I spoke with Optimal and their food has a shelf life over a year, but they always keep low inventory so what they ship out is always fresh. Only reason to order a years worth is to save money on shipping, thus cost per bag. 1 bag is $50, where ordering a pallet reduces it to $36/bag. If you are ordering a few bags a year, it doesn't really matter and no need to have a lot of extra bags laying around, but if you are ordering 20, 30 or more it can be a big factor.
