Quote:
Originally Posted by Onkel Neal
As for MREs vs storing general canned food, the can stuff will last 2 years pretty easily.
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If the cans are intact and the walls made of good material, you must not worry at all. The dates printed on them are exclusively for legal reasons. Practically, a can can hold for decades, and that is no exaggeration. I currently have some cans on the ready shelf in my kitchen that contain pea soup from Aldi, 12-15 years old. They taste as if bought yesterday. They are absolutely, totally fine. The colour of the peas has faded
a very little bit, that is all.
Also, I rotate them through, slowly, old ones in the front get occasionally eaten, new ones get resupplied and stored in the back of the shelf. That way you also learn which cans taste good and which one you do not wnat to buy again. Mostkly, I avoid supermarket cans. They are cheaper. And usually you taste why.
So again, the date stamps are a legal obligation only, two years is a maximum that must be stamped on food in germany and probably in the US as well. Its a formality, it has nothing to do with the real longevity of the contained food as long as the can's sealing is intact. As I said, in some Asian countries they have no dates on cans anymore at all - because it is practically pointless and misleading. It does not matter if they sell the can immediately or five yera slater, andn whether the customer eats it immediately or stores it another five years. There is no health risk, if the can was well-manufactured and used good material.
I do not mean to sell
Sorströmming to you!