Interesting article that addresses one of the issues about ‘cooking in cans’:

“The current debate often centers on the presence of BPA (bisphenol A) in can linings,” Motta says “At José Gourmet, our tins are BPA-NIA (BPA-Not Intentionally Added), meaning no BPA is deliberately included in the products.” He added that the industry is moving towards 100-percent BPA-free linings in compliance with EU regulations.

My takeaway is that it’s probably not a great idea to cook tinned fish directly in the tin for every meal, but in terms of health impact, it’s similar to microwaving food in a plastic container — an at-your-own-risk kind of activity that falls squarely in line with the improvisational spirit of using whatever’s handy to get the job done. With a better grasp of the science behind cooking in cans, I’m ready to embrace it in spirit if not exactly practice, heating the tinned fish separately and then adding it back to the can to serve.

It used to be a thing that you could cook heat your canned food, say, some Chef Boyardee for example, by putting the can in boiling water. When the food was heated all the way through you could open the can and eat. No muss, no fuss.

The change in this practice started a while back when cans were starting to incorporate plastic liners in them to help keep the cans from rusting and avoid flavor issues from the contents of the can reacting with metal….you can see this most notably in high-acid foods like tomatoes and pineapple which will eventually react with the can in a way that leaves a black ‘mold’ in the can.

This article seems to suggest that if there is an issue with the cans used these days, the negative impact is as minimal as the risk you get from microwaving your food in a plastic container.

I suppose that in a crisis, two or three days of canned ravioli heated in boiling water will do you far less damage than not eating at all, but I think I’m still inclined to just have a quality mess kit and a way to clean it. I am curious, however, about retort pouches. Obviously MRE’s are designed from the ground up to be heated in boiling water. But what about things like pouches of tuna and chicken from the supermarket? Just as boilable as MRE’s? Or are we back to worrying about plastic liners becoming part of our GI tract?

On the other hand, most foods that are canned are already cooked and simply need to be re-heated to be tasty. That doesn’t mean they can’t be eaten cold…just means they won’t be as enjoyable. And ‘not enjoyable’ beats starvation any day of the week.

A few weeks back I received a little ‘cashback bonus’ check from CostCo. I’d been thinking that I would use it to pick up a second freezer for the basement. Of course, thats a pretty simplistic goal because nothing ever goes easy.

I figured I did not want two freezers on the same circuit. If their compressors both came on at the same time, it seemed like that would be a recipe for popping a fuse. The solution, assuming that I was right and that having two frezers on the same circuit was a problem, is to have each freezer on a different circuit. Well…yeah but.

When I moved into the house, it had an electric stove. I threw that thing away, had a gas line run to the kitchen, and put in a gas stove. So, I have a 220 circuit that is completely unused. Could I not have it made to run a 110 freezer? Short answer: with enough money anything is possible.

I asked several people and they all gave me some variation of ‘drop one leg off the 220 outlet and use that’. Look, maybe I could have done it with enough time on YouTube how-to videos, but then when I was done I’d have to call in a pro to unscrew whatever I screwed up. And when you screw up with electricity you either die or your house goes up in smoke. Why not just save a step and go straight to the pro?

So, gal at work has a husband who is an electrician. I shanghai’d him into coming by and looking at my ancient, ancient panel. He remarked it was older than him. And 75 amp service. He said the normal standard these days is 200 amp. But putting in a new panel would require all sortsa contortions to meet the rather annoying codes in this town.

What we wound up doing was running the 220 down into a new itty bitty subpanel and then running the new outlet offa that panel. Whatever, just get it done.

So, finally got my #2 freezer up and running. My plan is to use it as my ‘everyday’ freezer and use #1 as my ‘storage’ freezer. Y’know, rotate stuff outta freezer #1 into freezer #2 for use…that sorta thing. I like having the extra freezer space..not gonna deny it. I’m actually quite excited about getting to have a much better organized freezer space than what I have now.

So..thats the weekend right there. The wiring took a couple hours, cost me a few hundred bucks, but the real PITA was having to move 60 large ammo cans to the other side of the basement to make room for things. THAT was what really wiped me out.

But, hey, I’ve room for lots more bargain meats now.

A few years back I tried some of the canned pork from CostCo and was less than enthused. Was up there this weekend and saw a new brand there and figured it might be worth investigating.

I really have a love/hate relationship with canned meats. I love their utility, value, and logistical help. I just hate the way they smell. I have said it before and it’s true: all canned meat, when you open the container, smells like cat food.

Nonetheless, man does not live on canned chicken and canned beef alone. So I picked up a sleeve of these cans and will try them sometime during the week. Probably in a stir fry or some similar dish.

Of course, you can always can your own meat and save a few bucks but I rather like the compact package of a can like this. If I were going to store a fairly large quantity of canned meat, home canning would be my first choice since this stuff winds up running about $4.64/#. But for a grab-and-go sort of situation, it would certainly be more transportable than a large glass jar. 

Some rice, a can of this stuff, a jar of some type of sauce (Kung Pao, perhaps), some vegetables (canned or freeze dried), and a little sesame oil and you’ve really got something going on.

Anyway, when I crack one of these open I’ll report back and let you know whats what.

Last night was bone-chillingly cold and was accompanied by winds that cut through you like a laser beam. As the expression goes, t’was a night not fit for man nor beast. And what is the one thing that most often would make someone venture out onto the two-lane skating rink? Food. And this is why storing food is, to me, more paramount than almost anything else.

Guns are the super sexy part of survivalism. They are, often, the first thing that a freshly-minted survivalist starts stockpiling. And, sadly, it is often the thing that captures the most resources, attention, and time…often to the detriment of the more mundane things.

There’s no two ways about it, guns (and their attendant accessories) are quite important. But part of the focus of survivalism is…surviving. If I have plenty of food on hand, I don’t have to go anywhere. I don’t have to leave the relative safety of my house. I can stay behind my locked doors, in my heated home, and let the world go by.

Now, you could argue that, if you have the guns then you don’t need to worry about your safety when you leave your house to get food. This is an interesting argument, but it doesn’t pass the smell test. Going out to get food while heavily armed is probably safer than doing that same thing while unarmed. But you know what’s safer than that? Not having to go out at all. By eliminating the need to go out for food you eliminate the risks incurred by ‘going outside your wire’.

There is, of course, risk to staying home as well. However, that’s the same risk regardless of whether you are armed or not. Obviously, the best situation is to be well-stocked with food so that you don’t have to leave your secure area, and then to be armed so you have the ability to defend your secure area.

Nine times out of ten, stored food will be more useful than stored ammo. But, its because of that 10% that we keep the ammo and guns onhand.

Regardless, it’s minus something outside right now and I don’t have to get into a cold truck, risk icy roads, walk across slippery parking lots, ad just in general experience miserable cold….because I have a kitchen and storage area full of food.

So..yay me.