what kinds of foods stay edible the longest?

[xinel]

Honey.
Was found in King Tuts tomb and was edible.
Was also found in Queen Tyi's parents tomb 3300 years old and still edible.
http://leawood.com.au/shop/information.php?info_id=8
http://www.garthallan.co.uk/honey.htm

 

[blood_constellation]

jerky lasts pretty long if you made it right. if there's any fat on it that ll likely spoil it after a few weeks
theres a type of high energy food you can make from jerky, by powdering the meat, mix it with berries and melt animal fat on it, and u before the fat hardens u can shape the mixture into little balls, and they would be like a homemade energy snack. these dont store long tho, a few weeks at most
anything else that is canned or dry and vacuum sealed should also be able to last pretty long

 

[FSCJedi]

theres a type of high energy food you can make from jerky, by powdering the meat, mix it with berries and melt animal fat on it, and u before the fat hardens u can shape the mixture into little balls, and they would be like a homemade energy snack. these dont store long tho, a few weeks at most

What you just described is a form of pemmican. If the berries are dried as well, this mixture will keep darn near indefinitely. I make it with just the dried meat and fat, choosing to keep my dried fruit separate. This recipe dates waaaaaaay back to before our time... and by "our" I mean "the American colonists".

It was used on the Lewis & Clark expedition, as well as the trek to the North Pole. If you know you're going to be storing it for a long time, after you've made the mixture and let it set up, put another layer of just the fat around the outside to kind of "seal" it in. That way, even if the fat happens to start going rancid (which shouldn't occur if properly stored in a cool dark place), you can just shave off the rancid part and get to the good stuff inside.

A few years back, there was a large sack of pemmican found in Ohio (IIRC) that was part of the L&C expedition. It was sealed in this manner, then put in a sack and submerged in the cold river. The outside fat had begun to go rancid, but the inside was still edible.

 

[task force k]

Dried ground beef
parched corn
pemmican
hard-tack
jerky

Store them in muslin bags to encourage airflow and they should remain edible longer than they'll last if you're eating them.

B

As for the hard-tack, several years ago I made some using the Army recipe from the 1860's for a school Civil War project for my sister-in-law. I just recalled that we put some into a tin and into a cupboard in the kitchen. I'll have to look for that and check edibility.