— Irène Roy

This is, uh, yeah, another fundamental question, another good question that I think, um, you know, is important to talk about. It's one that, uh, I field every so often, and so, you know, regarding food items, uh, in this nut seed grain category that are high in fats. And so we're talking about whole grains, um, in this case, um, you know, understand that, uh, that the presence of those fatty components are what will, uh, decrease the shelf life on these items. And these, uh, foods are, are, are gonna be affected by warmer temperatures and by direct sunlight. Uh, and then also, uh, in from a different angle, uh, from moist conditions or humid conditions. And so, uh, you know, a refrigerator takes care of all that, right? It, uh, it's cool. It, it's dark and it's a dry environment, so it certainly is a good place, uh, if you have the, the space in your refrigerator, uh, to store things like nuts and seeds and grains. Uh, but it's certainly not a requirement, okay? And this will depend upon your own, uh, particular situation. Uh, if you happen to be in, um, let's say a climate number one that is a temperate or a bit on the cool side overall, uh, and you've got a place in your house that is relatively cool and temperature stable throughout the year without big fluctuations. Uh, and so this criteria actually aligns with a wine storage area. And so if you have a, you know, a, a basement or a, a root cellar or a, a wine, uh, cabinet or, or a cellar or something like that, uh, this also is gonna be an ideal place to store, uh, these high fat and, um, uh, more delicate food items. Okay? So a refrigerator is great. Um, sometimes that's, um, uh, sort of precious real estate, you know, so to speak, in the house, uh, because the space is limited, and we might have other more perishable things to go into that box, uh, in which case just search for other places. Uh, that might be cool, relatively speaking. And, um, you know, temperature, uh, stable, uh, for the most part throughout the year, especially during the summertime, okay? Or day to night fluctuations, you know, should be minimized. Um, let's see. The other thing that comes to mind is your purchase quantity and your rate of consumption. And this is always, uh, the other angles that I consider, whether at home or in a business, uh, when it comes to the shelf life of food. Uh, it's gonna be important, uh, uh, to also purchase quantities that are in line with our consumption rate and our storage environment in order to yield the best results. Okay? So if, if it happens to turn out that you don't have space in your fridge and you don't have a cool place, um, or particularly a cool place, let's say, at home, uh, or, or an ideal place, then perhaps you can buy smaller quantities of these items, the grains, nuts, and seas, so that you can move through that product. You can turn over that inventory, uh, in a shorter period of time. And, uh, that's gonna, uh, sort of stave off, uh, the, the, um, the rancidity that might otherwise set in.