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Why I am phasing back canned foods

9K views 70 replies 39 participants last post by  Nomad 2nd 
#1 ·
I only have X amount of time and money. In the big picture, I feel those resources would be better served by working on renewable food sources than buying canned foods.

25 years ago up until recently my main food prep was canned and dried foods. A can rotation system was put in, but was still buying more canned foods than my family was eating.

I recently decided to shift gears and go with renewable and freeze dried foods.

I still keep canned foods on hand, but not cases of them. More like a couple of weeks of canned foods and in very select items.

Examples:

  • Peanut butter
  • Spam
  • Canned beans
  • Tomatoes



This may not be for everyone. I live on a farm and have fig and pear trees and have a garden. Rather than buying canned foods, I am putting resources to my fruit trees, chickens and fencing off a few acres for goats, sheep and maybe cattle.
 
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#37 ·
I have pretty much quit buying commercially canned foods in tin cans also because of the very short life of the cans on many types of food. I still buy commercial food that is in glass or plastic (especially glass).

I too live on a farm and potentially can produce all the necessities. Now I know there are limitations that won't grow in my area but I do stockpile most of these things and plan on substititing and bartering. Drought can potentially be a problem but normally here, irrigation is not an extreme need plus I have several wells plus a couple of never failing (at least so far) springs. A couple of creeks that do get rather low but always some water. Drought is something to be considered and would create a hardship by increasing the work load but not become emergency status. I have hauled water from my creek in buckets to water some needy plants but not a normal routine.

My concentration now is on extending my growing season plus particularly home canning (experimenting with plastic lids to totally eliminate rust problems) and other natural means of preservation (solar drying, curing, etc.)
 
#38 ·
I've found out the hard way why canned food is important - rodents can't get into it. Our little friends have gnawed through thick cardboard, plastic, climbed 8 foot cupboards right to the top, got into those half way up the wall (overhead). They have eatten literally anything and everything with a liking for tea light candles, soap, chocolate, dog food - you name it they have ruined it. They even ate the top off a 2 litre bottle of sunflower oil to go skinny dipping.

I'm going to increase our canned food stash, and replace anything plastic with thick Kilner type jars.
 
#52 ·
This is a big deal.

In a true collapse, how will you protect your bounty? The idea that you will be out there 24/7 with a shotgun is a fantasy.

I'm tending toward getting what I have stored more hidden. I'm getting ready to build again, and I really want a basement (they're unheard of in much of Texas).

I'm still bying canned food, because of rodent protection and the liquid in the cans, but I'm being selective about what I buy. How much food value is in a can of green beans? Not much. And no tomato products in metal...none.
 
#68 ·
I think your reply is mostly off the thread topic but I will play along for a little while.....

My answers in blue

Sooo... 400 acre rural location.

Due to the size it's probably safe to say it's far enough from chemical spills etc for that not to be a threat.

I agree. But there are many other threats that are not linked to the amount of land I own.

Baring forrest fire (which if you have such a place you likely have below grade storage...)

Yes forest fires are a threat where I am.


I'm trying REALLY HARD to come up with a scinario where:
It's BETTER to be a refugee
I define a refugee as someone without the means to feed/shelter themselves. If I had to bug out from my farm (because I really needed to), I would be taking food and shelter (among many other things) with me
There's going to be gas avalable.
Yes I have thousands of gallons of diesel on my farm. Most farms do.....
And/or:
Your not STILL better off with lighter weight foods.
You are still not getting it. I have lots of lighter weight freeze dried food too. I would take that and my canned food and my mylar bag food with me if I had to bug out by vehicle. All those foods are robust enough to travel a long distance by vehicle. But a big pile of mason jars full of home canned food are not.....

Can you help me out here?
Commercially canned food has some very useful strengths:
1) Lower cost/calorie than freeze dried food
2) Very robust (good for vehicle bug out if you can carry the weight)
3) Long shelf life (longer than the best before dates anyway)
4) Diverse menu - I like the taste of all the canned foods that I have bought. I eat them regularly.
5) Good trading value (better acceptance than home canned)
6) Availability of foods that cannot be grown in your local climate
7) Does not need additional water to eat
8) Easy preparation (potentially without cooking)

And yet again, I am not saying they are the only food that people should prep. I am saying that I wouldn't exclude them from my preps just because I was homesteading/gardening, cropping or had livestock.
 
#71 ·
I think your reply is mostly off the thread topic but I will play along for a little while.....

It's amusing that you think a reply discussing the (lack of) merit of commercially canned food in a thread ABOUT reducing commercial canned food stocks is "mostly off topic" LOL! :xeye:

My answers in blue



Commercially canned food has some very useful strengths:
1) Lower cost/calorie than freeze dried food
2) Very robust (good for vehicle bug out if you can carry the weight)
3) Long shelf life (longer than the best before dates anyway)
4) Diverse menu - I like the taste of all the canned foods that I have bought. I eat them regularly.
5) Good trading value (better acceptance than home canned)
6) Availability of foods that cannot be grown in your local climate
7) Does not need additional water to eat
8) Easy preparation (potentially without cooking)

And yet again, I am not saying they are the only food that people should prep. I am saying that I wouldn't exclude them from my preps just because I was homesteading/gardening, cropping or had livestock.
I am glad to hear mason jars cannot travel.
I guess the couple cases I drove down to my mother at Christmas weren't eaten by her, the box of assorted jellies my aunt mailed to me didn't arrive, and I didn't drive (over 4x4 roads) 6 quart jars of seafood stock I made to give away.

And I didn't carry a gal of beef roast in a glass pickle jar this past weekend down the mtn and a couple hours away to share for dinner.

...oh wait! That's right... all that DID happen!

Yes it has to be packed.
Or do you keep all your metal cans rolling around loose?:cool:


You talked alot, but you (very carefully) never answered my questions, so I'll try one more time:
I'm trying REALLY HARD to come up with a scinario where:
It's BETTER to be a refugee
There's going to be gas avalable.
And/or:
Your not STILL better off with lighter weight foods.

Can you help me out here?
I'm NOT saying "don't eat them"
I have (as I said) a (very) few.

But my, and I think his point was that (with rare exceptions like canned passion fruit juce or something....)
They don't do anything other things don't do BETTER! (IF you REALLY want me to go through your "numbers" and refute most of them I will.)

But again: at home they don't do anything my home canned foods (except the passion fruit remember) don't do better. (Higher quality, renewable container, cheaper, etc)
And if bugging out:
How many Appalachian trail hikers carry their food in metal cans?
Even if you DO have "insert high number of storage space here" AND vehicle spairs, AND a pit crew to fix problems and get you out of there while being shot at, AND a bridging crew, AND various tanker trucks (Insert more absurdities here ) it's STILL an inefficient use of resources. The weight of the food value vs the weight of the water and container.... add it up!

And if you ARE a refugee (defined as loosing your home, with no place to go) carrying the TEMPORARY means to (after a fashion) feed and shelter yourself... maximizing those should be a PRIORITY!
NOT deliberately reducing your resources!

Exclude: no.
Have as a very, very small % of your resurrection because other means of food storage are superior in ALMOST ALL instances: yes.

There ARE exceptions. I'm about to order and then rotate through some red feather commercially canned butter and cheese.
....because there ARE 'A few' things your better off getting commercially packed.
(Anybody got a good source? ):thumb:
 
#40 ·
I believe what food one stores & how is dependent on their personal situation. +, the type, timing & length of whatever "it" hits the fan.

"Threat" analysis indicates most SHTF events will be local, or localized, while some may be regional. To me, worst case is an EMP and/or "nuclear winter" and/or a widespread “pandemic” situation.

Normal everyday store bought canned good have a shelf life well beyond the “best by” date stamped on them. The better brands of prep type foods particularly in #10 tin cans have extended shelf lives. If (BIG IF) they are stored in continuously cool clean dry conditions.

The reality is, very few have the means, land & all else required to transition into DIY “sustainable” living. Simply because most don’t have the applicable land, orchard, livestock, feed, barn, pasture, the garden space, irrigation, the skill & wherewithal to make that DIY transition.

I am fortunate to have a relatively defensible / sustainable BOL. The “caveat” it to me 20 + years, considerable investment, time, planning & labor to establish it. Even so, I’m not going to stop buying/storing purchased canned goods & stop DIY home canning. Simply because the old adage, “store what you eat & eat what you store” holds true. The wise “rotate” out & consume what foods you stored on a regular basis.

Which is generally a 3 or 4 year time frame for normal canned goods & far longer for other foods well known to store well for 5, 10, 15, or 20 + years. By doing so, you optimize your investment & the nutritional value of stored foods you have invested in.

Just my frugal 2 cents.
 
#42 ·
I have been on a huge kick to can and dehydrate as much of the stuff we grow as possible the last couple years.

Heck, last year I did almost 300lbs in apples alone; either dehydrated or canned (apple sauce etc). This year it should be more; last year most went direct into stores (especially cycling older dehydrated) but this year about 25% of the apples will be for stores and the rest for house use.

We are hoping for a good batch of cukes to make pickles with, maybe corn (weather is all important; we have tried and failed the last two years but have gotten awesome crops of it in the past), better harvest from our multiple plum trees (sadly neglected the last two years), and really get large amounts canned and frozen (not just eat) of some of the carrots, squash, blue berries, raspberries, black berries, and strawberries this year. REALLY want to try dehydrating some strawberries if we get a good crop this season.
 
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#43 ·
For those with a small amount of land, it is possible to grow alot of food. You just need to be willing to rethink the old style or growing.

You don't need to grow in rows and plant your plants certain distances apart. The whole idea of rows are for those with tractors but if you do everything by hand raised beds are a much more efficient way to go.

I might do a thread later on this and my style of growing. I might wait until later in the grow season so I can give some real world numbers.

Someone also mentioned the visibility of a garden. When it comes to that, just think more like the pot growers. There are many ways to conceal a garden, you just have to get creative.
 
#46 ·
For those with a small amount of land, it is possible to grow alot of food. You just need to be willing to rethink the old style or growing.

I totally and 100% agree with you. We do not have a huge amount of land where I am; the area I live in used to sort of be suburbs way back when but as the city grew the region sort of got gobbled up by growth.

The down side is that, technically, I am living in the city. The upside is while my house is an older one it is on a really big yard for the area.

We do all sorts of stuff to make best use of the land, not the least of which being avoiding the classic yard formats and garden beds. My front yard is based around fruit trees and a hedge formed by black berry. Instead of the usual front of the house flower gardens we have grapes, herbs, figs, and plums.

You don't need to grow in rows and plant your plants certain distances apart. The whole idea of rows are for those with tractors but if you do everything by hand raised beds are a much more efficient way to go.

Container gardening presents huge options too. By the use of container gardening, we can have things like potatoes almost all year round. We also have the option of extending the season by taking certain types of plants inside to extend their production time.

I might do a thread later on this and my style of growing. I might wait until later in the grow season so I can give some real world numbers.

Someone also mentioned the visibility of a garden. When it comes to that, just think more like the pot growers. There are many ways to conceal a garden, you just have to get creative.
Fences help too. I also like to use stuff like lots of trees, hedges made of thorny rose bushes, deer fencing mixed in with hedges, and the like to make seeing what is going on in the yard harder to do.
 
#45 ·
I feel it is good to have a couple of sources for your food preps. Canned goods are good as long as you are using them in a timely manner and replacing them. I've kept some canned items too long and have had to dump them.

I also garden; can, freeze and dry my veggies and fruits. But, I realize that if we have a nuclear winter, or the growing season is disrupted for some strange reason, I will need to fall back on what I've purchased or canned. And, that could be up to two seasons, if crops failed or the ground became contaminated. Keeping extra seed on hand is critical.

I think one needs to have a Plan A and a Plan B to fall back on....and, I use the 'What If' scenario all the time....
 
#47 ·
Great thread and Kev has shown us another tool for the prep'n tool kit.

For me can goods are a no brainer for preps. Cheap, packed in their own water and have at least 3-5 years past their best buy life.

Preppen is for the worst case scenario, so if SHTF I really don't care if my can of corn is 5 years past the date on the can, heck that is if I'd even look at that date anyway at that point.

For me I'd have to stick with the cans but as has been stated freeze dried are great in their own way and are very light too.

Great thread.
 
#51 ·
When I first started prepping, I did a little at a time, couple extra can here and there and it gave me peace of mind. Been at it awhile now, I still have canned food, but not as much. I bought the long term storage for even better peace of mind...wheat, oats and other dried goods as well as veg/fruits, cheese, milk and different types of meals and desserts. should shtf, they would be gone through rather fast. I've learned to dehydrate and can both meats and fresh produce, learned to smoke meats but most of that is using electricity. I've been a gardener most of my life and start my own plants often but again that is using modern power source. My next goal is to learn to do it all or as much as possible without power.
 
#57 ·
I've had to eliminate a distressingly large amount of canned goods for what may be a peculiar reason. As I've aged, I've discovered that I am hypersensitive to MSG, and to artificial sweeteners, too. MSG is the real problem, because it is present even when not on the label. Canned soups are notorious, but even those which say "No MSG Added" will have quite a lot when they are based on chicken stock, or contain "hydrolized soy protein", which is especially bad.

Bottom line, about 30% of my canned goods had to be culled out and given to a local food bank.

Something to think about if you are getting on in years. May be OK today, but five years later you might find that you can't eat 'em without getting wicked headaches.
 
#70 ·
It depends mostly upon the type of food in the can.

Some very acidic foods (tomatoes and some fruits) can corrode cans in a couple of years. Some canned meats will last for several decades.

There are many types of commercial canned food that, when stored in a cool and dry place will last a very long time.

Try these threads for info:

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=400288&highlight=canned+food+shelf+life

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=595801&highlight=canned+food+shelf+life

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=437649&highlight=canned+food+shelf+life
 
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