One of the most common ways for people to store great quantities of food over the long term is to invest in canned foods.
This is because buying canned foods is widely perceived as an inexpensive way to stockpile food that can last for a long time on the shelf while preserving its nutritional value.
There’s no denying that canning is a proven food storage method. Canning has been around since the late 1700s when it was utilized as a way to provide a safe food source to sailors and soldiers who were away on long military campaigns.
If you walk into any grocery store or supermarket nowadays, you’ll find long rows of canned meats and vegetables that can be bought for super cheap.
Buying canned foods is a perfectly viable way of storing your food with many advantages. But there are a few cons as well, which is why stockpiling your pantry or basement with canned foods should not be the only component of your food storage strategy.
Pros Of Canned Food
Here are the primary pros of canned foods:
Affordability
Most cans of meat or vegetables can be bought for only a couple of dollars, if not even less. You can buy large quantities of cans and accumulate a decent supply of food without spending a fortune.
Stores that offer special deals or discounts when buying in bulk will lower the cost even further.
⇒ Learn An Insanely Effective Way To Build A 5 Year Food Stockpile
Convenience
Storing canned foods won’t be difficult so long as you have enough storage space. All you have to do is stack your cans over one another in your basement or pantry.
Just make sure that you store the cans in an environment at normal room temperature and that’s free of moisture.
Variety
“What kind of foods can you buy in a can?” you might ask. Here’s a better question: “what kind of foods can you not buy in a can?”
From meats to fruits to vegetables to dairy to pasta to soups and even to dairy, all of the major food groups are covered when it comes to canned foods. Even after the grid goes down, with canned foods it’s easy to put a complete meal together to ensure you’re eating a balanced diet.
Nutritional Value
It’s a common misconception that canning food will reduce its nutritional value.
In reality, when you put food in a can at the peak of its ripeness right after it’s been harvested, it will preserve the same nutritional value as if it were fresh or frozen. You won’t compromise nutrition when you eat canned meat or vegetables.
Long Shelf Life
In the right storage conditions, dry and room temperature, canned foods can last for several years without losing their flavor or nutritional value.
You Can Repurpose The Cans
Throwing away the can after consuming or preparing the food inside is a major mistake. You can reuse the cans for a multitude of purposes, including for storage purposes, to make homemade candles, or as small planters in your garden.
Related: Survival Uses For Soda Cans
Cons Of Canned Food
Based on the above, investing in canned foods may seem like the perfect food storage solution. But there are a few cons of canned foods that you need to be aware of as well:
High Salt And Sugar Levels
One reason why canned foods are so long lasting is because of the high number of preservatives. Most canned foods will have high salt and sugar content as part of the canning process.
Consuming excessive salt can lead to health problems such as high blood pressure levels or put you at increased risk of heart-related issues. This is why you should look for canned foods that are labeled as either ‘no salt’ or ‘low salt.’
Consuming excessive amounts of sugar can likewise lead to health problems. Canned fruits in particular will come with high sugar levels. To get around this, look for canned fruits that come stored with fruit juice or water rather than syrup.
Risk Of Botulism (With Damaged Cans)
You need to be extremely careful about avoiding canned foods that have any signs of leakage, cracks, or dents.
Cans that are damaged in this way will put you at increased risk of botulism, which is a severe food borne bacteria that will attack your body’s nervous system.
Related: 7 Deadly Canning Mistakes Even Smart People Make
If the can has been damaged, there’s a possibility that the Clostridium botulinum spores that cause botulism could germinate inside the cans.
High Levels Of BPA (In Some Cans)
BPA (Bisphenol A) is a chemical that is commonly added to many commercially available foods. BPA is used as a lining to help stop cans from breaking or corroding to extend the shelf life of the food.
While useful in this regard, there’s also a risk that the BPA chemicals can get mixed in with the food that’s been stored in the can.
Some studies have linked BPA to increased risk of Type II diabetes and heart-related health problems. It’s for these reasons that the FDA banned the use of BPA in packaging meant for infants and small children. Today, it’s estimated that around 10% of canned foods in total have BPA in their packaging.
To be on the safe side, research the brands of canned foods that you’re buying and confirm that they don’t have BPA lining in them.
Metallic Taste
Canned foods that have been stored for years will likely have a metallic taste (or aftertaste) to them to some degree. This doesn’t necessarily affect the quality or the safety of the food, but it’s something to think about.
Canned foods are a cheap and efficient way to store large quantities of food. This is why investing in canned foods should be one of the strategies you use as part of your food storage plans, but it should not be the only one.
Besides canned foods, you can also invest in buying dry food (such as pasta or white rice) or in freeze-drying or pressure canning your own foods as well.
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this was a good article, especially for new preppers. a friend of mine just started prepping and i will make sure he reads this article. its important to talk about rotation. its easy to forget to rotate foods you don’t use often. about 1 yr ago i finished a jar of peanut butter and i happened to look at expiration date and it was 6 yrs out of date. it still was good and i’m still above ground. i don’t recommend keeping items out of date but most items will last quite a while past expiration date.
Peanut butter seems to be one of those long term survival foods. As long as it contains only peanuts an no other ingredients.
BTW, I too have had an eaten peanut butter 5-8 years past expiration date. Other canned foods I would carefully try in a pre-SHTF period. But after that in a real SHTF we are taking better fool’s gamble of dying from food poisoning. Life has choices to make in life or in SHTF times.
In SHTF we will have to make the life an death decisions when it comes to edible food stuff in older cans. As food manufacturers will or may become nonexistent. The Chinese and Bill Gates type American owned farmlands will be restricted to the average American, elites only.
The UN says let them eat bugs, we eat steak and potatoes from our farmland networks in countries.
It will be wars of us against them in the future unless Americans get their sh*t together soon! Make them live by our rules instead of them ruling us!
Whoever runs this site, as complained before in other posts.
Get an edited button.
So we can fix our spelling and sentences we post.
Thank you!
I agree an edit button would be nice, because even after writing statements in notepad or word, after posting, I still find either an error or a better way of stating my case.
I rotate canned goods and dry goods. Oldest out newest goes to the back. Everything moves forward as it is being used. Mom did that so I was raised to do it. Easy since it is a habit. I jar, sun dry, and rotate and don’t worry about the food. It has worked for my life time and for the family before me. I also have been buying up some extra art supplies. That won’t feed anyone but it is my pressure relief valve and gives me a lot of pleasure.
Extra seeds, lots of foods and medical supplies in addition to what I grow for medical needs and booze for making infusions….vanilla beans, stevia, sugar beets ect. all add up to prepping in one way or another. Mostly it is just a way of life carried forward from parents and grandparents. Isn’t it amazing how far from an agricultural life our society lives? Not too long ago it was the norm to live from harvest to harvest.
Canned foods have always been a bugaboo to what is good or not, how long the contents will last. Canned foods are a particular ongoing debate of the several issues these cans present. True there is a time period where the food is considered safe.
There have been articles and TV shows like on The History Channel. Where two guys would try eating older cans and boxes of processed food. Most of the famous and rule of thumb packed food people and manufacturers Gage food by. Are the C-Rats of the USA military.
But anymore that standard has gone by as these cans are no longer palatable, edible, or safe to eat anymore.
C-Rats are the basis for the survival food industry to gauge there 25 year long term status.
Nowadays we know there several factors, environmental, source of food quality and processes involved that effect the food.
There are a few manufacturers left, these foods carry a high value or expensive value to consumers. Since the COVID reset and loss of income or seniors on fixed incomes. Many of us can only purchase a small amount.
So now average to the prepper are looking for new technologies and the best bang for the dollar in the current Biden economics we are in.
Luckily I have space and well water for growing far more than I need in most years. My social security sure wouldn’t go far in a grocery store. I watch for jars so I can add to my supply. I do save up to buy canning lids. Those are my gold for a “rainy day”. Any seasoning I can not grow I try to have some stored so it will keep as long as possible and I do rotate those as well.
I live in a state of careful planning at all times.
Abundant food supplies are just a part of it but I want to have more that I need for whoever is living here. To that end I’ve been planting lots of fruit trees, preparing a far larger garden area, and planting wild foods and medicinal plants to appear as untended weed patches. nothing too special in appearance. But in reality very special. Also planting areas that are naturally erroding from wind and rain on rugged hillsides. Taking advantage of natures water collection on the desert.
The statement about nutrition is not accurate. The truth is the heat of canning will destroy ⅓ to ½ of these 4 vitamins: vitamin A, vitamin C, thiamine, and riboflavin.
Nothing will beat fresh or fresh, flash frozen. But for long term storage that isn’t practical for most of us. I’ll be glad for the dried and jarred foods from my garden and whatever canned goods I’ve been able to put away.
I am 80 years old and ate nothing but canned vegetables until I was past 35. The produce at the supermarket is not that fresh. Try edible landscape in your front yard. Canned goods are a good cushion against ANY storm.
Thanks CW for pointing out the needed correction on vitamin loss, I was going to but you beat me to it. A way to save more of the original vitamins is to freeze dry instead of canning (but the cost of processing goes up). I keep some of both in my deep pantry.
Rotation of canned foods has been a pain for me. With daily life things going on I forget to rotate the canned food.
Like the 25 year concept as far as no rotating. But that food is way expensive for the average Joe to buy.
There’s got to be a happy medium for that long term food storage. Whether being a young or senior citizen in America. The elite will always get the best of everything possible. It is what the average person can do with off the shelf items. Is what prepping is about for the rest of us.
Michael, There are caddies that feed from above and you pull from the bottom. These can sometimes be picked up at flea markets. Or when a store closes. This I have found is the easiest way to rotate your stockpile. you put the newer cans in on top and pull the oldest from the bottom. Just a thought. I have not done any research to see if they are available online from amazon and such. I got lucky and found a mess of them at a store closing and purchased as many as i could at the time.
Happy Prepping.
Scott
.. I’ve made several that hang on the wall. Plenty of plans and ideas on the internet.
You can take half gallon mason jars and fill them with rice, beans, etc and then vacuum seal them if you like. It works with spices also. We also take our peanut butter and put it into wide mouth pints and vacuum seal them also. Keep the air from permeating the plastic jar it comes in.
If we are in a SHTF situation, eating canned food is going to be the least of our problems.
For the sheeple it will be a nightmare. For preppers been there, done that, move on!
But do we really need to live in those dark gloomy days?
We still have time to prepare but even that, we can fight back or push back.
The elite’s agenda is not the only game in town!
We have more people than they do to be ruled by them, those, bullies.
Off topic but related to prepping.
Glenn Beck hag an author on for a short interview.
The Saad Truth About Happiness, Book by Dr. SAAD.
We live our lives by what others want, we don’t live our true life of what we should be.
Why should we, at least in America live by the current Marxist regime here?
We have options, they are not the boss of us. Those elected and unelected bureaucrats are what we call paper tigers. As said in a recent posting.
Prepping maybe a way in life to survive but not our total way of life either.
There is more to life than politic elitism and prepping for those who are newbies.
Why do people think we need to be pigeonholed in life. They are the bully’s in our life. Let’s our stuff together and take back America.
This is our country not their own playground on our dime, like taxes.
We got government and NGO bloatware agency’s that need to be defund and eliminated. A lot of gov’t is useless redundancy bureaucracy.
Those negative Nancy’s thumbs down, don’t like the truth told about them.
Think the rotation thing is a great idea. At the same time, rotating cans and prepping is because we made poor choices in life. Such as being sucked into the world of politics, Jesus freaks and trolls of nonsense.
Thoughts:
*Taxes are a punishment for the poor choices we make in voting in any elections. We got to see what is behind the Wizard of OZ’s curtain. The veil of truth has been stolen by the elites manipulated by our modern technological distractions.
Awake you sleepy heads, time to see the real Matrix world for what it is.
*The old Christian church, believe it was in Spain. Wikipedia – “The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition, was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile.”
The throat cutter religions are no different.
*Climate change is our modern day Albatross of deception the world has seen yet. Carbon footprint taxes, Greenies, not from Mars. But insane environmentalist crazies. Back home on earth, check out the “The Delta Smelt” controversy. California droughts are man made politics decisions.
They purposely drain large amounts of water from their reservoir’s for endangered species, NUTS, Right?
Freshwater irrigation to farmer’s are going into the San Fransicko Bay.
Stop the nonsense we are losing our America!
You need to lay off the drugs, man. I mean, cool man. Up in smoke. Watch more Cheech and Chong, man. Everything is a conspiracy, man. Hey, are you Tommy from the Pin Ball Wizzard? You know, by the Who, man? That deaf, dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball.
Almost all canned food tastes like crap, too much salt and sugar and uncertain levels of vitamins. But still the best long term way to store calories. Stuff like canned chili, spaghetti, ravioli, pork and beans. Don’t waste money on soup and vegetables. Fruit canned in sugar syrup can be a lifesaver. Miss the old Fritos Bean Dip that was made with lard, always loved to see that delicious nutritious lard layer on top of the dip. Calories! Get your vitamins from common plants, dandelions, pine tea, smilax, etc…
Can goods can last 15-20 years according to the internet if the can is not damaged because cans are lined inside to protect the food from the metal outside.
I bought survival food in cans and found the best is canned dry goods , kept 30 year s before i finnaly thru out , was no sure if good and could not chance it , was in storage
what ever you do , think about Time , enviornment , and area
Just like fine wine or dry goods in desert , must be kept at constant temp , around freezing or under 40 degrees
Rust wont effect if area is dry , and what is important is change in enviornment
while in serving in AD i was prevy to areas where controlled enviornment s were crucial
Temp always lower than 60 degrees
The destructive forces are people , Humidity, Heat , extremes , changes , and natural preditors like , micro organisms , bugs, ants, roachs , snakes , spiders
use your research tool while you still can
Google just started the sensor game , and wash out of anything not to thier agenda or political views
so remember , STAND , SPEAK out , Speak up , Say something , Be discrete and keep a like on the lips , know the people your talking to .
Traitors everywhere
The Love of Money is the Root of Evil
No one can serve two masters , God , or Money , satan , Idolotry or lust , YOU must choose whom you will serve
2 chronicles 7:14
john 14:6
Time is coming when they will hate anyone who believes in God, Jesus Christ , or real church
Dam, don’t these annoying Bible thumpers get it?
Prepping is a personal thing, like religion is. The Bible thumpers and trolls get in the way of their agendas by quoting verses, we get it GOD is coming.
Religion is a personal thing, not everyone believer is fanatical about the Bible. We Christians have our belief’s too. We just don’t need to wear our religion on our shirt sleeves to prove it. So stop it! Cool your jets!
What are other pepper’s thought’s on this?
Where in the rule book says Bible thumping and trolls on this prepping site have anything to do with real prepping.
We posters are tired of the Bible thumpers and trolls pushing a narrative a large mass of Americans regard as a private issue.
Both groups are rather mind numbing, they may not enjoy life. Are humorless, have control issues. They on the same annoying level of the LGBT gender nutjobs in modern life.
If you deny you know me on earth, so I will deny I know you to my Father in Heaven.
@ devlin. I agree we could do with less of this. I feel no reason to promote my faith to the masses. Anything that is between god and myself is just that between us. My personal opinion is people that feel the need to quote the bible to everyone they see may have questions about their fath and are trying to convince themselves and others that they really believe
The time is already here to hate religous people remember back in covid you couldn’t go to church and many people can’t be bothered with religion because it goes against what they are already doing.
Burrrrrrrrp
Agreed. Those who refrained from attending church are the weak ones. The church that closed was not a biblical based one.
The other side of the prepper world.
It is great the Hollywood writer’s union is on strike. Most TV shows and movie’s are agenda driven with woke crap. Most of us want entertainment from the drudges of daily life.
I am gardening more enjoying life then watching the boob tube cable or streaming.
The unions and environmental groups have crossed to many redlines in the sand.
In reality we don’t need their garbage anymore than the liberal political elites in charge by sheeple voters.
Everything is climate change to shut up the opposition side.
We don’t need all their fearmongering stress in life. Nor all the liberal depressed females popping pills. For BS psychotic misdiagnosis medicine to calm the delusional human beast.
The young female voters are more liberal progressive voters. That is why we got the whining ‘Squad’ of B’s in congress. They are plain nuts!
Now is the time to quell the woke useful idiots, totally boycott all woke businesses and corporations to the 2024 election.
Is the recent Hawaiian fires a look unto what SHTF is like?
Living on an island has pro’s and con’s. One thing is everything must be shipped in with union dock workers who can go on strike.
The devastation on the mainland will prove to be what people are made of to survive. The recent Antifa, BLM riots have made many parts of cities no more livable. It will be years or decades if any for the locals to rebuild in a Biden America last world. And government agencies like the FBI over stepping and shooting civilians. Our government in Biden’s world has been weaponized against us.
Let Southern Border trash invade our country to according to Biden as he sits behind his home border wall. Paid for by the American taxpayers.
The out of their mind officials want home owners to open up their homes to illegals. What about the officials opening up their homes first?
Don’t Americans start to ask who will finish building the Southern Border Wall?
The wall fence materials are already paid for by Americans. It is time to get the contractors, National Guard and Reserve troops to construct the wall ASAP!
Can we afford another 911 or two more? We got Chinese Nationals flooding our country currently. Their are Middle Eastern terrorist cells ready. The Electrical grid has not been upgraded since N. Tesla.
Gas vehicle are still king of the road, EV’s are a nightmare dream of Marxist Utopia. Build the wall and drill for oil. EV’s are an environmental hazard to us, a profit to the CCP Navy. We keep buying China crap they build more nukes to kill us and fentanyl to Mexican drug cartel operating on American soil.
Are we done, fed up with no political representation to us taxpayers?
The DC Swamp represent the foreign illegals as American replacements!
There tests you can do for canned food. 1. is the can damaged or rusty? If so toss it.
2. Smell the food once you open it. If it smells off toss it.
Those are the 2 best tests you can do. Most canned stuff will last MANY MANY years past the so called “expiration date” on the can. They only guarantee freshness and when a store SHOULD pull them from the shelves. But those 2 tests should tell you everything you need to know. Canned fruit or anything citrus needs to be watched carefully because the citrus “acid content” can eventually put holes in a can though it may take less time than say potatoes. Anything with tomatoes will do the same. As for how to collect your canned goods? If you see something on sale buy 2 or 3. But make sure ANY canned goods are things you eat. It doesn’t pay to buy asparagus if you hate it. When your budget allows buy an extra can of whatever you normally buy. It’s surprising how quickly you will build a stockpile. ROTATION IS THE KEY. Don’t eat that can of potatoes you JUST bought. Rather put it at the back of your stash and eat the oldest. I find the expiration date and remark the label so I can actually SEE IT with a magic marker. I have looked for large can rotators that hold many cans but have never found any. Just the small ones that sit on a shelf and hold MAYBE 10 cans. And I have never seen one of those store size can rotators like someone else mentioned here even when I have seen a store closing. So if anyone knows where to get large and/or commercial size can rotation systems let us all know.
And finally but most importantly we need TERM LIMITS.
Agree!, and term limits for the poly science majors in DC. When they wheel around Finestump telling her what to vote on. That is not representation of the voters. Just for the ruling elite there.
We get the government we want by voting them in. But in the last and the 2024 presidential election these were rigged by the alphabet weaponized agencies.
Electronic vote machines were hacked regardless what Obama-Biden puppeteers say to us.
Paper ballots onsite voting only, National Voting Day Off, one day voting. English printed only ballots. Voter ID. Unfortunately the Achilles’ heel is the senior invalid voters and military personnel voters. but those issues can be resolved.
We still have Big Boy and Women adults that can solve those minor issues.
People like Feinstein, Biden Fetterman and McConnell need to be cognitively tested at least once a year after age 75. Especially when you see them struggling just to understand what’s going on and what they are voting for/against. Just like what happened with Feinstein recently. Most states require you to have a driving test if it can be shown you have problems driving. If you fail you surrender your license and lose your PRIVILEGE to drive. And every states laws say it IS A PRIVILEGE NOT A RIGHT. Same should happen if a person is supposed to be representing US but it’s clear someone else is making their decisions.
Had a 19 oz can of Campbells sirloin and taters with a sandwich this week. On opening the can with no abnormal sounds, the moisture was mostly absorbed after 4.2 years in a cool, dry basement. It had a slight smell that was only tad off, but nothing in the concerning category and barely there.
It did open normally with no odd noises and zero lid bulge. Smell test only slightly off. Visual exam all good, just that it absorbed the moisture into the taters and beef and was 4.2 YEARS past the outdate. Normal.
I Did need to add some water to it and while I did I added a dash of beef powder that I keep in the fridge (Orrington’s and is cheap for a big tub with wide jar cap, and Wally has it and the chicken – and it’s GOOD with some salt) and some of the dehydrated onion flakes, a dash of white pepper and one dash of smoked salt.
I assure you, were you hungry this would be like a meal at the ritz. I enjoyed it “as it was” with my sandwich. I predict this would be good to 5 years – or more past the outdate – in a pinch. Ya hungry or not?
Get a couple Swing A Way can openers with the big grip. Zon daddy has em. Best made, last forever, cut sharp and easy. Restaurant’s use their table mounted ones like crazy. The $1 Tree ones usually aren’t good the day you get em home, not aligned, not sharp, rust etc.
Seems the thinner the contents of a well made can of soup, the easier time it has of lasting longer on the shelf in the temp controlled basement. You can always add a Tb or two of minute rice to things too, it cooks so easy in the microwave if done right.
This article along with most leaves out the 2nd biggest PRO when it comes to at least many, many canned vegetables. Beyond the calories these precious cans also contain about a cup of what is even more important than food and that is water. Anyone not having canned foods in their rotation IMO is not too smart.
Canned foods are also the best stockpile food to build even if you are dirt poor. Once a week even if you are that tight, a can of vegetables can be picked up to well under a buck. One can, once a week and a year from now you have 52 cans in your rotation and even the poor can build for the future this way.
Diets for shtf and regular life are not the same. You will be fighting for survival and your demands for calories and salt will be higher. This makes the added salt and sugar in canned food a plus. No one will be counting carbs or on a fad diet. Survival will be the goal.
Your a bigot racist TROLL, a wimp!
Don’t you prepper haters go find another website to trash?
Are trolls just one step away to become a pedophile creep who hides in dark alley trash cans?
…don’t know who you are talking to Jacko, or why you are copy/pasting answers to different people, but you are most likely a troll..?
If not, I’m afraid you are the one who needs to lay off the video games and wake up…
We need an edit button for our spelling, also a mute button for the trolls here.
Could these trolls be a runaway AI program targeting prepper sites?
Well since yu asked
It , the bible clearly says, states, commands those who believe , trust, follow the way , the truth , the life to Preach, Teach, Tell , LOVE all to a true knowledge of the Truth
lead those who will listed to the truth , let those who dont go and reap what they sow
God provides and We Trust
ManKind Destroy s and Blames on others
So Those who Truly Believe are commanded to love YOU , Tell YOU , Give YOU an answer
like the sinking ship , we who believe are trying to extend the hand of friendship to save you from the coming judgement and distruction caused by mans own greed, self, narcism