I recently received an email which involves a person who went to a mayonnaise factory. This person writes that storing cut onions in a fridge is very bad as onions quickly become filled with bacteria and are then dangerous to eat. I looked on the internet and found at snopes.com the reference to the email in question. According to snopes mayonnaise can be stored in the fridge almost indefinitely due to its PH, however the mystery remains, are diced onions poisonous if held onto for a length of time (apparently even overnight) ?

http://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/cutonions.asp

On a similar topic I have been told the same thing about cooked rice, that it should be stored in the deep freeze due to bacteria contamination, even overnight,  in the fridge.

Thanks

Paul(South Africa)

I am assuming we would have a supply of water and something with which to cook and that the freezers would keep working normally. What would be a problem first; lack of protein, carbs or minerals?  In my family's discussions we agree about the order in which we would eat the food, but not about how long it would last, 1 year, 5 years, a lifetime?

Some things have a short shelf life, like bread.  Bread could be made from ingredients on shelves but not for very long, since there are not large stocks of such ingredients, and it only takes one to run out.

Obviously, the answer would be highly variable if the food is rationed, but the question is really about eating a healthy, balanced diet.