I was raised on a remote ranch and we had to keep a long winters stock of necessities and I still have that habit. I think it is a good habit as many caught in bad weather and other disasters have found out. I get the backwoods home and country side magazines and in one of these there was a lady who canned her dry food products. I wish I could find the article. She used a low oven temp and heated for a period of time and then sealed the jars. She said the things like flour kept very well and for much longer than usual. I wondered if it would loose some of it's mutrition but I suppose if it did it would also lose it in the baking process. I had thought of trying that because it would keep the bugs out too. And although that sounds bad I know lots of our dry foods like cereal or grain products have the eggs of these bugs when we buy them from the grocery shelves. So I uaually freeze them for 3 days as that kills those nasty things too.
I guess I think it is a good thing to be prepared for what ever might happen. I live in earthquake and blizzard country so I feel better if I know I can live for a couple of weeks with what I have here.
I love to hear how others have kept foods long term and what they store for emergencies. It seems like we always forget something we need.
Lynda