Canned foods
Canned foods
I want to fill my cold room in the basement with hundreds of cans of food. What are the best choices and how should I go about getting them all?
All appreciated. Totally new here, don’t know what I don’t know.
My suggestion is just to buy extra of what you normally eat, and actually use your supply in everyday meals. Take your older cans first and continually replenish with new ones. This keeps your supply fresh.
If you don't currently use canned goods, now is the time to experiment and see what you like. Once you know your preferences, wholesale stores are pretty good for buying in bulk.
This is good advice. It’s what I do (but not 2000). I made a menu of foods we like, figured out the ingredients, and calculated enough to last three months. Then put them on a separate shopping list and waited for sales.
I check my inventory each month. Lately I’ve been lazy and we ate most of it. Also, inflation is fucking with the prices I used to pay.
I think the important thing is to practice good FIFO and buy stuff you actually like. Experiment with different recipes and flavours now. You are not going to want to radically change your diet and how you cook. If you don't like it now, you won't like it when you have to eat it. My staples to always have a supply of are black beans, chickpeas, coconut milk, san marzanos, corn and tuna.
I see where you’re going with that, but I’m thinking more like… oh society collapsed? Well no fear because 2000 cans of soup. But how long can that stuff realistically last in storage? Some must be better than others, right?
As long as they're undamaged, they supposedly last quite a lot longer than their printed "best by" dates. I think it's more is a flavor and texture degradation that happens.
I guess if you just want a stockpile, then getting whole-meal type canned goods would be better, like soups, chili, pasta with sauce, etc. If you do that, avoid the cans with the pull tabs. Since their lids are made for easy opening, they can degrade sooner than regular cans.