Canned Goods.
 

Curious if canned goods stay good beyond their stamped expiration date?
I thought canned foods stayed good for years and years......

Re: Canned Goods.
 

They lose the vitamin potency after a while. I think vitamin C is gone after 2 years. The protien and starch content remains the same. That's why it's good to farm and know common wild edibles in your yard: dandelions, chickweed, lambs quarters, watercress, violets etc.

Re: Canned Goods.
 

You can figure double or more the date stamped....they are way conservative. As above, you will probably loose some nutritional value the further out you go, but it still beats eating tree bark......unless it's a willow tree and you have a headache. :biggrin:

Re: Canned Goods.
 

I've eaten some Campbells soup that was good 7 years past it's expiration date.

I've also opened a can that was bad only 3 years past it's expiration date.

Nearly all soups now have a pop-top lid and the old ones you had to use a can opener. I'm thinking the newer ones don't age as well.
I know for a fact the the really old one was a sealed lid type but I can't remember for sure if the one that was bad was the Pop-top type or not..

Re: Canned Goods.
 

Thanks for the info!

Re: Canned Goods.
 

One other quick question for the guru's. I am in north FL and have some of my canned goods stored in the garage. Temps here range from 95-70 and never get lower than mid 30s in the winter. Is this going to ruin my canned goods?

Re: Canned Goods.
 

Probably.

Everything I've ever read says: Best if they are stored at 70 or less...and every 10 degrees less about doubles the storage life ( i.e. 50 average temp = 4 times 70 ).....and of course, anything wet packed may burst if stored much below 32.

Re: Canned Goods.
 

studies show the cooler you keep your food the longer it will last...

i have canned goods from 2002 that are still good, but then again the sloppy joe mix cans failed...so i'm not buying any more of that i tossed them...

mine is stored at ~60f winter or summer....

just for info...i don't recommend this but i eat out of canned goods that got frozen for a winter and then thawed the next year and there was no problemo...then again i tend to live dangerously :biggrin:

just look for any can that has lost its seal and is leaking or bulging and toss them...

of course, the proper method is store what you eat, eat what you store, and rotate stock...

Re: Canned Goods.
 

The expiration date is the minimum shelf life under optimum conditions. Often, it will say "Best By" which is exactly what the expiration date means.

Store it hot, and the date gets closer. Store it cool, and it should be good well beyond the date. In any case, if it bulges, toss it.

Re: Canned Goods.
 

If you are rotating your canned goods they shouldn't be expiring.

If you want to store for more than a year or two freeze dried is much better.

Re: Canned Goods.
 

Agreed! We don't eat much canned food, so "store what you eat, eat what you store" just doesn't work well for us. I base our food reserves heavily in favor of freeze-dried food with long shelf life, dry beans/rice/wheat (bucketed), with along some canned food, primarily meats