Nutritious Supermarket Canned Goods
 

What brand-name, supermarket, canned goods -- with a shelf life of at least a couple of years -- are the most nutritious, or most appropriate to have on hand for family survival purposes? Thank you.

Re: Nutritious Supermarket Canned Goods
 

For survival purposes?

Anything that keeps you alive and doesn't kill you faster than starvation.

Re: Nutritious Supermarket Canned Goods
 

Thank you. Your reply, however, does not address my question of "most nutritious".

Re: Nutritious Supermarket Canned Goods
 

I prefer organically grown. They tend to use more natural fertilizers rather than just pumping the vegetables with nitrogen. Grass feed beef is higher in good fats, etc. Get a good variety.

But my cupboard is stuffed with spam :) With my tight budget I went with quantity over quality.

Re: Nutritious Supermarket Canned Goods
 

You can sometimes find 12 oz cans of mackerel for about a buck or so. Very cheap and can be used with rice etc. for protein and omega 3 fatty acids.
And canned beans, of course.

Re: Nutritious Supermarket Canned Goods
 

"And canned beans, of course".

Like "Bush Beans"?

Re: Nutritious Supermarket Canned Goods
 

If you're hung up on brand names, yes, but most discount grocery stores sell canned beans for less money

I buy the dark red kidney beans and black beans because they are higher in antioxidants.

Re: Nutritious Supermarket Canned Goods
 

Nothing heated to 240 degrees will be very nutritious.

Dehydrate using the "living foods" method.

Re: Nutritious Supermarket Canned Goods
 

Actually, cooked tomatoes and tomato sauce, for instance, provide more available lycopene than raw tomatoes.
Raw is not always better.
http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/163/6/739

Re: Nutritious Supermarket Canned Goods
 

For something with a good shelf life I've been buying canned sockeye salmon from Wal*Mart.. It comes on sale every few weeks and the latest batch had a ~~~ Best Before by 2014 on the bottom..

For those of us here in Canada, it's worth also keeping an eye on Shoppers drug, they often have the large cans on sale for a better price than Wal*Mart..

Re: Nutritious Supermarket Canned Goods
 

I think a much better question needs to be directed at you before anyone can give you a good answer to yours....

What do you and your family eat now for your meals?

Re: Nutritious Supermarket Canned Goods
 

I like sardines - also a very healthy choice.

What I would avoid is tuna - due to high mercury content and price.

Re: Nutritious Supermarket Canned Goods
 

I'm sure it's not a ton of canned goods.

He's asking about emergency survival canned goods.

I, for instance, eat a lot of fresh chicken, but that could easily vanish from the stores so it's not my emergency food.

Re: Nutritious Supermarket Canned Goods
 

I grasp that. That's why I asked the OP to outline what their regular diet is so I could make some suggestions.

There ARE long term foods that can be very healthy... all depends on how you prepare them.

I eat a lot of fresh chicken, too, but I also can some of the fresh organic chicken so I will have long term food.

Re: Nutritious Supermarket Canned Goods
 

I like S & W brand from Costco. Most of the stuff does not have alot of other stuff added! When you compare the green beans or corn taste wise to Green giant its S & W taste much better!

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I think anything that is cheap and you can or will eat is worth storing. Canned food has a best by stamp on it, not an expiration date. Most canned food as long as it is not damaged easily has a 15-20 year shelf life.

Check out this article about some really OLD canned food.

How Long Will Canned Food Last?

Here is one interesting tidbit.

Re: Nutritious Supermarket Canned Goods
 

Depends what you mean by "nutritious", doesn't it?

When I was young (and we English may be different from other English-speakers anyway) the word meant either nourishing or healthy or both and nowadays it is starting to mean "organic" to many peeps.

What is important is to store a balanced (proteins to include all alpha amino acids, carbohydrates, fibre, fats, etc) collection of grub you actually like to eat. Plus some unhealthy choccies! :s1:

Re: Nutritious Supermarket Canned Goods
 

I am Italian and an SOB (son of a butcher). We eat a lot of spaghetti and meat.

Re: Nutritious Supermarket Canned Goods
 

lol, my hubby is an SOB, too.... nothing like homemade Italian sausage, is there?

Pasta can be stored long term and I believe can be bought in Superpails... I know you can buy it in #10 cans. I buy the pasta I like from the store and vacuum seal it in half-gallon Mason jars.

If you make your own pasta, you can purchase whatever whole grains you prefer for grinding and making the pasta fresh at home.

I'm not sure what your "skill level" is in the kitchen, but I would suggest that you purchase either freeze dried or canned meats that you can use to create the sort of dishes your family is used to eating. If you are familiar with canning, I would suggest you look at canning some of the meat you can get now for use later.... ground beef or chicken cans well and makes a pretty tasty meat sauce.

Don't forget to purchase extra olive oil, seasonings and cheeses.... shredded cheese can be frozen or you can purchase freeze dried cheese in #10 cans. In fact, start taking notes on what you eat every day for the next couple of weeks or month and make sure that you remember to store items you may not think of right off hand. Most people don't think of condiments, seasonings, sauces or cooking wines as important, but they are. Also, what you want to store is INGREDIENTS..... sure, you can purchase spaghetti sauce to store, but you'll also want to store just tomatoes and other items for different sauces.

Canned butter is a good item to have. Sweeteners and spreads.....

Beans, both canned and dried, are excellent items for the pantry. Meat broths for making soups.... and freeze dried or dehydrated veggies to add to that.

Do you need to know where to look for these items?

Re: Nutritious Supermarket Canned Goods
 

Dear Magpie Fairy and others,

Thank you so much for taking the time to offer your valued advice. Yes, there is nothing like homemade sausage (pronounced -- "sawzeech"), except my grandmother's meatballs (1/3 veal, 1/3 pork and 1/3 beef) cooked in the sauce (we call it gravy).

God bless!

Re: Nutritious Supermarket Canned Goods
 

You really are Italian if you call it "gravy!"

Please do come back and ask more questions if you run into a brick wall or are unsure about anything. I'm working on a list of links to add to the "Where to get stuff" thread at the top of this forum, but there are already a ton of great links there.

And remember, if your father is a butcher, that is one job that will have security. Most basic food production related jobs will have some level of security. Don't know about your family, but no matter how tight the money was here, my in-laws certainly never went hungry even if they ate only what the customers didn't want... i.e., tongue sweet breads, tripe, streak-o-lean, oxtail, neck bones, etc....

And don't forget seeds so you can grow a few things if you have room.

Re: Nutritious Supermarket Canned Goods
 

I never even thought of Shoppers... Sounds like it's worth a look.

Thanks.

--And my own opinion on survival food fwiw: Cheap and what you eat is my opinion. Cheap so you can get enough to actually pull ahead of use and start measuring in months worth at least. What you eat so that you can eat it. Nutrition wise just avoid heavy salt, sugar and melamine.

Buy several can openers. Sounds silly now... ;O