I can’t imagine the incredible amount of food every year that is thrown away because the magical “best buy” or expiration date arrives. It is really a waste. There are many instances where canned foods have been consumed 10 or more years after the expiration date with absolutely zero issues. While I am a big believer in freeze dried foods, rice, and other common foods used for long term storage canned goods should not be ignored.
A good example of this: A 40 year old can of sweet corn was found in a basement in California and a can of relish was discovered aboard the sunken USS Monitor. The foods in both cases were perfectly edible. In fact – the canned corn was reported to no different than fresh.
While canned goods hold several negatives compared to freeze dried they remain extremely budget-friendly and tasty with superior choices which to choose.
Just don’t forget the can opener.
Rourke
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I agree on the canned food. Had an elderly neighbor that would not eat anything if it was one day past the expiration date. I asked her what she did when she was younger and there were no dates on food. Blew her mind.
While canned food can be stored for long periods of time and does not require refrigeration I would like to point out that the nutrition tends to be much lower than good quality freeze dried foods due to the cooking process of canning. There are also other additives that you find in canned foods. We have found that by using freeze dried foods now in our daily cooking we get an upper hand on being proficient in its use for bad times, but we throw out less and eat healthier.
I will admit that during a fecal / fan integration, a full belly will be a huge plus with hungry kids, I prefer to fill those bellies with by meeting nutrition requirements and not needing to stuff them to do so.
As an interesting note, Freeze dried yogurt will still have the all of the health benefits that you get from yogurt in the dairy section of your local grocery store, so your gut stays healthy and you don’t suffer from the stress induced gastro intestinal disorders that others will who have to live on their 500 lbs. of wheat.
This fall I did a bit of a purge of canned goods older than 6 years old past their “best by date” after testing a few cans and finding a half dozen swelled/leaking cans. Canned tomato products had a terrible metallic/tinny taste to them, the powdered milk had a rancid smell, the hershy bars with almonds – chocolate was fine, but almonds were rancid. Evaporated milk cans older than 4 years were a caramel color and a rancid smell/taste. The Chunky soups that were 6 years + years old were tossed after seeing seepage on those stupid easy open lids – worse device for the prepredness minded ever!
But yeah, my boss’s wife is that way these days. If it’s 1 day past the best by date it gets tossed into the trash. They have NO food storage what so ever.
Depends on the product I suppose.. Things canned in a canning fluid or brine.. Like the corn .. is probably safer long term. packages full of air on in plastic that will break down.. are subject to spoilage and or oxidation.. Nuts and in general with oils .. organic oils .. turn rancid.. as mentioned.. We have to be very careful with canned meats .. If canned improperly or in an imperfect or unclean way can result botulism .. ery deadly.
Botulinum toxin, also called “miracle poison,” is one of the most poisonous biological substances known. It is a neurotoxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, an anaerobic, gram-positive, spore-forming rod commonly found on plants, in soil, water and the intestinal tracts of animals. So it can grow in very low oxygen or i.e. canned foods.. It’s one of the reasons commercial canning took off and took place over home canning .. types of poisoning occurred and resulted in some pretty severe illnesses.
Not having been doing this for many many years .. it’s probably a sound practice to test the stored foods periodically.
gg58