[purehavoc]

I can tell you this for Ramen noodles, for having really little to no nutritional value a person can live a long time on them . I ate them for breakfast , lunch and dinner for about 3 months after my Ex left me with nothing but a recliner, 12" TV , 6 packs of ramen noodles and plastic silverware . I would think these would last a long time but the date on them was around 1.5 yr sell by date , maybe thats from the terrible packaging they come in . Either way were stocked up on some of those also if I made it that long on them Im sure they wont kill us now , Except for the sodium in them
Looks ilke I need to invest in some more plastic 5 gal buckets to start keeping more stuff in

[jyo]

Several times I have eaten canned food that was 7-8 years old (could have been older) and was surprised that it looked and tasted just fine---these were stored in a cool-dry place. I have only encountered one can (pineapple slices) that was grossly swollen and clearly gone bad. Thru it away---now regret not taking a picture first.

[winds-of-change]

Originally Posted by jyo

Several times I have eaten canned food that was 7-8 years old (could have been older) and was surprised that it looked and tasted just fine---these were stored in a cool-dry place. I have only encountered one can (pineapple slices) that was grossly swollen and clearly gone bad. Thru it away---now regret not taking a picture first.

The acid in the canned pineapple will 'age' the can after a while. I had a can of pineapple chunks waaay in the back of the shelf. When I finally did some digging around on that shelf, the can was sitting in a pool of black, very sticky stuff. I had to soak it to loosen the can and clean off the gunk.

[Marlinman]

Originally Posted by ellis36

I was in the Navy in the fifties, and I remember the dates on cases of cold-storage eggs being early forties. Once in a while one would be bad---they would just scrape it off the griddle.

Good old c-rats....NOT!!! And i have eattin some pretty nasty MRE's in the Marines also trip

God didnt make all men equal colonel Sam Colt did

[Marlinman]

Originally Posted by c3shooter

US Army- late 60's, we had C Rations that were from the end of WW 2. Back then, the accessory pack had a mini-pack of 5 cigarettes. Chesterfield or Old Golds- non-filter, so dry that when you took a drag, half the tobacco came out.

Do you still have your p38 can opener c3? Also how was them green eggs??

God didnt make all men equal colonel Sam Colt did

[willshoum]

A few years back we opened a few cans of chedder cheese that were given to me from a war vet.... Now thats what I call aged.....WW two..... it was a little dry but very good on crackers........

[Shoobee]

I prefer to store rice & noodles (some people call this pasta, and its the only Italian word they know) & bottled water, as my main food storage supply, which I also rotate through my meals during the year, so that it never sits more than a year on the shelf.

Canned foods are generally ok, but they could be bad, and you would never know it. The poison is called botulism. You can google it, or wiki it, and read all about it. It can affect anything in a can. Doesn't matter how old.

Generally I avoid canned foods. And I definitely do not store them. As to their shelf life, if properly processed, everything inside has been sterized, so the carbohydrate value should last forever, whereas the vitamin and protein value could quickly degrade. The point being, you can store carbs in the form of rice and noodles, and be perfectly safe that way.

For some recipes, canned ingredients are very convenient, such as spaghetti sauces, apple sauce, sliced pineapple, etc. You could make your own from fresh ingredients, but the canned product is much easier and quicker to use.

Every time you do something on this Earth, you are normally taking some kind of risk. And some risks are totally unnecessary. Any risk that you can avoid is an unnecessary risk. Any risk that you cannot avoid, you are stuck with.

To avoid food-borne disease risk, I normally cook with fresh ingredients, but I do store some items, although not many. Rice and noodles are virtually always safe.

The 4 food groups as taught when I was growing up are meat, vegies, carbs, and fruits. You could can and store all of them, but they taste better when you make and eat them fresh. To these 4 groups I like to add a generous serving of gravy and wine. So that makes 6 food groups, for me. The wine is good for making gravy (some people call this sauce) too.

Wine can be safely stored for decades, fortunately.

[Shoobee]

Originally Posted by winds-of-change

The acid in the canned pineapple will 'age' the can after a while. I had a can of pineapple chunks waaay in the back of the shelf. When I finally did some digging around on that shelf, the can was sitting in a pool of black, very sticky stuff. I had to soak it to loosen the can and clean off the gunk.

Win-dy, it looks like you have a .22 and a .38 in your handgun photo.

The .22 looks like a Ruger or a Colt. I have had both, and they are good guns. If you are a really good shot, you can bag most any squirrels, rabbits, possums, or coons with them. And those all taste pretty good to eat. Squirrels and rabbits taste like chicken, and possums and coons taste like pork. So it makes sense to store .22 ammo, since you have the perfect gun for it.

That then would take care of the meat for your 4 food groups, if need be.

[Shoobee]

Originally Posted by c3shooter

US Army- late 60's, we had C Rations that were from the end of WW 2. Back then, the accessory pack had a mini-pack of 5 cigarettes. Chesterfield or Old Golds- non-filter, so dry that when you took a drag, half the tobacco came out.

USMC mid 1970s, we had C rats that were from the end of Viet Nam. Could have been the same ones you were eating back then also. Used to barter with the smokers with the cigarettes in exchange for their jam and crackers.

Glad I was young and dumb back then. I would have eaten anything, and believed anything, once upon a time.

[Shoobee]

Originally Posted by purehavoc

I can tell you this for Ramen noodles, for having really little to no nutritional value a person can live a long time on them . I ate them for breakfast , lunch and dinner for about 3 months after my Ex left me with nothing but a recliner, 12" TV , 6 packs of ramen noodles and plastic silverware . I would think these would last a long time but the date on them was around 1.5 yr sell by date , maybe thats from the terrible packaging they come in . Either way were stocked up on some of those also if I made it that long on them Im sure they wont kill us now , Except for the sodium in them
Looks ilke I need to invest in some more plastic 5 gal buckets to start keeping more stuff in

Ramen noodles and the broth mix that comes with them are the perfect backpacking food. Lite weight, cooks fast, just add hot water.

Around the house I prefer to make real noodles though. Flat egg noodles cook quickly, if you are in a hurry, and taste infinitely better than ramen noodles. I prefer to save the ramen noodles for the outdoors.