Some Vitamin Information

 Vitamins are important now, for "stacking health", but in the future under certain sceanrios, could become even more essential.    I am not talking about a never ending Mad Max scenario, but a 2 year dysfunctional society scenario, to allow you to be strong and healthy through the tough times.

 I don't have the "answer" on this yet.    It is good to store some vitamins, but some may also go bad.   I have experimented with a vacuum seal method, but that test is only on 3 months, and working fine so far.    Its a bit pricey, every vacuum pack bag is going to be 10cent to 30 cents.

Another commenter stated that Iron will not just go bad with time, but will become poison.   This issue needs to be run to ground, since multi-vitamins (the most important for trace elements not found in common foods) will all have iron.

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Table: RDAs and ULs for Vitamins and Minerals

The Institute of Medicine has determined upper limits for 24 nutrients. Here is a chart comparing the RDA and UL for all of them.
This table only applies to adults age 19 or older. It also does not apply to women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, because they have different nutritional requirements. Anyone who is under 19, pregnant, or breastfeeding should check with a doctor before using supplements.

Vitamin or Mineral	Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) or Adequate Intake (AI) Nutrients with AIs are marked with an (*)	Upper Tolerable Limit (UL) The highest amount you can take without risk
Boron	Not determined.	20 mg/day
Calcium	Age 1-3: 700 mg/day Age 4-8: 1,000 mg/day Age 9-18: 1,300 mg/day Age 19-50: 1,000 mg/day Women age 51+: 1,200 mg/day Men age 71+: 1,200 mg/day	Age19-50: 2,500 mg/day  Age 51 and up:2,000 mg/day
Chloride	Age 19-50: 2,300 mg/day Age 50-70: 2,000 mg/day Age 70 and older: 1,800 mg/day	3,600 mg/day
Choline (Vitamin B complex)	Age 70 and older: 1,800 mg/day Women: 425 mg/day *	3,500 mg/day
Copper	900 micrograms/day	10,000 micrograms/day
Fluoride	Men: 4 mg/day * Women: 3 mg/day *	10 mg/day
Folic Acid (Folate)	400 micrograms/day	1,000 micrograms/day This applies only to synthetic folic acid in supplements or fortified foods. There is no upper limit for folic acid from natural sources.
Iodine	150 micrograms/day	1,100 micrograms/day
Iron	Men: 8 mg/day Women age 19-50: 18 mg/day Women age 51 and up: 8 mg/day	45 mg/day
Magnesium	Men age 19-30: 400 mg/day Men age 31 and up: 420 mg/day Women age 19-30: 310 mg/day Women age 31 and up: 320 mg/day	350 mg/day This applies only to magnesium in supplements or fortified foods. There is no upper limit for magnesium in food and water.
Manganese	Men: 2.3 mg/day * Women: 1.8 mg/day*	11 mg/day
Molybdenum	45 micrograms/day	2,000 micrograms/day
Nickel	Not determined	1.0 mg/day
Phosphorus	700 mg/day	Up to age 70: 4,000 mg/day Over age 70: 3,000 mg/day
Selenium	55 micrograms/day	400 micrograms/day
Sodium	Age 19-50: 1,500 mg/day Age 51-70: 1,300 mg/day Age 71 and up: 1,200 mg/day	2,300 mg/day
Vanadium	Not determined	1.8 mg/day
Vitamin A	Men: 3,000 IU/day Women: 2,310 IU/day	10,000 IU/day
Vitamin B3 (Niacin)	Men: 16 mg/day Women: 14 mg/day	35 mg/day This applies only to niacin in supplements or fortified foods. There is no upper limit for niacin in natural sources.
Vitamin B6	Men age 19-50: 1.3 mg/day  Men age 51 up:1.7 mg/day  Women age 19-50: 1.3 mg/day  Women age 51 up: 1.5 mg/day	100 mg/day
Vitamin C	Men: 90 mg/day Women: 75 mg/day	2,000 mg/day
Vitamin D (Calciferol)	Age 1-70: 15 micrograms/day (600 IU, or international units) * Age 70 and older: 20 micrograms/day (800 IU) *	100 micrograms/day (4,000 IU)
Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)	22.4 IU/day	1,500 IU/day This applies only to vitamin E in supplements or fortified foods. There is no upper limit for vitamin E from natural sources.
Zinc	Men: 11 mg/day Women: 8 mg/day	40 mg/day

This is from another article, archiving here.

http://rethinksurvival.com/posts/why-vitamin-and-mineral-supplements-are-important-to-long-term-food-storage/
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Why Vitamin and Mineral Supplements Are Important to Long Term Food Storage

Many people, me included, recommend vitamin supplements in your long term preps. Then, as I often do, I got to wondering how important they really were and if they’re possibly not needed at all. So, I figured the easiest way to decide this is to compare the numbers. Therefore, I looked for an easy to reference chart that listed the major vitamins and minerals as well as the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA). According to the chart, the following major vitamins and minerals are needed (in alphabetical order, and ignoring dosages for now): boron, calcium, chloride, chlorine, copper, fluoride, folic acid (folate), iodine, iron, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, phosphorus, selenium, sodium, vanadium, vitamin A, vitamin B3 (niacin), vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, and zinc.
Rather than making my life remarkable difficult, I figured I would focus on the major long term food storage foods that can be purcahsed at–and are recommended by–the LDS Home Storage Center (you can view the PDF order form here). According to the order form, the following long term food storage foods are to be included in your pantry: beans (black, pinto, white), white rice, sugar, wheat (white and red), dry milk, oats (regular and rolled), dried onions, potato flakes, spaghetti, macaroni, apple slices, carrots, refried beans, cocoa mix, white flour, and fruit drink mix.
Obviously, there are plenty of other supplementary foods that can and should be included in your long term preps that will dramatically affect your vitamin and mineral intake but, again, we’re focusing on the aforementioned long term storage foods to keep things simpler. I’ve taken the liberty of listing the major vitamin and mineral contents for each long term food below as noted on the accompanying nutritional label. I should also point out that I’m ignoring a few other important aspects of your diet, such as fats, fiber, proteins, and even sugar and sodium:

• black beans – calcium 6%, iron 15%
• pinto beans – vitamin C 4%, calcium 6%, iron 15%
• white beans – calcium 8%, iron 25%
• white rice – iron 10%, thiamin 15%, niacin 10%, folate 25%
• white sugar – NONE
• white wheat – calcium 2%, iron 15%
• red wheat – iron 8%
• dry milk – vitamin A 15%, vitamin C 4%, calcium 35%, vitamin D 40%
• oats – iron 6%
• dry onions – vitamin C 4%
• potato flakes – vitamin C 6%
• spaghetti – iron 15%, thiamin 30%, riboflavin 20%, niacin 15%, folate 25%
• macaroni – iron 15%, thiamin 30%, riboflavin 20%, niacin 15%, folate 25%
• apple slices – NONE
• carrots – vitamin A 610%, vitamin C 15%, calcium 6%, iron 6%
• refried beans – vitamin C 4%, calcium 4%, iron 15%
• cocoa mix – calcium 15%, iron 4%
• white flour – iron 8%, thiamin 20%, riboflavin 10%, niacin 10%, folate 15%
• fruit drink mix – vitamin A 10%, vitamin C 100%, calcium 10%, vitamin D 10%, vitamin E 10%, vitamin D 10%, vitamin E 10%, thiamin 10%, riboflavin 10%, niacin 10%, vitamin B6 10%, folate 10%, vitamin B12 10%, biotin 10%, pantothenic acid 10%

I was quite surprised that the fruit drink mix came in as perhaps the most well-rounded long term storage product in the above list. I’m also surprised that the apple slices don’t seem to include and vitamins and that the vitamin A content in carrots is 610%. I should also mention that I would imagine the aforementioned foods include additional vitamins and minerals not listed but are not in sufficient quantity to list on the label.
Now, here’s where we stand for each vitamin and mineral. Note that any item listed below with an asterik (*) was not originally listed in the aforementioned RDA chart but on the long term food storage label instead:

• boron – NONE
• calcium – black beans, pinto beans, white beans, white wheat, dry milk, carrots, refried beans, cocoa mix, fruit drink mix
• chloride – NONE
• chlorine – NONE
• copper – NONE
• fluoride – NONE
• folic acid (folate) – white rice, spaghetti, macaroni, white flour, fruit drink mix
• iodine – NONE
• iron – black beans, pinto beans, white beans, white rice, white wheat, red wheat, oats, spaghetti, macaroni, carrots, refried beans, cocoa mix, white flour
• magnesium – NONE
• manganese – NONE
• molybdenum – NONE
• nickel – NONE
• phosphorus – NONE
• selenium – NONE
• sodium – NONE
• vanadium – NONE
• vitamin A – dry milk, carrots, fruit drink mix
• *vitamin B1 (thiamin) – white rice, spaghetti, macaroni, white flour, fruit drink mix
• *vitamin B2 (riboflavin) – spaghetti, macaroni, white flour, fruit drink mix
• vitamin B3 (niacin) – white rice, spaghetti, macaroni, white flour, fruit drink mix
• *vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) – fruit drink mix
• vitamin B6 – fruit drink mix
• *vitamin B7 or H (biotin) – fruit drink mix
• *vitamin B12 - fruit drink mix
• vitamin C – pinto beans, white rice, dry onions, potato flakes, carrots, refried beans, fruit drink mix
• vitamin D – dry milk, fruit drink mix
• vitamin E – fruit drink mix
• zinc – NONE

Obviously, there are quite a few needs shown above that don’t have any associated long term food storage food, the vast majority of which are minerals… that’s not good! Moreover, there are also vitamins that only have one or two associated long term foods, which doesn’t lend for much variety. On the other hand, there are a few very specific needs–folate, iron, a few B vitamins, and vitamin C–that seem fairly well covered.
So, where do we stand?
Like I mentioned previously, I’m sure you’ll be adding a variety of additional store-bought canned goods and other foods to supplement your long term foods. Perhaps you even have a variety of canned meats, dehydrated vegetables, and some eggs stored, all of which are HIGHLY recommended for other reasons besides vitamins and mineral content, including protein, fats, etc. In fact, it’s specifically foods like meats, dairy, vegetables, and fruits that contain many of the missing minerals.
All that said, looking from just a vitamin and mineral standpoint and focusing on long term foods storage foods only, the data looks fairly clear: include a vitamin supplement in your long term preps. Or, at the very least, a mineral supplement and maybe a vitamin B complex.