How far past "Best By" date, storage options and lazy preps.

[HawgBonz]

..A few extras were a good thing to have when we lived at the coast. But now we're revamping a bit. Wanted to see how things worked with that first minimal effort attempt. All we did was chuck stuff inna dozen or so food grade buckets we bummed from the local Wal-Mart bakery along with other canned goods and drink mixes. Cheap, easy and quick. Mebbe not optimally effective, tho'. Some of the beans and rice in the original packaging got a lil funky. Nothin obvious but had "a smell". Chucked those out. Dunno what the difference was. Some were fine. All have been stored together in environments from climate controlled to detached garage to the room over the garage to finished basements. Thru all that we had one big can of sliced pears "expand". Made a fine reactive target.

..Learned to not try to store tomato products. Curious if that conflates to Ravioli and other not-really-Italian Italian type canned foods. Figgered we may as well break some of it out now that we're at our permanent place and see if any of it survived intact. Got a coupla cans on the counter from our first mess of emergency supplies. Tuna that went over in 2017 and some Campbell's "Beef with Country Vegetables" soup from 2014. Debating on how to cook'em. Hot inna pot seems "realistic". No biggie if they need to be trashed.
..Currently I'm workin on a container of grits that "went over" in 2014. They actually cook better than the new stock. Cooks fine/tastes fine. Cooked up some beans and lentils from stashed 1# bags (circa 2014). They did fine. Tasted fine. I didn't die or launch myself to the moon.

..So how far over are y'all comfy with? Do ya do anything special when cookin this stuff? I've got an RN on hand here to see me thru things like this if needed. That's handy. She's all about me thoroughly cookin the canned contents to ward off botulism in the event that it may be present.

..We've actually looked at the home dehydrators freeze driers. Expensive. And they don't get very good reviews. A fella could load up a serious stash of #10 cans for half the cost of one.
Seems like I'm ramblin. And I prolly am. Thoughts?

 

[CZfool68]

No expertise but if the cans aren’t t damaged or rusted they should be good for a long while. May lose some flavor, but that is why I have a crap ton of spices and sauces. I ate a can of Brunswick Stew about 2 months ago that expired in 2019. It was fine. I try to buy ‘normal’ cans and not the easy open pop tops.

 

[REELDOC]

..A few extras were a good thing to have when we lived at the coast. But now we're revamping a bit. Wanted to see how things worked with that first minimal effort attempt. All we did was chuck stuff inna dozen or so food grade buckets we bummed from the local Wal-Mart bakery along with other canned goods and drink mixes. Cheap, easy and quick. Mebbe not optimally effective, tho'. Some of the beans and rice in the original packaging got a lil funky. Nothin obvious but had "a smell". Chucked those out. Dunno what the difference was. Some were fine. All have been stored together in environments from climate controlled to detached garage to the room over the garage to finished basements. Thru all that we had one big can of sliced pears "expand". Made a fine reactive target.

Generally speaking, you may already know this, it is beneficial to store food in a relatively cool and dry space.

..Learned to not try to store tomato products. Curious if that conflates to Ravioli and other not-really-Italian Italian type canned foods. Figgered we may as well break some of it out now that we're at our permanent place and see if any of it survived intact. Got a coupla cans on the counter from our first mess of emergency supplies. Tuna that went over in 2017 and some Campbell's "Beef with Country Vegetables" soup from 2014. Debating on how to cook'em. Hot inna pot seems "realistic". No biggie if they need to be trashed.
..Currently I'm workin on a container of grits that "went over" in 2014. They actually cook better than the new stock. Cooks fine/tastes fine. Cooked up some beans and lentils from stashed 1# bags (circa 2014). They did fine. Tasted fine. I didn't die or launch myself to the moon.

I've personally never had a problem storing tomato products. We generally discard tomato products we can ourselves after 4 or 5 years.

..So how far over are y'all comfy with? Do ya do anything special when cookin this stuff? I've got an RN on hand here to see me thru things like this if needed. That's handy. She's all about me thoroughly cookin the canned contents to ward off botulism in the event that it may be present.

Anything we can ourselves has been cooked in a pressure canner or water bath in accordance with Ball or Center for Food Preservation with salt or vinegar as a preservative. If it smells good and the lids are still sealed no problem. If it doesn't it goes away. Same for store bought canned goods. We just heat the stuff up as you normally would since its already had the crap cooked out of it. There's a point at which you have to be careful and trust your judgement.

..We've actually looked at the home dehydrators. Expensive. And they don't get very good reviews. A fella could load up a serious stash of #10 cans for half the cost of one.
Seems like I'm ramblin. And I prolly am. Thoughts?

Home dehydrators are fine for a lot of things like berries, apples, pineapple, fruit roll ups and stuff like that. We also use ours for jerky. I can't stand dehydrated bananas, I do like freeze dried bananas. A dehydrator is just another tool.

 

[HawgBonz]

I had meant to say "freeze drier" when I said " dehydrator".
Those ~$5k type units.
That's a lotta #10 cans..

Home dehydrators are fine for a lot of things like berries, apples, pineapple, fruit roll ups and stuff like that. We also use ours for jerky. I can't stand dehydrated bananas, I do like freeze dried bananas. A dehydrator is just another tool.

 

[ImYourHuckleberry]

I had a jar of blackberry jelly about 5 years ago that my grandaddy put up in 1978....I opened it and it smelled/looked good so I ate it. It tasted just like I remembered back when I was a kid. 😆

 

[REELDOC]

I had meant to say "freeze drier" when I said " dehydrator".
Those ~$5k type units.
That's a lotta #10 cans..

We've tried to justify a freeze drier. If we we several years younger there is no question I would get one if I could afford it. Or maybe go an with another person and divide up the cost and usage.

That's a lot of #10 cans in about a 1/4 of the storage space.

 

[HawgBonz]

Agreed. We're starting to take age into account on these types of things as well.

We've tried to justify a freeze drier. If we we several years younger there is no question I would get one if I could afford it. Or maybe go an with another person and divide up the cost and usage. That's a lot of #10 cans in about a 1/4 of the storage space.

 

[RedneckFur]

Dry rice and beans will last many years. Last year I finally finished a 50lb container of rice I bought when Dubya was president.

Canned food, I've eaten veggies 1-2 years past date that were ok. I've had canned chicken 1-2 years past date that smelled like metal. I'm sure it was edible, but it probably didn't taste good. The dogs liked it.

Currently working through a box of powdered milk that's about a decade old. It doesn't smell great, but it works just as good as the real thing in cooking.

Generally, most canned food will stay nutritious for quite some time after its lost its taste. Most of the time it doesn't go bad enough to make you sick. But you'd have to be desperate to want to eat it.

 

[HawgBonz]

Walp, 12+ hours later after eating the 2014 expired Campbell's canned beef stew and I haven't died, gotten sick or had any unexpected "launches" from the throne room. 😃

I had a jar of blackberry jelly about 5 years ago that my grandaddy put up in 1978....I opened it and it smelled/looked good so I ate it. It tasted just like I remembered back when I was a kid. 😆

To this quote: Sounds absolutely priceless. What a great lil bit of comfort.
Could ya imagine that bit of comfort inna situation where this stuff may actually come to necessitation?
Again, priceless..
Somehow reminds me of that scene from BoE. "We threw away things people kill each other for now.."

 

[cjcullom]

Dates are for rubes! Just another way to separate you from your money. Trust your nose and eyes and use common sense and you may live to eat another day.
Many food stuffs may lose flavor and some things that may kill you may never be found.

Insite Firearms (PA)closed recently due to the owner "supposedly " eating Hep A tainted food at a local restaurant. He and several other folks died and the culprit was never identified. Dates are the least of your food goblins but you need to be aware and educated.
R

 

[REELDOC]

Opened a can of pop top pears with a 2014 date on them. Top looked a little elevated but when I pulled the tab I got a hiss and a yuck smell. I hate pop tops.

 

[HawgBonz]

What's up with the pears?
Out of all the things I packed away in the 5 gallon buckets, the pears were the only ones to do that.
But 'least I found a lil entertainment in the can.. 😁

Opened a can of pop top pears with a 2014 date on them. Top looked a little elevated but when I pulled the tab I got a hiss and a yuck smell. I hate pop tops.

 

[turkeydance]

essentially, we just buy canned goods.
they have been cheap enough to stack high.

at the expiration date, we open one to confirm.
if acceptable, keep the rest, if not, trash the rest.
yes, that is throwing away food, but it still cheaper
for us to do it that way instead of buying a (whatever).

next time, the discard cans will be targets. looks like fun.