Shelf life of Cereal!

RubberAC

Ok so the Stores around here have started selling Apple Jacks
Which previously were not available in Canada
Now I am not willing to miss my chance here as they are listed as Limited Time only
so if i find out that they are being taken away again I am going to buy boxes upon boxes of Apple Jacks
If they are kept sealed and hidden away are they going to stay good or is the sealing of Cereal in Boxes an unexact science

MichaelLC

Pretty much sugar suspended in some grain, so animals and moisture are really the only problems. It won't 'go bad'.

Keep them locked away from humidity and insects/rodents and it will be fine. Also eat a balanced breakfast.

Tox

A good conservative estimate, is as long as they're opened by the "use by" date they're good for about a month or so after they're opened. Any longer than a month they start to go a bit stale.

Figgy

Even then, you're not looking at any harmful effects by eating old cereal. It just won't taste as good.

RubberAC

how easy is it for silverfish etc to infiltrate my apple jacks
this is good advice thank you people

Esh

RubberAC wrote:

how easy is it for silverfish etc to infiltrate my apple jacks
this is good advice thank you people

An unopened box? They're not going to infiltrate anything.

JebusUD

You could always put the applejacks in a sealed plastic container.

Esh wrote:

RubberAC wrote:

how easy is it for silverfish etc to infiltrate my apple jacks
this is good advice thank you people

An unopened box? They're not going to infiltrate anything.

I dunno what a silverfish is exactly, because we don't get those here, but in MN I have found weevils in closed boxes of pasta before. It was about 2 years old though, definitely way past the expiration date.

Esh

JebusUD wrote:

You could always put the applejacks in a sealed plastic container.

Esh wrote:

RubberAC wrote:

how easy is it for silverfish etc to infiltrate my apple jacks
this is good advice thank you people

An unopened box? They're not going to infiltrate anything.

I dunno what a silverfish is exactly, because we don't get those here, but in MN I have found weevils in closed boxes of pasta before. It was about 2 years old though, definitely way past the expiration date.

Yeah, but the cereal will be encased in a plastic wrap as well as being stored in the box. Maybe they can chew through that too?

Phoenix-D

Esh wrote:

Yeah, but the cereal will be encased in a plastic wrap as well as being stored in the box. Maybe they can chew through that too?

They can. I know an entomologist who has a habit of finding REALLY old bags of cereal, then dumping them out to see what interesting critters got into it.

Esh

Phoenix-D wrote:

Esh wrote:

Yeah, but the cereal will be encased in a plastic wrap as well as being stored in the box. Maybe they can chew through that too?

They can. I know an entomologist who has a habit of finding REALLY old bags of cereal, then dumping them out to see what interesting critters got into it.

I guess the question is, how long is the OP planning on keeping these boxes around for and how is he storing them?

Syrdon

Phoenix-D wrote:

Esh wrote:

Yeah, but the cereal will be encased in a plastic wrap as well as being stored in the box. Maybe they can chew through that too?

They can. I know an entomologist who has a habit of finding REALLY old bags of cereal, then dumping them out to see what interesting critters got into it.

A plastic container of some sort should solve that though. They make some for storing rice that are decent sized, although not terribly practical if they're only getting the one use before you run out of need for them.

edit: as far as finding the cheap option, if you're willing to just play a numbers game you can get a whole lot of Apple Jacks and just toss the ones that end up going bad. Takes up a bunch of space and money though.

Hewn

Syrdon wrote:

A plastic container of some sort should solve that though.

So use a plastic container. Your cereal will be the freshest.

Melinoe

Hewn wrote:

Syrdon wrote:

A plastic container of some sort should solve that though.

So use a plastic container. Your cereal will be the freshest.

This is the first thing I thought of when I saw the thread title.

They'll stay fresh for a decent amount of time unopened, but ultimately some sort of big plastic container is probably your best bet. I bought Cupcake Pebbles when I found them in stores after lusting after them online for months, and they lasted long enough, but I only had three boxes or so.