20 Foods To STOCKPILE That NEVER EXPIRE!

You buy food every week, and half of it goes bad before you get to it. Prices keep climbing, and most kitchens hold only a few days of food. My mother kept a pantry that never let her family down, and almost everything in it costs a few dollars and keeps for years. My name is Mei Lin. I grew up in Guangzhou in the south of China in the 1950s and 60s, and I came to America in 1987. In this video I count down twenty foods you can stockpile that will not go bad on you, and I tell you honestly how long each one really keeps, how to store it, and how a Chinese kitchen uses it every day. In this video: The three words my mother used to keep food from spoiling: dry, dark and shut Cornstarch and baking soda, and the trick that makes cheap meat as tender as a Chinese restaurant's Vinegar, whole spices and dried noodles, and why spices fade instead of rotting Rolled oats cooked like Chinese rice porridge, and the 30-year study on stored oats, rice and beans Canned fish and Spam, and the one rule for knowing when a can is no longer safe The two things every stockpile list forgets Dried beans, fermented black beans and dried kelp, and the sweet soups my mother made with them Shaoxing wine, rock sugar and dried shiitake mushrooms, and why you should never pour the soaking water away Soy sauce, and why in China "I am only buying soy sauce" means "none of my business" The tea that gets better every year you forget about it How to make dried tangerine peel for free from your Christmas clementines Salt, honey and white rice, and what my mother's rice crock taught me about never being afraid Timestamps: 0:00 My mother's rice crock 1:35 Number 20: Cornstarch 2:30 Number 19: Baking soda 3:29 Number 18: Vinegar 4:02 Number 17: Whole spices 4:51 Number 16: Dried noodles 5:30 Number 15: Rolled oats 6:16 Number 14: Canned fish 7:08 Number 13: Spam 7:54 Two things every list forgets 8:29 Number 12: Dried beans 9:24 Number 11: Fermented black beans 10:06 Number 10: Dried kelp 10:58 Number 9: Shaoxing wine 11:28 Number 8: Sugar and rock sugar 12:08 Number 7: Dried shiitake mushrooms 12:57 Number 6: Soy sauce 13:45 Number 5: Tea 14:38 Number 4: Dried tangerine peel 15:58 Number 3: Salt 16:46 Number 2: Honey 17:37 Number 1: White rice No gimmicks and no expensive survival kits. Just plain, cheap foods that keep, stored the way my mother stored them. Start with one this week, and add another next week. What did your mother or grandmother always keep in her pantry, no matter what? Tell me in the comments. I want to hear it before it is gone.