Mama Bear's General Store — The general | mamabearsgeneralstore.com
Behind the counter, three numbers run the store: 1-4°C for chilled lines, -18°C or colder for frozen stock, and the shelf life that decides when each line must sell.
Chilled holding covers dairy, deli and ready-to-eat items. The working range is 1-4°C, and 4°C (40°F) is the food-code limit — a cabinet drifting above it is out of compliance even if the food still looks fine.
Frozen stock holds at -18°C or colder. Ice cream is the exception that needs more precision: it is kept between -23 and -18°C, a narrower band than the rest of the freezer.
On narrow screens, swipe or scroll the plate sideways.
Shelf life sets the reorder rhythm. Sealed pasteurized milk keeps 10-21 days at 4°C and 3-7 days after opening; canned staples hold best quality for 2-5 years, while high-acid canned tomato and fruit keep 12-18 months; sealed flour keeps 6-8 months and white rice 2 years or more at 15-25°C.
The daily routine is short and non-negotiable: read every cabinet thermometer at opening, log the values, and repeat at closing. Typical failures are a door left ajar after restocking, a cabinet packed so tight that air cannot circulate, and a slow defrost that goes unnoticed until the stock is lost.
These limits feed directly back into the stocking plan (/stocking-plan-small-store): a line that keeps 10-21 days cannot be ordered monthly, and a line that keeps 2-5 years can.
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