The canned food stockpile

Why canned food is the backbone

Canned food is already cooked, sealed against air and germs, and safe to eat cold straight from the can. It needs no refrigeration, no water to prepare and, in a pinch, no fuel. That makes it the most useful thing to have on a shelf when the power, the water and the stores all fail at once.

It has drawbacks too: it is heavy, bulky and costs more per calorie than dry staples like rice and beans. The strongest pantry uses both. Cans carry you through the first weeks with no cooking, and dry goods stretch the supply out for months. Our guide to beans, rice and dry goods covers the second half.

How much to stock

Think in calories, not cans. A moderately active adult needs roughly 2,000 to 2,500 calories a day, and more when doing hard physical work in the cold. Most labels list calories per serving and servings per can, so a few minutes with a calculator tells you how many days a shelf really holds.

• Step one: 2 weeks of meals for everyone in the home. Step two: 1 month. Step three: 3 months. Go further once you have a rotation habit that keeps the stock fresh.
• Write a simple meal plan, such as chili with crackers, or tuna, beans and peaches, and buy the cans to make those meals instead of a random pile.
• Example: a 15-ounce can of chili is usually 400 to 500 calories. One adult would need 4 to 5 cans a day to live on chili alone, which is why calorie-dense extras matter.
• Count pets, guests and the relatives who may turn up at your door in a real crisis.

What to buy

• Protein: canned chicken, beef, ham, tuna, salmon, sardines, chili, beef stew and every kind of bean.
• Vegetables: corn, green beans, peas, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and mixed vegetables.
• Fruit: peaches, pears, pineapple and fruit cocktail. Fruit packed in juice or syrup adds calories and liquid you can drink.
• Complete meals: soups, stews, pasta in sauce and hash. Thick, chunky soups beat thin broth for calories.
• Fats: canned meats with fat, peanut butter, cooking oil and shortening. Fat is the most calorie-dense food there is, and most canned vegetables have almost none.
• Extras: evaporated and condensed milk, coconut milk, and broth for cooking rice and beans.

Shelf life and dates

The date on a can is usually a best-by quality date, not a safety cutoff. USDA food safety guidance says high-acid canned foods such as tomatoes, citrus and most fruit keep their best quality for about 12 to 18 months, and low-acid foods such as meat, fish, beans and most vegetables for 2 to 5 years.

Food in a can that is still in good condition and has been stored cool can be safe well past those dates, but texture, color, flavor and some vitamins slowly fade. Heat is the biggest enemy: the warmer the storage, the faster the quality drops.

Where to store cans

• Cool and steady: ideally 50 to 70°F. Avoid attics, garages, sheds, anywhere above 85°F and anywhere that freezes.
• Dry: damp air rusts cans. Keep them on shelves or pallets, not bare concrete, and away from water heaters, pipes and washing machines.
• Dark and out of sight: closets, under beds and a spare room all work.
• Spread it out: keep part of the supply in a second spot so one flood, fire or break-in doesn't take everything.

Rotation: first in, first out

A stockpile you never touch is a stockpile that quietly expires. Shelve new cans at the back, eat from the front, and write the month and year bought on each lid with a marker. Cook from the stockpile every week as part of normal meals, then replace what you used on the next shopping trip.

Twice a year, for example when the clocks change, walk the shelves, move anything near or past its date into this week's meals, and check every can for damage. Gravity-feed can racks make rotation automatic: load at the top, take from the bottom.

Cans to throw away

• Bulging, swollen or puffy lids or ends.
• Leaking cans, or sticky residue on the outside.
• Deep dents, especially on the top or side seams, or any dent sharp enough to crease the metal.
• Rust that doesn't wipe off, or rust that has pitted the metal.
• Liquid that spurts out when opened, foam, a bad smell, or cloudy liquid that should be clear.

Canning your own food

Home canning turns a garden, a hunting season or a bulk sale into shelf-stable food, and the jars and rings can be used again (the flat lids only once). It is a real skill, and it must be done by tested methods.

• High-acid foods (most fruit, jams, pickles, and tomatoes with added lemon juice or citric acid) can be processed in a boiling-water canner.
• Low-acid foods (vegetables, beans, meat, poultry, fish and soups) must be processed in a pressure canner. A boiling-water bath does not get hot enough to destroy botulism spores.
• Use only tested recipes, such as those in the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning or from the National Center for Home Food Preservation, and adjust times or pressure for your altitude.
• Home-canned food keeps its best quality for about a year. Label every jar with what it holds and the date.

Openers, heating and leftovers

• Keep two manual can openers: one with the stockpile and one in the kitchen. A small military-style P-38 or P-51 opener weighs almost nothing and fits on a key ring.
• Pull-tab cans need no opener, but their lids are thinner and dent more easily.
• Heat food in a pot, or set an opened can in simmering water. Never heat a sealed can: it can burst.
• Save the liquid from vegetables and fruit. It counts toward your water and adds flavor to rice and soups.
• Once opened, treat canned food like fresh food. Without a refrigerator, open only what you will eat at one meal.