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Hi. I'm thinking of moving some of my canned and packet food from garage shelves to upstairs in our bungalow - yes, we have an upstairs in a bungalow! A dormer extension of 2 quite small rooms which is baking hot in summer and v v cold in winter. Have been sorting out a room up there - was with a view to moving as place is really too big for us. Move now put off so thinking could use the space. Would the excessive heat up there in summer adversely affect cans/tetrapaks/packets/jars of food do you think? Obviously could store loo rolls up there, trash bags and similar, but would like to put food up there if possible. Thanks

In a word, NO. Don't put your food stores somewhere with temperature fluctuation unless you can help it, it doesn't do them any favours. No harm in shifting other stuff up there to make space where the temp is more controlled though.

Could you look at controlling temperatures? Ventilation? Insulation? Air con? (Not very Eco / Green I know but...) Might be worth some investment it if you are now staying in the property, plus you could use the improvements when you come to sell the place in the future?

I'd try to avoid storing foodstuffs in an area of such wide temperature f at all possible . That said if it's for short term storage of stufff you'll be using in months rather than years then it might not be too bad. One thing have seen is a very simple insulated box made from regular kingspan insulation board held together wiith gaffer tape . Simple and relatively cheap and easy enough to take apart should you need to . Kingspan comes in a variety of thicknesses from 1/2" to 4"s . It won't stop things reaching ambiient teeratures although changes will be slower.

we avoid putting any thing in the attic , other than the likes of loo roll or kitchen roll .
we do keep woolen blankets [ in space bags ] and camping stuff up there all with the usual stuff .
food stuff is kept in the spare bedroom

to make that space useful, you need to do two options, one is to heat control that space.
put simply a n extract fan will help. by having it set to temp not time.

the great plan being that as heat rises the loft heats up, extract that hot air by pulling in colder air from downstairs to replace it.

a variation to that is a heat recovery system where the fan pulls air through and sends the heat else where in the house.
but a simple extraction fan will make a big difference

the next option is to heat control the area with insulation. either a warm roof style, where you insultate the outside roof pitch and have nothing on the upside of the ceiling, or as i think its a finished room and not possible, why not buy some hard sheet insulation like 50mm celotecx or PIR foam and make a box to stack the cans in, these insulated boxes would help to lower the stored temp of the cans.
I store a lot of food outside in a garage that has no heating and whilst everyone raves about changes of temp, i do nothing to protect the cans and the dried goods, as every thing has a swap out routine of six months to 12 months, nothing has ever spoiled with in that time.

I would be more inclined to put a man hole cover.https://www.diy.com/departments/clark-5 ... rd/gallery for example over a large plastic barrel with a screw lid. I got one once on Ebay for example. That way if you have to leave the house, you could possibly get back at night to retrieve the items.

If you are at all concerned at the temp of your storage location, I heartily recommend you buy one/some of these
Temp loggers