Storing oats, help

[valgal123]

I have 2 containers of oats that are open in my pantry. one is in a normal cardboard cylider filled with rolled oats, open about a year. Another, gluten free oats in a big plastic bag closed tight, but opened, for about 3- 6 months. Now i know that oats go rancid over time, but how quickly. i really wouldn't want to have to throw out the GF oats because they are expensive, also if you eat rancid oats does it make you sick? i have been searching for info on oats for months!! and can't find anything to help me.

[duonyte]

If they don't seem stale or musty smelling, and there are none of those horrible pantry moths about, I think you're safe using them. I'm sure I've had oatmeal around for that long. Oats are not a high oil grain, so they are less likely to go rancid.

[texasmom61]

I store mine in the freezer because I just don't use it enough.
Never had a probelm doing this.

[Pa. Hiker]

I have a son who eats oatmeal daily for breakfast. At one time we had a bulk food store in the area, and we would buy a barrel of it at a time, lasted 6-8 months with no problems.