Canned food shelf life ???

[cwtebay]

I just read an interesting article about powdered milk that was taken on the Stapleton expedition in 1914 that was recovered by the Kiwi's fairly recently. It was found to be edible still. Granted - extreme temperatures.

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[dverna]

Y2K was when I started prepping. I recall the anxiety and I fell for it like millions of others.

The thing I remember most is buying ten 5 gallon plastic gas storage containers. In hindsight, they worked out OK as I have not had to buy the "safe" style cans they sell now that leak gas all over you when trying to use them.

[MT Gianni]

Canned foods generally start to lose taste and flavors after a couple of years. It can take 15-20 for them to lose nutrition. IIRC, the first to go are water based vegetables that leach stuff into the fluids. If you ever have to be in a situation where you are eating 15 year old green beans remember to drink the juice.

[Three44s]

"Wow! You have been around for awhile! "

Not really but I sure feel like it sometimes! Lol!

Three44s

[Winger Ed.]

I got hammered for not prepping when Y2K was coming down the road.
If all computers crashed I'd tell people the worst that would happen is that your water bill might be a couple days late.

Oh yeah,,, the villagers came after me with torches and pitch forks like when the Frankenstein monster went into
the town and got into mischief.

[Three44s]

Winger Ed,

I sure enjoy your mirth! That alone is worth belonging here!

Three44s

[elmacgyver0]

If you get only one thing from this whole thread it should be this.
Buy only things you like to eat and rotate your stock.
If you keep a three-year supply of food on hand, you will be eating three-year-old food, as you will be eating the oldest first.
If this does not appeal to you, then you are not much of a prepper.

[waksupi]

I got hammered for not prepping when Y2K was coming down the road.
If all computers crashed I'd tell people the worst that would happen is that your water bill might be a couple days late.

Oh yeah,,, the villagers came after me with torches and pitch forks like when the Frankenstein monster went into
the town and got into mischief.

The yard sales were great for a couple years after Y2K!

[timboslice]

It depends on what the food is and what you are storing it in. Take tomatoes, for instance. They are acidic (this is mostly true for heirloom varieties) so if you plan on pressure canning them at home in a glass jar, they should last indefinitely as long as the seal holds; you can even throw in some citric acid to give it a bit more acidity but that is only really necessary if you are using a hot bath to can. The only thing that will degrade is taste but otherwise it will be fine. Now if you get them from the store, the cans have a thin plastic coating on the inside to prevent the acid from eating through the can. This coating has a tendency to erode and it will make the tomatoes taste funky and eventually they will go bad. Don't get any cans that have dents or bulging. In my opinion, if you want something that will last forever, can at home in glass vessels (they are unreactive to any product that humans consume). If you are unsure about a previously canned product, throw it away.....but you can also boil it (rolling boil...I believe the consensus is to get the temp to about 260 F) for at least ten minutes for acidic food and 20 minutes for all others; there are a lot of white papers from many universities on this. This will NOT destroy botulism but will destroy the spores and make it safe to eat. On a side note, one cool thing to do is to vacuum pack dry beans and rice; they will be good forever and are nutrient rich.

[dverna]

The yard sales were great for a couple years after Y2K!

I still have the generator I bought for Y2K. It was one of many purchases that turned out for the better by prepping for the event. Which leads me to...

Stocking up on stuff like canned foods is seldom going to be a bad idea or waste of money. Buy stuff you use like others have advised.

Two years ago, we bought 20 cases of canned peas, corn and green beans. We had so much already that we have just started using some. We paid $.20 can. $48 for enough "crap" (what gardeners call it) to last us a long time. We endured snickering from a couple that grow a large garden about how much better their veggies were compared to the "junk" we bought.

Buying stuff on sale is how to be prepared and save money without spending a fortune. Like I said in a previous post, we have consumed canned stuff 12 years old without any issues. When you dump a can of corn into a chicken pot pie, does it really matter anyway?

Today, canned veggies are less than $.65 each on sale. You cannot grow them at that price. If you can, it costs $.15 for the lid. Filling a freezer with frozen veggies gets expensive and they do not last more than a year. Unless your canned food storage area freezes, canned goods last over a decade.

[fiberoptik]

Canned bambi in 2002. Just finished her off. Tasted just fine. In the Marines back into ‘84 we were still eating C-Rats from Vietnam. Just avoided the tuna. Acidic foods tend to eat through the cans, stuff Like beets/tomatoes/pickles/sauerkraut. Pineapple too. I ate a 12 year old can of pineapple and the galvanized coating flaked off on the bottom layer. It did taste a bit metallic…..

[RayinNH]

Here 'ya go. https://www.biancaamor.com/bbd

[cwtebay]

Here 'ya go. https://www.biancaamor.com/bbd

I've seen that before. Cornmeal??? Flour ??? Sugar ?? Pickles?? I am quite certain that it's still good after that long.
I have a container of salt that I keep on my desk that has an expiration date in 1913 - betting there's not much problem there.
I definitely would not be eating canned goods after 5 years if store bought. But my brothers and cousins and I celebrated my great uncle's life by eating his pickels canned in '63 and drinking his chokecherry wine from '31. We had a great time and all are still kickin!

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[Stew]

When I started canning I read that less acidic canned foods degrade after a year, this includes meat. I went to our local Ag Extension Service office and asked. The word I was given was that they don't actually "expire", but after a year you may notice a reduction in quality. We have eaten food, including meat, that we canned two years before and it tasted just fine, with no ill effects.

[uscra112]

Couple of years ago I opened a can of Dinty Moore that predated Y2K. Nuked it and ate it. Tasted normal, and I'm still alive.

[WILCO]

I opened a can of corn recently.
Month or two past the "Best By" date.
Bottom half of the can was rotten.
Really ticked me off, as it was the last ingredient into the pot.

[Rickf1985]

I remember the C-Rats from Vietnam, most were dated back to WWII and Korea. But at that time you have to remember that WWII was only 25 years prior. Even then in the jungle heat and humidity, (Liquid air) they were going bad pretty quickly. The ham was the first to go from what I saw. Most of the other stuff in the box was pretty bland and tasteless. But I have to laugh when the younger G!'s were complaining about how bad MRI's are. Take their MRI's away and give them C-Rats for a week and they will never complain again! Anyone have good info on the longevity of MRI's? I have a case that is probably 15 years old.

[cwtebay]

I remember the C-Rats from Vietnam, most were dated back to WWII and Korea. But at that time you have to remember that WWII was only 25 years prior. Even then in the jungle heat and humidity, (Liquid air) they were going bad pretty quickly. The ham was the first to go from what I saw. Most of the other stuff in the box was pretty bland and tasteless. But I have to laugh when the younger G!'s were complaining about how bad MRI's are. Take their MRI's away and give them C-Rats for a week and they will never complain again! Anyone have good info on the longevity of MRI's? I have a case that is probably 15 years old.

My uncles thought that C Rations were the perfect hunting fare. There was a case of them in the cabin we hunted out of (maybe still there!!). I don't know the difference but the gold colured cans were somehow SO much worse than the green cans.



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[Kestrel4k]

My first decade growing up in Bush AK, we always had a few C rations kicking around the camp gear. I thought they were pretty good as a kid - of course, even boxed mac & cheese is good at that age lol. I /really/ liked the caraway cheese spread though - would certainly have liked more of that.

[gwpercle]

Spam doesn't have an expiration date ... it's like wine , it ages and develops complex flavors ...

I like the new Maple flavored Spam ... It's Good !
Gary