Good and cheap canned food
 

Anybody else try those "Great Value" canned black beans from Wal Mart? They're pretty damn good, and only 56 cents per can. I bought a few cans when I first noticed them, and after trying them, went back for more. Of course, the shelf was empty! Apparently someone else likes them too! I went back a few days later and cleared the shelf myself. Also, the Great Value whole new potatoes are only 76 cents per can. I love fried taters and eggs for breakfast. Any other recommendations for good cheap canned stuff?

Re: Good and cheap canned food
 

Yes, I've tried them, and I'll admit the canned ones are more convenient, but I think you'd need about 4 cans of those to equal 79 cent bag of dried black beans. Yes, you need to soak the dried beans and cook them, but they will store for many more years in dried form, too.

I keep some of the canned beans around for when I don't think ahead, but use the dried ones 90% of the time. The thing is to used the dried ones you need to think ahead either overnight or at least a few hours.

I've never tried canned potatoes. I grow my own and still have enough left from the garden to last a couple more months. For long term storing potatoes, I think I'd rather buy the dried ones, but haven't done that yet.

Re: Good and cheap canned food
 

I guess the canned stuff will be very convenient in times where fuel to heat/cook things is scarce. Just having to heat something up, rather than fully cook it, will save alot of time and gas/propane, etc.

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Some of the canned spuds are quite good considering it is a can.

Re: Good and cheap canned food
 

My experience with several year old dried black beans is they didn't ever get soft, even after several hours of simmering. Dried beans don't seem to store that well, including pinto's...at least in original packaging. New crop beans cook fast and have much better taste.

Canned beans are not a bad way to go...they keep well and maintain good flavor. I don't like any canned vegetables (and have zero in my food storage...not counting tomatoes, which some classify as a fruit) but beans are a different story.

The Great Value products I like are canned beans, fruits, and Alaskan Salmon...I'll grab 4 or 5 cans of each whenever I go to Walmart.

Re: Good and cheap canned food
 

I grew two crops of potatoes in the garden this summer. Didn't get through all of the first crop and they began to sprout and grow shoots. Last year when that happened, I sliced them thin, blanched them in steam and dehydrated them to store in vacuum sealed jars. This year, just for the heck of it, I canned them. I still have a whole bunch of the second crop stored in the basement. If they begin to sprout in a couple of months, that's OK 'cause I'll be planting them in the garden soon thereafter.

Dried beans that have gotten too old to soften can still be ground into bean flour. And there are an amazing number of dishes that can be prepared from that.

Re: Good and cheap canned food
 

I received a $50 Wal-Mart card as a Christmas gift from my Mother-in-law and I'll be spending it on canned goods, dried beans, and maybe some rice.

Great value here I come!

Re: Good and cheap canned food
 

Merlin - does blanching the sliced potatoes keep them from turning brown/grey when dehydrated? I've only tried drying potatoes one time, and wasn't happy with the color they ended up.

Re: Good and cheap canned food
 

Yes, indeed, it does. I have a quart that is a least one year old and they look exactly like the ones that come out of the Betty Crocker box. My potatoes are Yukon Golds and have a wonderful yellow (gold, hehehe) color. The instructions that I read on the Internet said to blanch them 8 minutes. In my experience, that's too long (4 1/2 to 5 minutes do fine for me.) They'll be falling apart if you blanch them too long. Of course, mine were sliced thin with a Mandolin Slicer. Perhaps the longer time works well for thicker slices.

My advice, try dehydrating potatoes again. You can make au gratin or scalloped potatoes from dehydrated that compete with anything in a commercial box.

The basic sauce mix:

2 Tbsp. Nonfat Dry Milk
2 Tbsp. Flour
2 Tbsp. Cornstartch
1 tsp. Onion Powder or 1 Tbsp. Crushed Dried Onions
1/8 tsp. Black Pepper

To make Scalloped Potatoes:

3 cups dehydrated Potatoes
6 Tbsp. Sauce Mix
1/3 cup Nonfat Dry Milk
3 Tbsp. Butter or Margarine
2 3/4 cups boiling Water

Pour the potatoes into a medium size ungreased casserole and sprinkle the sauce mix on top. Dot with butter; stir in the boiling water. Bake uncovered at 400 degrees F for 30 to 35 minutes or until tender. If you are cooking something else at a lower temperature in your oven, adjust the baking time; at 350 degrees bake 40 to 45 minutes; at 325 degrees bake 50 to 55 minutes.

For au gratin potatoes, add grated cheese (how easy is that?) and for a Skillet Meat and Potatoes Casserole, add browned ground beef and beef bouillon granules.

Re: Good and cheap canned food
 

I've never really noticed any difference if I'd bought dried beans recently, or if they'd been in a jar or bucket. Yes, it would surely be true that in a shtf situation, the canned beans would require almost no cooking as compared to dried, but probably have a shelf life of 3 yrs vs 5 or 10 for the dried beans.

That said, I do like canned green beans to the point where I bet I have 4 cases of them at least, because I'm sure we eat a can or two per week. Whenever they are 3 cans for $1 I buy at least a case, and same goes for canned kidney beans, corn and creamed corn. I probably have 10 or 15 cases of canned beans and corn at any given time, and they get used up over time.

I've been thinking of getting dried potatoes, onions, milk, cheese and wheat from LDS, but I know the wife will freak if I do, with both of us out of work, now.

Re: Good and cheap canned food
 

Dry beans can last for decades if stored in air tight containers with oxy absorbers.

If they are stored in #10 cans, mylar or glass, they should retain their moisture and be relatively easy to soak and cook.

A easy way to get around the 'old bean' problem is by using a pressure cooker.

This is actually a handy survivalist method anyways since it cooks much faster and will save electricity/fuel.

Re: Good and cheap canned food
 

Ahhh thats why. I usually use my pressure cooker to make bean dishes, etc.

Re: Good and cheap canned food
 

I hate to be responding to my own post :) But Rita Bingham's book, Country Beans, has a two-page Index To Bean Flour Recipes, under the headings of Breakfasts; Breads; Salads, Dips, Sauces, Dressings; Patties and Loaves; Soups; Casseroles and One-Dish Meals; etc.; etc; etc.

For instance, here is one of her recipes for "Instant" Refried Bean Mix:

1 1/2 c. pinto or black bean flour
1 1/2 t. chili powder
1/8 t. garlic powder (optional)
1/2 t. cumin
1 1/2 t. salt
1 t. minced onions (optional)

To prepare, whisk 3/4 c. above mixture into 2 1/2 c. boiling water. Reduce heat to low, cover pan and cook 4 minutes. Add 1/2 c. of your favorite salsa after cooking. Mixture thickens as it cools and will stay thick even after heating.

If you don't like the blue-gray-brownish color (because of the very short cooking time), microwave the cooked mixture in a covered dish for about 5 minutes on high. This helps to achieve a better brown color for dips.

So, if your beans have gotten a little old, there's lots to do with them nonetheless, which gets us right into one of the basic preparedness rules -- you have to know what to do with your fixins. Get familiar with them now while your still have time. Search out the recipes and try them. When you're hungry and losing strength is not a good time to learn to cook from scratch.

Re: Good and cheap canned food
 

Thanks for the reminder, Merlin. I'd read about using beans for flour, but that didn't register right away. I think I've seen a lot of bean flour recipes online, too.

It's also a good thing to keep in mind for folks thinking about a grain mill. Some of them have special grinding tools for beans and corn - you want to make sure you get one of those. I know my Country Living Mill has one that I had to purchase at additional cost.

Good point also, TG. I had thought about pressure cooking the beans to get them softer all by myself :yippee:, but the cutting down on cooking time and saving electricity, propane, wood, etc. will be even more important.

Re: Good and cheap canned food
 

The one thing I didn't purchase with my CLM and I purchased everything even all the spare parts....was the bean & corn auger.

I always use my 8qt Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker when I'm cooking beans, actually it's used for all sorts of dishes. Cosco has a good one for a lot less I think it's made in Brazil or Spain,about $50, I have one and no complaints.

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There is no point in hoarding food that causes cancer and death.

The only canned food to hoard is organic.

Acquire heirloom organic seeds before Monsanto does.

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Starvation causes death much faster than non orgranics :wink:

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Ok....back to the good and cheep canned food.....

Just went to walmart and picked up a few things.I went back because they had Roddenberry's Northwoods pancake syrup 24 0zs. $1.64-75c coupon on each one. 89c each bottle, that's .037c an oz. Better than getting the giant size bottles. Got 30 bottles....pancakes are easier than baking bread! The coupon is hanging on the bottle neck.

Also swanson chicken broth 33% less sodium 14 oz. 48c. cheaper than the off brands or big cans and you only have to open a single serving can. Also got GV chunk chicken breast 12.5 oz $2.08, actually cheaper than sam's club multi can packs. Star kist chunk light tuna in veg oil 12oz. $2.12. Figured in shtf senario might be better to have some extra oil in the can instead of packed in water.

I'm getting a pretty good stock of canned meats and fish. I figure we would save the meat type dishes for the Sunday meal. Bean and rice base dring the rest of week.

Re: Good and cheap canned food
 

I've never tried this but I did read about it.:confused_ma:

You can put dried soup beans in a thermos and pour boiling water in and seal it up for 8 hours.

After 8 hours you will have ready to eat beans. This is invaluable since in most SHTF scenarios fuel is to scarce/expensive to cook beans all day.

Re: Good and cheap canned food
 

You can do the same thing with wheat and it will soften it to where you can eat it. I had a friend who had cancer and the treatments he took made his mouth pretty tender. He would eat eggs and wheat prepared like this with honey. I've tried wheat prepared this way but I'm not a big grain eater. I prefer meat and green vegetables.

Re: Good and cheap canned food
 

SPAM!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Good and cheap canned food
 

OH, no it is not. No one is selling anything (other than preparedness.) I made my own wheat tortillas this evening from scratch. They didn't turn out great. But they'll get better. And, in the meantime, I'm less dependent on the system to put food on my table. I object to spam as much as anyone. But, the spirit of this thread requires Spam (is that what you were talking about?). Now, there's good and cheap canned food -- especially when purchased on sale. I have 80 cans or so in the pantry.

Re: Good and cheap canned food
 

just cook a big pot of pinto bean on the wood stove today , it take four hours not to bad an they tasted great . put a ham bone in them , fried some potatoe with some onions in them. an a cast iron pan with corn bread in it , dam it was goodddddd and the dry beans were 5 years old an i soak them over night