Canned food shelf life ???

[Dom]

Is there any definitive info on the shelf life of canned foods ? Canned meats, chilies, pasta's, veges, etc ?

[Winger Ed.]

Now there's a good topic that'll get some responses.
I know the 'expiration date' is quite debatable.

There was a story awhile back about some folks that went to the South Pole and found an abandoned
camp that was over a hundred years old. There was canned goods still on the shelves.
The new arrivals ate some of them and said they were still just fine.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

It depends on what it is. A fellow I knew years ago was worried about what they referred to as "Y2K". If you weren't around then, that means "Year Two Thousand". The great fear was that the world was going to grind to a halt because the computers weren't programed to accept a date that didn't start with "19", like 1999, so they would shut down or make mistakes that would interrupt the food chain, etc. Well, since I prefer not to err at all, but on the side of caution when I do, he talked me into starting to stockpile extra food. I've actually still got some canned food marked 1998, but I'd be extremely cautious about eating it today. The first stuff to eat through the cans was canned tomatoes, be they diced, sauce, paste--whatever. Next was pineapple chunks, rings--whatever. Applesauce did not keep past a few years.

On the other hand, canned meats keep well for much longer than you'd think. I've got corned beef, chunk white meat chicken, tuna, salmon, that is long past the expiration date and is still good. Canned chili with beans keeps well for years. Canned veggies like beans and corn are still o.k. 10 years after purchase. The main rule is that if it looks o.k., smells o.k., and a small sample tastes o.k., then it probably is o.k.

Cook everything well. Use common sense, and if it doesn't look o.k., toss it. I see pasta on your list-- great! It lasts almost forever if properly stored. Flour stores well for me. I buy the little 5 lb. bags and place them unopened in 2 lb. coffee cans. Perfect fit, and I have yet to open one that went bad. Not so lucky with corn meal which seems to mold after 1-2 years. Dry and dehydrated foods like beans and rice if properly stored will last a long, long time and can be the basis for many dishes. Dehydrated potatoes are a good choice.

Well, I got in the habit of buying a few extra items when I went shopping and setting them aside/storing them away. Unfortunately, I was well into it before I decided that inventory rotation would be a good idea. Now I've got years of supplies saved up and one of this summer's projects is going to be sorting through it and seeing what to dispose of. So, that would be my "word to the wise"-- rotate your inventory and try to use the oldest and replace it with what you like and will use-- not just what's on sale.

DG

[Brassmonkey]

Supposedly, you can store raw unwashed eggs in a lime bath for years.

[georgerkahn]

My thoughts -- "thoughts" being the operative term -- is that the two main reasons for dates on cans are to ensure turnover -- more $$$s for the sellers-- as well as a slight margin vis eating safety. My GUESS re the latter is to address folks who live in, say, the Needles, California area and keep canned goods in a sunny upper-floor non-air conditioned domicile. Sooo -- to my way of thinking, those who store canned goods in a basement pantry with average temps between 50*F and 70*F -- may well exceed those dates. I've noted the dates are preceded with, "Best by..." as opposed to, "If you open/eat this can after a/b/c date you may, or will, get food poisoning"! Just -- maybe I got lucky -- a few days ago I wanted some blue cheese dressing -- and there was an unopened jar (brand is "Ken's") in pantry with a best-by date of August 2018 on it. It looked OK; smelled OK; and... tasted yummy on my salad. No ill effects...
geo

[country gent]

I worked for Campbells Soups, each can had the expiration date on the bottom. This was a for sure date. Storage of the cans makes a big difference. In Winger Eds instance the cold temps out of the sun would have extended the life a lot. On the other side I was saw a rail car of soup that sat on a siding for 2 months in the summer. Just about every can was round headed from the build up of pressure. Cooked in the can makes for an almost perfect vacuum. the seal and rolled seam makes a very good seal. New cans are 2 piece 1 body formed from a plate and cup,doing away with the older side seams. From the late 70s early 80 side seam cans were welded before that machine soldered. Cans from the era of the post above would have been hand soldered.

Another factor is the acidity of whats in the can.

[Bazoo]

We store a small amount of cans, and we've found that something like green beans will be edible 2-3 years after the date and taste okay to just fine. But... 5-6 years or more, and most things we've saved don't taste good enough to eat unless you were starving. Cans start swelling intermittently at around 5-6 years past the date too.

So... about 5 years.

Most of that old stuff would be suitable for soup or stew, or starvation. The dogs love it.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I was in the army in Germany in the early 1960s and we were routinely eating up the C-Rations canned in 1943. So at that time they were already 18-20 years old. The cans were all painted OD color, so that no doubt prevented the cans from rusting. No one, that I recall, got sick from eating them. Some that I can remember were beefsteak and potatoes, chicken and noodles, ham and lima beans.

DG

[Electrod47]

in 1968 while in Germany with the 3rd AD we fought over C-Rations dated 1955.......Wieners and Beans, they were the best.

[Dom]

Wow, great news. I have dry beans, Pintos, etc I have stored in there original paper or cloth sacks. Stored in the basement in plastic garbage cans that have tight fitting lids. I've lost track now how old they are Ten years any way. They have been kept dry & bug free. Still perfect. Cook up a batch every now & then. Of course have added new since then to keep the supply up.

[NSB]

Those dehydrated meals they sell in places like Cabela’s have a 40 year shelf like. Stamped right on the bag. They also taste pretty good but are expensive. That stuff found in Antarctica was probably soldered and it’s not the food that kills you, it’s lead poisoning. Some of those corpses they dug up from back then died of lead poisoning from eating it when it was “fresh”.

[Nobade]

I can tell ya that if you have a large amount of canned food stored somewhere it can freeze, the cans will burst and when you do find it you will need some serious breathing filtration to get past the smell and clean up the mess.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Canned food losses it's quality as it ages. Acidic foods and sweetened foods will last longer than those without.
They say rice gets better with age, I have some basmati rice, BIG bag, I bought over ten years ago, stored in the heated part of the house, still tastes good, but I wouldn't say it's better than when I bought it. Dry beans are another thing. I've found they start to lose quality after a couple years, still eatable though. I had some Pintos stored about 10 years in the house and they are more difficult to hydrate and to get them fully hydrated, they turn to mush...but if you are making bean soup, I guess it don't matter.
that's my 2¢

[Delkal]

The only cans I saw that went bad were always some kind of tomatoes and the cans started bulging. But when in doubt make sure you hard boil the food for at least 15 min to neutralize the toxin. Don't just warm it up and eat it.

[cwtebay]

Not sure if there are any Mormons on this forum - but the LDS Church has extensive testing and information about various canned goods. I believe that they are encouraged to keep 2 years of food on hand at all times, so if anyone would know - they would.


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[dverna]

Oldest I have used is 12 years…peas, corn, green beans. All were fine.

[Delkal]

Not sure if there are any Mormons on this forum - but the LDS Church has extensive testing and information about various canned goods. I believe that they are encouraged to keep 2 years of food on hand at all times, so if anyone would know - they would.

AFAIK the Mormon's "canned" food are canned dried ingredients like rice / bean or other dehydrated foods that have a shelf life of 25 years and they are usually in #10 cans. Not the wet canned stuff most by from the grocery store. They do sell these to non Mormons at an LDS cannery and they are usually much cheaper than the "survival food" places.

[Kestrel4k]

Thx for the report Don; I have similar and think I am pushing that ...

[MaryB]

AFAIK the Mormon's "canned" food are canned dried ingredients like rice / bean or other dehydrated foods that have a shelf life of 25 years and they are usually in #10 cans. Not the wet canned stuff most by from the grocery store. They do sell these to non Mormons at an LDS cannery and they are usually much cheaper than the "survival food" places.

Many Mormon canneries sell to the public too! https://store.churchofjesuschrist.or...e/5637169327.c

[contender1]

Supposedly, you can store raw unwashed eggs in a lime bath for years.

I have a friend that gifts me some of the best eggs I've ever gotten. Super jumbo's and all double yolked. I got so many at once,, that I first pickled about 6 quarts. Then I canned 4 gallons of them in a lime bath. All good.