food stocks

[jansman]

We store and eat all sorts. Tinned included. Store only what you will eat. Tinned meat is great long term, but anything acidic, fruit and tomatoes - use them within date. I had two tins of grapefruit leak. The acid ate through!

[yorkshirewolf]

I once ate a tin of chicken soup found at the back of a cupboard which was 4 years out of date, it tasted ok as i recall, i didn't think much about it at the time as I remembered doing a home economics class many moons ago at school which was all about food preservation and storage, and the teacher had a load of rusty old cans which had been found in her recently deceased grandmothers loft (good preppers the old 'uns!)

Anyway, we went through the canning process and how it works and actually opened a can of spam type stuff (no label) and to be honest it looked and smelled like spam or corned beef of some sort, obviously we weren't allowed to taste or cook it, but it did look like most tinned meats i've opened.

I wouldn't want to speculate on flavour, but even after 40-odd years it certainly looked edible, maybe not as a first choice of course, but when i'm really hungry....

Thinking about it, I suppose it could have been a 1940's pedigree chum, but again, if i'm hungry...

[seadog]

Sorry for not getting back guys, thanks for your comments.
The tins that exploded were not damaged previously, I even had a few tins that looked slightly swollen. Think you are right, tomato, being slightly acidic is not a great thing to store beyond the sell by date, I did wonder.
Has any one produced a list of what tinned foods are best for long term storage?
I also store rice and pasta and other packaged foods, but find tins are easy to store, when they are not exploding.

I fogot to mention, my other half decided to cook a stew last week using 2014 suet, that was well over a year and a half out of date. Not a good start for the week. So avoid storing packet suet beyond the sell by!

[Bosworth]

I hate waste and regularly eat all sorts of food that is well outside of its best before date. If it smells ok, I eat it.

On a serious note, there is something to be said for toughening up your digestive system. It's all well and good having delicate guts that get the squits from a bit of mouldy bread, but being able to tolerate extremes is important in a prepping capacity.

[general_panic]

I've kind of started eating more tinned stuff so I can justify storing them, a bit arse about face really but we didn't really eat much tinned stuff apart from baked beans and tuna. Even soups were usually home made. I now eat what I store more but a lot of it is fairly cheap stuff so not really a huge issue, I do try and keep an eye on the amount of salt in things though, there's a fair amount in some stuff.

Done the same thing- it was the only way I could persuade the mrs it makes sense to come home with 100 tins every time I go shopping! Tis not the healthiest of diets but I've been living mostly off tinned and dried foods for about 3 months and I'm still in good shape (haven't gained or lost weight-though it did mess my guts up for the first week or two cos I used to eat just fresh fruit, veg and meat-helluva change). Has plenty of upsides too... It works out fairly cheap (which means you can buy surplus), you can cook every meal in less than 5 minutes and, best of all, you know your constantly rotating and expanding your stock as well as getting to know in detail exactly how long your stores will last.

[Deeps]

I've kind of started eating more tinned stuff so I can justify storing them, a bit arse about face really but we didn't really eat much tinned stuff apart from baked beans and tuna. Even soups were usually home made. I now eat what I store more but a lot of it is fairly cheap stuff so not really a huge issue, I do try and keep an eye on the amount of salt in things though, there's a fair amount in some stuff.

Done the same thing- it was the only way I could persuade the mrs it makes sense to come home with 100 tins every time I go shopping! Tis not the healthiest of diets but I've been living mostly off tinned and dried foods for about 3 months and I'm still in good shape (haven't gained or lost weight-though it did mess my guts up for the first week or two cos I used to eat just fresh fruit, veg and meat-helluva change). Has plenty of upsides too... It works out fairly cheap (which means you can buy surplus), you can cook every meal in less than 5 minutes and, best of all, you know your constantly rotating and expanding your stock as well as getting to know in detail exactly how long your stores will last.

I'm still eating proper evening meals but I'm having 'bad' lunches, a tin of meatballs or ravioli or beans & sausages with diced and shallow fried tatties. I put dried leeks, onions and chilli in the sauce, tastes great and its proper unhealthy, mmmm. I wouldn't want to be eating like that 3 times a day, I enjoy my proper food too much but the tinned stuff isn't as bad as I'd feared, especially when its 'sexed up.

[Brambles]

Apart from SPAM and Fray Bentos pies and puds the Brambling and me don't really like any commercially tinned meat or meat products so I don't store any. I do can my own however and in the event of needing to live out of our stores it is set up for a more vegetarian diet.

[itsybitsy]

Apart from SPAM and Fray Bentos pies and puds the Brambling and me don't really like any commercially tinned meat or meat products so I don't store any. I do can my own however and in the event of needing to live out of our stores it is set up for a more vegetarian diet.

I eat very little tinned food also, and am not enamoured by SPAM or Fray Bentos! I do, however, keep beans/spaghetti hoops/soups/tuna - store cupboard staples, I guess- because I do eat them. I do also have some tinned meat from M&S - the chicken in a white sauce is great over rice or even a a pie filling, and their mince/chunky steak is very good.

I'm also partial to a Stagg chilli.

[Vespa]

Stagg chilli is excellent.

A very good alternative is the canned chilli from Aldi or even the value canned chilli from Morrisons.

[jansman]

Ha ha! It is all a question of taste. As my ever eloquent Brother says, " one mans Wombat p*ss is another mans real ale!"

As preppers we don't HAVE to like tinned food. In the past I have eaten stuff that would make a maggot spew and I eat a lot of tinned food which is luxury by comparison!

Don't beat yourself up if it isn't your bag.