Canned Goods Expiration Dates?

[Sawdust]

So I'm going through my earthquake food stores, and I've got canned goods (soups, fruit, beans, etc.) that have "best by" dates on them.

What exactly does the date mean? Taste degradation? Vitamin degradation? Certainly it can't mean the stuff "goes bad".

Bottom line - do I chuck stuff that is "expired"?

Sawdust

[Manedwolf]

It depends on storage conditions, if it's been kept in a hot place, they'll expire faster. Fruit expires moreso than high-acid citrus or heavily salted vegetables. Meat should be thrown away when it's expired, IMO. Also, discard ANY can that has any damage or rust. Botulism is not fun.

General guideline:

EXP 7/07 - Tastes kinda eh, nutrition value lower

EXP 7/05 - Yummy metal taste, vitamins lost

EXP 7/97 - Got a bathroom nearby?

EXP 7/68 - Intestines and stomach leave in opposite directions, YOU expire



Oh, yeah, and honey never expires if it's sealed. Ever.

[The Annoyed Man]

It depends on storage conditions, if it's been kept in a hot place, they'll expire faster. Fruit expires moreso than high-acid citrus or heavily salted vegetables. Meat should be thrown away when it's expired, IMO. Also, discard ANY can that has any damage or rust. Botulism is not fun.

General guideline:

EXP 7/07 - Tastes kinda eh, nutrition value lower

EXP 7/05 - Yummy metal taste, vitamins lost

EXP 7/97 - Got a bathroom nearby?

EXP 7/68 - Intestines and stomach leave in opposite directions, YOU expire



Oh, yeah, and honey never expires if it's sealed. Ever.

Might get a bit tired of living on honey alone...unless your name is Pooh I guess.

[trapperready]

Mmmm... metallic soup. Yum.

About a month ago, we had a can of Frank's Kraut breach the outer containment vessel... violently... in our cupboard. My best guess is that it was two years old. We cleared out anything that old or older at that time.

I try to use canned goods within 6 months to a year, although sometimes things go longer. We had one can of soup which has moved with us twice, making it at least 12 years old. It finally went in the trash.

A couple months ago, my wife was talking to an ER doc who had a patient that was in considerable GI distress. He'd admitted to eating some deer meat that had been marked 1994. I'm figuring that would have even made my dogs sick.

[Manedwolf]

Sauerkraut and kimchee are both usually live foods that are still fermenting unless it's pasteurized, which is sort of useless since it kills all the digestive-benefit bacteria. They'll eventually bust their containers as a result of gas from fermentation, and should be kept cold. Yogurt made with too active a culture will, too. Shoppers have been splattered in supermarkets by exploding yogurt containers on shelves.

If you want sauerkraut, buy it from the fridge case and keep it cold, and only buy live sort, not pasteurized. Otherwise it's pretty much just wet cabbage, all the beneficial bacteria and most vitamins are gone.

[Bogie]

That assumes someone would WANT sauerkraut...
 
Yech.
 
I recommend that you have your "shtf" food stored in your kitchen. And that it is comprised of stuff you will normally eat. That way, you just keep a "full pantry," and restock from the rear.

[Manedwolf]

I love both fresh sauerkraut and kimchee, many varieties of the latter. It's REALLY good for you. Lots of vitamin C!

Plus beneficial bacteria can displace and destroy harmful bacteria in the intestine. It's a great way to end a possible bad-food bacteria issue quickly without having to load up on antibiotics. 

Kimchee in small quantities is a condiment. In large quantities, it's a digestive exorcism.

[RadioFreeSeaLab]

mmm sauerkraut and bratwurst.

[The Annoyed Man]

We try to catch 'em about three months prior to the expiration date and donate them to the local food bank.

[Manedwolf]

If you want emergency food you don't need to worry about so much with expiration, get some freeze-dried. The stuff I have is good till 2013.

[roo_ster]

That assumes someone would WANT sauerkraut...

How do you say, "Get a rope!" in German?

[The Annoyed Man]

That assumes someone would WANT sauerkraut...

How do you say, "Get a rope!" in German?

  If those are the same Germans who started and lost 2 World Wars, the answer is 'who cares'? 

[Bogie]

I haven't been able to stand the stuff since I was about eight, and had a mild problem with a drive-in hot dog, with kraut, and a strawberry milkshake (can't stand those either).
 
Leather seats in a 1958 Pontiac.
 

[Monkeyleg]

Let's see...sauerkraut and kielbasa, sauerkraut on bratwurst, sauerkraut and corned beef (reuben sandwich)...nope, I couldn't do without sauerkraut.

[Regolith]

I haven't been able to stand the stuff since I was about eight, and had a mild problem with a drive-in hot dog, with kraut, and a strawberry milkshake (can't stand those either).
 
Leather seats in a 1958 Pontiac.
 

Eh, sauerkraut is ok.  Not something I'd seek out to eat though.

Strawberry shakes?  Not so much.  I can stand artificial strawberry, but for some reason real strawberry milkshakes make me nauseas.  Not sure why that is, as I don't mind eating strawberries normally (except for the seeds; they drive me nuts).

As for expiration dates:  I usually throw the food out by the time they hit that point.  Mostly because I'm paranoid.  The exception is bread that doesn't show any sign of mold.  If I were in a starvation situation, though, I imagine my reluctance to eat expired food would fade rapidly.

[Lennyjoe]

Kimche is fine table fare! When I was in Korea I had my fair share of it. Like Madenwolf said, too much can be bad for the colon. I found out the hard way!

[K Frame]

"Might get a bit tired of living on honey alone...unless your name is Pooh I guess."

If you can find a supply of locusts, you can do a John the Baptist thing.


"Sauerkraut and kimchee are both usually live foods that are still fermenting unless it's pasteurized, which is sort of useless since it kills all the digestive-benefit bacteria."

Incorrect.

Both have a natural point at which fermentation stops. That point is when the concentrations of lactobacillus waste products (lactic acid) and yeast (alcohol) reach concentrations where they choke themselves out.

If the food is still bubbling, then it's still fermenting. When the bubbling stops, fermentation has stopped.

I've been making sauerkraut for several years. Fermentation normally takes from between 4 and 10 weeks to cease, depending on the temperatures at which it's kept.

If you have enough brine over the cabbage, and keep it in a nice, cool spot and make sure that it doesn't get mold growth going on it, you can keep sauerkraut in the brine virtually indefinitely. The same is true of naturally brewed pickles.

Mtnbkr has had my sauerkraut.

[Azrael256]

Incorrect.

I'm calling BS on "kimchee" and "food" in the same sentence.

I think you're also supposed to turn the cans over every few months.  I don't have an exact time, but I do remember somebody... maybe my grandmother telling me that.

[Sawdust]

Thanks for the input.

Aside from the sauerkraut tangent, I believe that best by date on these canned goods reflects the manufacturer's opinion/data of when the food will degrade in terms of taste, texture, color, etc. I'm sure that there is a safety factor of additional time that extends the date, too.

Certainly the food is safe and its vitamin content intact. This is emergency food, so if the taste is or color is slightly off, no big deal. I'll probably keep the food until a year or so past the date and then replace it.

The vast majority of my emergency food is stuff that is normally eaten and is rotated regularly. However, the goods that are in question are items that would, ingeneral, substitute for fresh foods that have become unobtainable. Such as fruit - I'd much rather eat fresh fruit than canned, so the canned stuff doesn't get rotated into the regular meals.

Sawdust

[Gewehr98]

Mike speaks true.  Kraut stops fermenting when done.