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22K views 18 replies 16 participants last post by  SgtBooker44 
#1 ·
Hi All,

I know its stated that Provident Pantry #10 cans last 20-30 years depending on what item it is. I just received some from EE yesterday and had a question. How you can tell what the expiration date is? I have no idea if these cans were pack last month or 5 years ago. The stamp on the bottom doesn't really tell you. Does anyone know how to determine this? The MH cans have an expiration date stamped on them, but these do not.

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks...Chris
 
#3 ·
It's hard to say how long they last. They are guaranteed to last 20-30 years, but in all likely hood you could even double it.
 
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#6 ·
As a safeguard, go ahead and date the cans with a Sharpie marker on the tops, the date you bought them (the month and year). At least you'll have a ballpark idea of how old the stock is in 20 years when you cannot remember when you started ordering #10 cans. (Or, as in my case, NEXT MONTH when you have already forgotten everything that happened this month.)
 
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#7 ·
They don't sit on filled cans for 5 years, so you know the product was produced and packed recently. The stamp on the bottom of the can probably uses Julian dating. If I remember right, the first number tells you the year, and the second part of the number tells you what day in the year. For example, 10220 would be 2010 and the 220 would be the 220th day of the year. You can double check that with Google though. I generally just look at the year part.
 
#8 ·
Little warning. A friend of mine regularly rotates his preps. Even the long term ones.

Long story short, he opens one, and finds that they forgot the Oxygen absorber.

If you are going extreme long term, have enough surplus to make up for any failures.
 
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#11 ·
I mark all of our #10 cans when they arrive. Something like 'Received on 3/19/2011'. That way I at least know how long I've had them. I assume, hopefully safely, that the cans aren't more than a few months old and try to rotate them regularly. For most items we live by the 'eat what you store' rule.
 
#14 ·
My in-laws purchased long term storage food in 1970. Husband sold it for $5.00 a can in 1999 at their estate sale, a lot of labels had fallen off and he had no clue what was in the cans. They were kept in a garage in Los Angeles. He offered no guarantee to the worthiness of the food. The fella who bought the cases of food came back later and said all but the powdered butter pearls were just fine eating.

Now we have cans of wheat berries from 1999, and plan on opening them and will grind them up and see how well the flour bakes up. The other cans of assorted dehydrated fruits and veggies will also get used up. Our daughter has no interest in prepping and the cans are hitting their twentieth year.

We like getting our canned long term items from Winco Grocery. It is cheaper than Emergency Essentials and we buy one item, open it it, use then decided if we will invest in a larger purchase.

Now that we are elderly we eat less and don’t need as much.
 
#15 ·
My guess (and that's all it is)...

2811045 1059 - Manufacture product code (28), Date (11-045, or the 14th of February 2011), 1059 - The time they were produced (or packaged) on that day (to track if it ends up with Salmonella or something for recall purposes)

And looking at the new "happy face" silliness of what used to be Provident Pantry became, all I can say is, pardon me, "WTF"? Everything has pictures, not descriptive names, as if it's all geared toward some collapse where people don't know how to read? Or some "Handmaids Tale" future? And are swayed by the dumb smiley face - You know you can eat it because it has the happy face logo...
 
#18 ·
One thing I would be concerned with is the oxygen content in the can. I think the threshold is 3% or less o2. Back in 2015 there was a study done that revealed mountain house meet this standard with room to spare.

But prepping really, for me at least,is more about learning things than buying things. I would suggest packing your own with Mylar bags and o2 absorbers. There’s lots of tutorials on YT and elsewhere. You can do this fairly easily with nothing more than a household iron. I bubble check mine in the sink by submerging them in water and gently pressing to reveal bubbles (and therefore leaks). Wait till the packages draw up from the o2 absorbers, then place them in food safe 5 gal sealed buckets.

Those staples can be packed very cheaply.

I started with parboiled rice and then moved to beans, pasta, and lentils.
 
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