While living in a cramped sleep-out I rarely used it because I didn't have space - it was usually stored in my storage container. Now I'm in my new house and it has its own place in my kitchen pantry/processing room. I roasted some 6 year old green beans. They taste as fresh as ever. I didn't expect them to last that long, or at least I thought they would develop some kind of rancid flavor. But nope.