From the NY Times. If you can’t get to it because of a paywall, try clearing your browsers cache and then try the link again. Or open a different browser and cut/paste the link.
Here’s the first thing you should know: Expiration dates are not expiration dates.
Decent article explaining what most of use should already know: those dates on most foods (though not all) are fairly meaningless. Speaking as someone who routinely eats canned/dry/frozen food that is years old, I can tell you that anything other than high-acid foods (pineapple, tomato products, etc) will last a lot longer than the date on the can. A lot longer. Like, several years.
However, that is no substitute for rotating through your stocks just to keep everything topped off and fresh. For canned goods, I use these and have find them quite handy.
FIFO works. Invested a chunk of $$ years ago with the ThriveLife.com Pantry size configurable FIFO racks, much more spendy now but still worth it. Wish I had a (much) bigger pantry, I’d have to move walls to do it but I keep thinking about it (wire rack shelving and FIFO racks in the living room and bedrooms has repeatedly been vetoed by Management).
Easter supper was completely out of storage. Baked glazed ham, sausage pinwheels, homemade garlic scape pickles, mac and cheese, green beans, corn, baked beans, sweet potato casserole, yeast rolls, and pie. Didn’t need to go out for anything. Most all the canned items were “expired” and the ham was bought 6 months ago and frozen.
Properly kept, low acid, canned goods are good for decades. I know, I used to be fed 1960’s dated C Rats by the USAF in the late 70s and early 80s. Tasted as good as those things ever did..
Regards.
I came across cans of Van de Kamp’s Baked Beans in the past month that were stamped with a 2011 “Best If Used By” date. Because I had repeatedly told people that this date was simply a manufacturer’s guarantee of quality until that date passed, I decided “to walk the walk” and not just “talk the talk.”
The cans were in pristine condition. I opened one. The contents looked good and smelled good. I ate the contents.
I’m still alive and kickin’, and I’m not typing this while sitting in the ER.
Cmdr Zero, I just bought 3 more of those FIFO racks. I didn’t like it for STORAGE because I can fit a lot more in the same space by stacking flats of cans, but I LOVE IT for USING my preps. I’ve got 6 running feet of it and I’m thinking of getting more as I still have varieties of cans that aren’t in it. My shelves are 2ft deep which leaves room behind the racks for stacks of canned meat.
WRT dates, if the package is intact, it’s probably ok. Look carefully for swelling (very bad). Clean the lid so that when you cut it loose and it drops into the soup it doesn’t contaminate your lunch. If your can has rust or dents, but still has vacuum, it’s probably ok. Dump the contents into a bowl and inspect the inside of the can and lid. If there is no evidence of staining or pinholes, you’re good.
Dry mixes with high fat (cheese mixes mostly) can go bad and taste “old”. The powder will likely ‘cake’ and discolor. Throw out the sauce mix but eat the pasta.
My storage conditions suck. I accept that I’ll have losses from that. I prep anyway. Lately I’ve been finding the results of the suckage and negligence. I found a large black bin full of cans that had water in it. Cans were burst, rusted thru, rusted to their neighbors, and all in 2 inches of black water that reeked of sewage. I hadn’t looked in that bin for at least 4 years.
I found another bin full of boxed food. All wet, turned to ammonia smelling dirt in the bottom inch of the bin, and foul molded cardboard everywhere in the bin. Another total loss, and another bin I hadn’t looked in in years.
Honestly, I’d forgotten about those bins, and the results speak for themselves.
Best is to eat from your preps, rotate your stock, and keep it in the proverbial ‘cool, dark, dry place’. If you don’t, know that you will have losses, and stack a little higher to compensate.
nick
(an inventory would have helped 🙂 )
One problem that many of us have is that we are not storing food for one household, whether that it simply a couple of adults, or a couple of adults and three kids.
Certainly, a FIFO approach is the ideal when storing canned and packaged goods, but if your particular survival game plan is that your family will be joined by friends and extended family after SHTF, trying to preserve an effective and workable FIFO model when you expect your family to be joined by six or seven others is impossible. (The current pandemic counts in the “SHTF” column but, let’s face it, it is a “Dry Run SHTF” because the grid is still up and nobody is shooting at each other–yet.)
Given the amount of food that you’ll need to store, it’s just not possible that you will be able to ensure that you have a complete turnover of your larder every two or three years, and thereby comply with typical “best by” dates.
i would assume those best by dates are to move product. however, lets say if the dates are correct. I’m betting the rules are set by assuming the worse indoor condition, 75-90f with indirect sunlight.
In 1856 the Steam Boat Arabia hit a log and sunk on the Missouri River. The river moved it’s banks over time and in 1988 the Arabia was excavated from a farmers field. The canned (technically jarred) food on board was still edible after 132 years.
the history channel was supposed to be running a series on this very subject & hyped it & surprise it didn’t show up. kinda pissed me off, same shit with the SKINWALKER ranch series hype it then NADA WTF??
3 episodes of the secret of Skinwalker Ranch is available on the History On Demand Channel right now.
Beware of cardboard in any storage,it is favorite of numerous pests and mold. Any warehouse that stores food is infested with pests and they LOVE cardboard(especially corrugated). Many ships will require all cardboard left on dock to prevent infestations. I made a cheap and simple rack system for cans from bakery racks-the ones for bread. Simply cut a notch in the front to load/unload cans, a lot of 15 oz cans fit in each layer and locked together tightly. A going out of business bakery gave them away free.