Todays “Lets See What Happens” episode is a six year old can of corned beef hash. Nominal ‘best by’ date was three years ago. So….how is it?
Fine. Of course.
Properly canned food lasts pretty much indefinitely. This can features the pre-scored ‘pop top’ feature that don’t really like in canned goods. If you drop the can or pressure is applied against the pre-scored region the can will fail more often than if it were not pre-scored. But, unfortauntely, these small single-serve cans were not available without the pop-top features. But…they held up just fine.
Storage conditions? Just sitting in the back of my kitchen cabinet for six years. Nothing special.
And that’s sort of the point. While I fully appreciate the nitrogen sealed, ceramic lined #10 cans filled with freeeze dried meats that will last longer than I will…..I also appreciate that modern food canning processes, by first world companies, do an awesome job of creating a product that will last a long time. Sometimes there is a need for a $40 can of freeze-dried pork chops, but sometimes you’ll get along just fine with a case of Kirkland canned pulled pork. It just depends on a few other things like if you plan to transport it, what the storage conditions will be, etc. I love me some long-term food but, really, you can put together a very reasonably long-term food supply without breaking the bank on ‘survival food’.
I bet the folks in whats left of Florida would be happy to have some hash and eggs for breakfast after a long evening of clearing debris and unblocking roads. A case of this stuff, a #10 can of powdered eggs, a case of instant oatmeal, a case of fruit cocktail cups, a jar of Tang, instant coffee, some hash browns, and you’ve pretty much got a breakfast that’ll last five-ten years.
As I’ve mentioned, around this house the food storage paradigm is short-, mid-, and long-term storage. This stuff counts as ‘mid-term’ storage….it’ll be good for more than a year or two but probably not out at the twenty year mark. I wish I had written the price down, I’d be curious to see where the price went.
I’ve happily eaten canned meat that was ten years old. They went through un-air conditioned Florida summers and then sat in an unheated RV through northern Nevada winters. The surface rust finally started getting serious so I had to use them up. Otherwise they would have lasted much longer ( a shame, as they were pre-Y2K cans at a $1 whereas they sell for $3 or $4 now ). But I’m glad most folks think there is a magic switch going from the expiration date to the inside contents-I get a lot of free food that way.
Me too (somebody oughta make a hashtag out of that :^) – found some old Bush’s Baked Beans in back of cabinet on top of kitchen wall cabinet (hard up against ceiling which can get pretty toasty). I did have a few cans of tomato paste ‘self detonate’ by themselves, but the cans with intact bodies – no problem, flavor was hardly affected at all.
My only comment is….how did hash last long without being eaten? I love the stuff and barely can keep any in the house. đŸ™‚
These dates are pure marketing propaganda. And sadly for those that won;t use them past the dates, from what I understand, most food banks won’t take them.
Unfortunate how much food gets dumped in this worry, be safe country.
Just ate a can of Dinty Moore stew with an expiration in 2011 (I actually do a pretty good job of rotating but this fell behind the stack of others and I found it when straightening up) mixed it with a 2015 can of Hormel roast beast and a 2017 can of Great Value mixed veg also found while straightening. All in perfect if a little dusty condition. A bit of extra seasonings and it was delish. Girlfriend had some too and she normally isn’t the canned stew type – she also thought it was very good.
Keep my stacks on the same wire racks you have in a poured concrete basement with a constant 60% humidity and between 65 and 75 temp – higher than I like but I’m just lucky to HAVE a basement in the area of the Deep South I live in. Dry as an old bone and no pest problem so it’s close to ideal in all other ways. Only bad cans lately has been 2 cans of Vigo Palm Hearts that leaked and they weren’t even expired (bad pull tops from Brazil – go figure)
Best Regards
Not often to see basements down south. Did you build with a basement, or were you fortunate enough to find a house with one? We are planning on including a basement when we build, specifically for food storage. Just not a lot of examples to go look at around here (northern Florida). Or contractors. The basement I’m most familiar with leaks like a sieve. I’m talking feet of standing water after a heavy rain. There are some major design issues though- clay being one, but the house sits lower than the road and all of the runoff washes right up to their foundation. No gutters or downspouts either. Sounds like you’ve got a good things going. Any design features you could suggest for keeping things dry?
I’m the second owner of a home built by the owner of a local cement company back in the early 80’s. It was constructed from about 80 cubic yards of poured concrete according to an old friend of the builder and is set on a 2 foot thick slab with the basement set / poured into it like a integral room.
They first built up a mound to set the home on due to the heavy limestone layer just below the surface soil around here to get the structure above that layer to allow for a basement / tornado shelter. The home sits about 5 above the backyard on a slope due to the site prep. I’m told that there was a damp problem in the basement originally which was solved by the concrete being sealed with waterproofing compound and it’s been perfectly dry since I bought it ten years ago.
The place is built like a reinforced military bunker strength wise (the guy was once a B52 nuclear bombardier) and could probably take tank cannon fire to the walls for a fair amount of time! Never worried about surviving a tornado hit though…
I’m wrapping up a project in Saint Augustine, FL for the county utility department. 180,000 gallon water storage tank. 18″ thick walls, 24″ slab, double mat of #8 rebar. Got me thinking that I might want to build my basement in a similar way. It holds water in, it should hold water out right? Block masonry just seemed to leave way too many potential cracks in the wall for a basement. I also like the idea of a storm shelter. Thanks for your response. Didn’t want to pry, but was super curious.
Now I just have to figure out how to become the owner of a local cement company and I’ll be set.
Not prying at all and glad to share useful info. Poured concrete is the way to go IMHO. Especially in areas with high water tables. It’s very nice to have a safe bolt hole here in tornado country and I’ve had to use it several times to wait out some bad storms. A downsized version of your project in S.A. sounds perfect to me!
Best Regards
Only really ‘dangerous’ canned goods I’ve ever seen were the syrupy, sweet fruit-based stuff – pie fillings, etc. ‘Fertile ground’ for botulism, I guess.
It seems to be anything acidic so that’s syrups, pineapple and tomatoes.
Hormel is one brand I know has stated their canned foods are “shelf stable”. I wonder how well a no-name can of similar stuff would have tasted.
I too stock canned food deep. Although through cycling the older cans to the front and eating them means most of my canned goods are still unexpired. this tells me I need to stock deeper.
I’ve had similar thoughts – most canned goods will last for a long time these days, and even most boxed goods last for WAY longer than their marked dates. I recently had 6 year old boxed stuffing mix that was quite good.
While the freeze dried stuff is top of the line and lasts a long time, it is overkill for almost all situations likely to be seen in the US – in my mind, everything except a years long collapse scenario.
I think that cans, especially with sauce or flavoring, would be a great thing to have on hand to make basic cheap food more interesting.