Top Tips for Storing Oats

Can you store your oats long term?

Before I answer this question and give you my top tips for storing oats. I would love to share with you exactly the process of what happens once  a new load of oats is dispatched from Western Australia.

The oat seed comes out of storage and is steamed and rolled for each placed order. This way, when we receive the order here in Queensland we have the maximum Best Before Date we can possibly have on the product. Which is generally around 18 months.

A Best Before Date is not a safety date. It is the manufacturer‚ estimate of how long the rolled oats will remain at peak quality. Once we receive the oats, they are stored in a cool, dry environment to retain the Best Before Date.

Top Tips for Storing Oats at Home

After receiving your GF Oats you will need to store the oats in a cool, dry and airtight sealed container. Either in your pantry or by all means in your fridge or freezer.

Once you cut the tops off the 1kg or 2kg bulk bags, transfer the oats into a resealable container. Why not download and print a copy of our FREE Pantry Labels to add to your container. This can be glass or plastic to store in your pantry. You can transfer half the oats if you wish. Then reseal the bag as best you can and retain in the fridge or freezer.

If you do store your oats in the fridge or the freezer, you have just suspended them in time. Effectively you can more than extend the Best Before Date longer than suggested on the packaging.

So, what if your oats are outside the Best Before Date?

Best Before Dates can be found on any of the packagings along with batch numbers. If you do happen to have your oats after that time, the oats may certainly continue to be fit for human consumption as they are steamed and rolled oats which are very stable.

If you notice a change in colour, texture or flavour, then they are beyond their consumption date. If these 3 elements look fine to you and you believe the oats have been stored correctly then they may still be safe for consumption.

Sometimes I have used dry products that are a little outside the best before date, in cooking, as opposed to consuming raw without any problems at all.

Anyway, I do trust that this gives you an idea on how to store your oats to get the maximum Best Before out of them.