One of the biggest chores that preppers face is the accumulation of an emergency food supply. Prepping is not a new adventure. Many cultures have lived a prepping lifestyle. The Mayan culture is one such people who could survive and grow a large empire thanks to their innovative means of storing foods. The Mayans had a method of storing sweet potatoes where the food would last for upwards of ten years.

It was their insurance against drought and famine. Food security is certainly not new, but many of us in the modern world prepare for times when our plentiful bounties fade to slim pickings. In this blog, we address the question, “How long does canned food really last?”

Canned Food and Its’ Definition

There are many types of canned food, and the meaning of “canned” becomes confusing.

Home Canned Foods – When you can your food its shelf life depends on the type of food that you can. According to the USDA [1], home canned foods have a shelf stability of about a year. The short recommendation of home canned food does not mean that you should bypass home canning as a means of stocking up for lean times. It means that you must be more conscious of how you plan and use food so that you use up canned food within a year.

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Consider a Food Rotation System

A good method for managing home canned food is to adapt a system that rotates food in such a way that you use the oldest foods first. We refer to this method as First In – First Out. It means that the first items that you put into your food closet are the first items that you use. Food rotation is an excellent tool for prepping, and it helps to keep the quality of food at its highest while minimizing the risk of food spoilage and food-borne illnesses such as botulism.

It is possible, and many people have lived to tell about the longer shelf life of home-canned foods. Still, in an emergency food situation, it is best to be safe rather than risk illness due to food spoilage. Oddly, the USDA has different standards for commercially canned foods.

Commercially Canned Foods

The USDA [1] divides commercially canned food into two categories:

1. Food that is highly acidic
2. Food that is low acidic

Highly acidic foods include citrus juice, fruit such as apples, peaches, and pears, pickled foods, foods with vinegar, and tomato-based foods such as salsa, canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, etc. These foods have a recommended shelf life of just 12-18 months according to the USDA. [1]. Once opened the USDA recommends discarding highly acidic and commercially canned food after the seventh day of refrigeration.

Low Acidic Foods

Low acidic foods have a much longer shelf life. These are foods that are not tomato- or citrus-based and included commercially canned meats, poultry, soups, and many vegetables such as corn, peas, and squash. These types of foods can last for upwards of five years if stored properly. The USDA recommends a shelf life of 2-5 years.

Commercially canned food makes an excellent addition to emergency food stores, especially if you use a food rotation system. Highly acidic foods can bolster your home canned food supply since they have a similar shelf life. Remember, though that home canned foods have a recommended shelf life of just a year, whereas commercially canned foods can last for a year to 18-months.

What we can infer from the USDA that low acidic and commercially canned foods have the capacity to be the central pillar of an emergency food store with a five-year shelf life, especially the proper management of the food stores.

Freeze Dried Prepper Foods

Freeze dried and commercially prepared foods designed for the longest shelf life can last from 10-30 years depending on the brand and food type. The benefit of freeze dried food is that it maintains most of its flavor and texture when rehydrated properly. To prepare, most freeze-dried foods simply requires the addition of cold water, such as for freeze dried milk, or hot water for meals that we enjoy warm.

Freeze dried foods are an outstanding way to add variety to an emergency food store. Thanks to the growing demands of the prepper community there are many food choices available from high-quality emergency food supplies such as:

• Mountain House
• Vally Food Storage
• Wise Food Storage

In fact, companies supply quality emergency food for the prepper community (you can see the BDS top list of survival food brands here)

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