar 5, 2021)

Sentry18 said:


> 3 years ago I vacuum sealed some Nature Valley granola bars. Granola bars that have a best by lifespan of 6-8 months. I pin pricked each bar's packaging and then vacuum sealed them 4 bars to a bag. Several of these 4 packs went into a box and have been stored in my basement. When we go on trips I grab a few packages and toss them into the center console as an extra emergency food source to my travel bag. Last weekend we took a trip and one of my daughters *really* wanted to eat a granola bar. So when we got home I let her cut open one of the packages. It passed the visual inspection and the odor inspection no problem. I ate a small piece. It tasted fine but was obviously harder than a newly produced granola bar would be. A short time later I still felt fine. My daughter ate a few pieces of bar and she was also fine. The rest of the kids consumed the remaining 3 bars. Now I am trying to decide if I should let them just eat these all up and make up some new packages, or if I should see how long these will go until they are inedible. They are definitely on the outside edge of that time already.
> 
> Anyone else pushed the limits of lifespan on bars like this?


I know this is old, but was was the out come of the vacuum sealing granola bars? Did you leave them and test them out at a later date?


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