# what canned goods are best to stock up on



## miho (Jun 10, 2012)

I saw cans of rice n beans and even fried rice with chicken and basically whole meals in a can. are they tasty? What canned goods are best. so far i.have 5 cases of chef boyardee lol i love chef and kids too . got about 8 cases of luncheon meat,3 cases of vienna sausage and boxes full of mixed stuff like beans,tomatoes,potatoes, you get the idea. but what will be good for our nutrition when shtf? i got tons of multivitamins cos that's been a concern to me since i got kids.


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## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

I think you may get a bunch of different answers. I stock up on the basics (corn,beans, carrots, potatos..etc) I do go out of my way to try to get can goods that I have to open with an opener vs pull tab. I have heard pull tabs cans will or can go bad quicker.
Besides veggies I stock up on many kinds of soups, chicken, chili, SPAM, tuna, hash. Anything that may offer some creature comfort down the road.


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## tango (Apr 12, 2013)

Whatever you like and will eat.


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## Fuzzee (Nov 20, 2012)

.






What you like to eat.


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## retired guard (Mar 7, 2013)

I would think it would depend on your anticipated needs. Do you have an alternative source of food ie garden forgeable plants ability to hunt fish or domestic animals. Do you want canned foods to supplement your fluid intake. Spam is supposed to have the longest shelf life how long do you anticipate a need for canned food?


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## Nathan Jefferson (May 11, 2013)

+1 for whatever you eat.

If you don't know - try some and find out what you like, buy more of that.


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## Rigged for Quiet (Mar 3, 2013)

We have recently been concentrating on canned fruits now that we have a comfort zone on veggies and meats.


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## BamaBoy101 (Dec 9, 2013)

We buy very few canned goods but we do our own canning. We do a lot of beef stew and chilli for one dish meals and of coarse lots of veggies. We have a good bit of tomatoes as there's so much you can do with them.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Mrs Slippy and I buy cans of what we EAT and rotate. Right now we shop for canned foods with a expiration date of 2017 or later and put those in our storage bin labeled 2017. We just broke into our stores of cans with 2014 Expiration dates and are rotating those into our daily meals. We probably bought most of the cans with 2014 exp date back in 2011. 

It may sound like we have a 2-3 year supply but that is not the case since we eat more than just canned foods. But at our current rate of consumption we have cans with 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 expiration dates all stored in separate bins marked with the exp date, very important. First In-First Out.


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## sparkyprep (Jul 5, 2013)

I actually LIKE Spam, so I have quite a bit of it stored.


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## Silverback (Jan 20, 2014)

sparkyprep said:


> I actually LIKE Spam, so I have quite a bit of it stored.


My boys hate it when I start singing the spam song.... I sing the gaston song when I am cooking eggs soo... yea Dad cooking is a show.


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## tirednurse (Oct 2, 2013)

miho said:


> I saw cans of rice n beans and even fried rice with chicken and basically whole meals in a can. are they tasty? What canned goods are best. so far i.have 5 cases of chef boyardee lol i love chef and kids too . got about 8 cases of luncheon meat,3 cases of vienna sausage and boxes full of mixed stuff like beans,tomatoes,potatoes, you get the idea. but what will be good for our nutrition when shtf? i got tons of multivitamins cos that's been a concern to me since i got kids.


when I read your post the first thing that enters my mind is why buy rice or beans in a can? they take up a lot less room and cost less when purchased dry. I would suggest getting a variety of things that you can mix together to form several different type of meals. 
Example -a can of chicken can be made into chicken noodle soup, chicken and rice soup, chicken and rice casserole, chicken tacos, chicken gravy over mashed potatoes and so on with some other veggies, pasta, rice or potatoes
As far as nutrition .... the best way to get what we need from our food is to have a variety in our diet. the basics are meat, eggs, dairy and legumes for protein, veggies and fruit for vitamins, minerals and fiber. Everything else is extra for our enjoyment.


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## BamaBoy101 (Dec 9, 2013)

sparkyprep said:


> I actually LIKE Spam, so I have quite a bit of it stored.


My wife can make spam taste like steak. Its a good think because the taste of spam makes me gag....

I used to say anyone who could eat something that smells like spam or anchovies must be a pervert....


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Spam then some low salt Spam. If there us any room left some good soup .
Stock the stuff you want to eat.


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## Raven (Jan 17, 2014)

I am new so forgive me if this has been brought up but many of the canned food items that you buy will last longer and not be damaged by rust if you coat the cans with vaseline when you store them. I do this to the tops of my home canned jars as well. Because we keep much of our food in either the cellar or underground storage, moisture can be an issue. It really doesn't take much and because of this I have added Vaseline to my list of "must have" for prepping.
I have also learned to dehydrate/re-hydrate properly by buying many canned fruits and veggies on sale. I have dehydrated all of my cans that come with the pull off tops because I have not had much luck with storage on these items.
I am really enjoying this site and I appreciate your letting me join!


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## Arizona Infidel (Oct 5, 2013)

The chef boyardee isn't such a good product for long term storage. The tomato is acidic and will eat the cans eventually.


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## slewfoot (Nov 6, 2013)

Depends on the person ; you like chef Boyardee others may not. I love spam you may not, the best thing for you to do is buy a can try it, if you don't care for it try another and so on. But remember in a shtf situation anything tastes good just add salt pepper and a little marijuana.:-D


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Raven,
Good suggestion on the vaseline.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

I buy a lot of canned meats (chicken, beef, turkey, ham) to go with my stash of beans and rice. Now if I could just store lettuce for salads.


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## dwight55 (Nov 9, 2012)

The best advice I would put in one word: variety.

Don't lock yourself into certain special meals, . . . get the basics, . . . you can always blend them for something different.

Don't think I would want to blend a can of Chef Boyardee and a can of fried rice.

But then again, . . . I can make do on jerky and squaw bread.

May God bless,
Dwight


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## BamaBoy101 (Dec 9, 2013)

Silverback said:


> My boys hate it when I start singing the spam song.... I sing the gaston song when I am cooking eggs soo... yea Dad cooking is a show.


Its funny, as a survivalist I have eaten grubs, worms, mice and many other things that will make a billy goat puke. Yet the smell of spam makes me sick. But like I said, the wife can transform it and make it taste like steak so we keep some on hand....


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## miho (Jun 10, 2012)

Yes the vaseline for the cans work. i use olive oil though. i got so much rice and beans in five gal buckets i wanted to try stock up on something else  and but want to make sure its nutritious. i currently have about 300 lbs of rice and 200 in beans


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## Deebo (Oct 27, 2012)

what is squawbread? Please inform Us. And Raven, welcome to the circus. Nice addition, never thought about vaseline or oil. 
Also, I love the idea of "expireation years", and as I stock up more, I will just put them in totes.
good thread people..
Oh, and as for flavors and what I like, we make it a point to at least try something new every time we go shopping, be it a generic brand of vegatables, or product we have never seen before, kinda like a trial and error. If the fiance will eat it, it has to be damn good, me and the kids, we can eat anything with a little ketchup or ranch added!


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## Montana Rancher (Mar 4, 2013)

miho said:


> I saw cans of rice n beans and even fried rice with chicken and basically whole meals in a can. are they tasty? What canned goods are best. so far i.have 5 cases of chef boyardee lol i love chef and kids too . got about 8 cases of luncheon meat,3 cases of vienna sausage and boxes full of mixed stuff like beans,tomatoes,potatoes, you get the idea. but what will be good for our nutrition when shtf? i got tons of multivitamins cos that's been a concern to me since i got kids.


A great question which unfortunately wasn't answered in 3 pages of posts so here is the correct answer...

Cream of mushroom soup, or Cream of chicken soup is your best 1-2 punch for basic cooking. Pour either of these over a piece of freshly butchered meat, put any extra fresh (or cans) of Beans, Tomatoes, Corn, Potatoes, Celery, Carrots, (Vegetables in general) in a decent sized pot and cook at around 350 degrees for an hour and you have a meal you will not forget. (spices are really optional but worth experimenting with)

I can't believe that this hasn't been mentioned but you should try this for yourself...

Take any Vegetable, and any meat (raw)... Pour a can of soup over it and bake it for an hour at 350, and you have a meal. It really is that easy and you can probably save 50% off your food bill with this simple tip.

My larder includes 
cream of mushroom and chicken soup
String beans
Canned tomatoes of many types
corn (mostly whole kernel)
White beans
Red beans
Kidney beans
Garbanzo beans
Cranberries
Greens
and more, sorry can't think of them right now

Yes you should buy stuff you use and rotate your stock, but learning new recipies will give you more options.


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## mattdeere (Jan 12, 2014)

miho said:


> I saw cans of rice n beans and even fried rice with chicken and basically whole meals in a can. are they tasty? What canned goods are best. so far i.have 5 cases of chef boyardee lol i love chef and kids too . got about 8 cases of luncheon meat,3 cases of vienna sausage and boxes full of mixed stuff like beans,tomatoes,potatoes, you get the idea. but what will be good for our nutrition when shtf? i got tons of multivitamins cos that's been a concern to me since i got kids.


I buy canned goods my family and I eat on a regular basis and keep stock of that. It seems that most canned goods I buy have a 1-3 year shelf life according to the printed expiration date. You can also buy long term 15-25 year life food in the big #10 cans at most wal marts. (Except here in California I can't find them). It's also a good idea to introduce those into your diet to see how your body tolerates that kind of food.


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