50 Best Canned Foods For Emergency Food Storage
I think canned food gets a bad rap. Canned foods used to be lined with BPA and BPA has been linked with certain diseases and ailments. However, over 90% of canned foods are moving away from BPA and lining their canned foods with safer alternatives.
Nutritional content is also a lot higher than people realize. Through the canning and heating process, companies try to retain as much nutrition as possible.
No, it’s not fresh food. Canning is a way to preserve food for an extended period of time. Commercial canning is a bit of a different process than canning at home, though still just as good, in my personal opinion. Botulism is always a concern, though has been less of a concern with commercial canned foods.
Each can will have a ‘best buy’ date on it, though some types of canned foods can last anywhere from 5-10 years past the ‘best buy’ date.
Keeping canned foods in cool, dry, dark places will extend the shelf life. However, rotating often is highly recommended. Each time you head to the grocery store, grab an extra can or two, move the old ones up front and the newer ones towards the back.
Look out for cans that have been dented, keep those up front and eat them first. Cans that look like they’re bulging, throw away. They may not safe to consume. Pop top cans may not last as long, but they still have a good shelf life.
In general, canned goods can last quite a while, especially if kept in ideal conditions. I’ve kept canned goods 5 years past the ‘best buy’ date, opened them and they were perfectly fine.
Of course, in the end, trust your gut. Getting sick is never in anyone’s best interest.
Here are the top 50 canned foods to add to your food storage:
- Soups
- Chicken/beef/vegetable broth
- Spam
- Roast beef
- Ham
- Turkey
- Chicken
- Pulled pork
- Vienna sausages
- Potted meat
- Tuna
- Salmon
- Sardines
- Squid
- Clams
- Beans; black, kidney, refried, pinto, baked
- Pie filling
- Condensed/evaporated milk
- Cheese
- Butter
- Tomato paste/chunks/diced
- Ravioli
- Bacon
- Potatoes
- Yams
- Corn
- Peas
- Carrots
- Green beans
- Baby corn
- Spinach
- Beets
- Cream corn
- Asparagus
- Mixed veggies
- Mixed fruit
- Pears
- Oranges
- Pineapple
- Peaches
- Pumpkin
- Cranberry sauce
- Corned beef hash
- Chili
- Gravy
- Alfredo sauce
- Spaghetti sauce
- Olives
- Coconut milk
- Brown bread
A few last bits of advice:
- Store what you eat. If you don’t like spam, then don’t store spam.
- If you are going to try something new, try it before storing it.
- Some of these items need extra rotation, such as high acidic foods like tomato sauces.
- Cook with your food storage! Get creative with these items and learn how to use them in everyday meals.
- Consider getting some of the fish items in oil and use that oil in the meal you cook with to get those extra fats.
Browse your local grocery store and discover the plentiful abundance of canned food items!
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Howdy! My name is Morgan I’ve been prepping for over 10 years and teach others to be prepared for emergencies and disasters. Learn more!
“Consider getting some of the fish items in oil and use that oil in the meal you cook with to get those extra fats.” Good tip: one I had not thought of. As far as cooking with your canned meats: soups are a very good base to start a recipe: if you have, say jambalaya style cans, take that, add sausage according to your pallete (I like the heat, so andoullie and hot links for me), shrimp/catfish/both, green beans and rice, top with canned bacon which is a thing apparently, and you’re set. Same with chili: add spiced beef, beans, and cheese for protein packed chilidogs!
Pretty thorough list by the way: gonna check my cabinets to try and find one she missed….
I still keep to ‘name brands’ on many canned items because we like the taste. We prefer Dole canned fruits vs grocery store brands. The Dole fruits are a better quality and more tender. We enjoy Jello with fruit and it’s a good simple dish to fix weekly for adding fruit to the daily food intake.
I will buy both type veggie brands for making casseroles or soups. It’s all mixed together anyway and all tastes very good in a mixture. Plus I use my Crockpot For many items to cook. It keeps the kitchen cooler.
I have a ‘current week shelf’ in my pantry and put the older cans there to cook with that week. That way I’m sure to use the older purchased food items first from my menu.
I have a ‘food budget’ and ‘cleaning supplies budget’. If I’m out of detergent, dish soap, bath soap or gel, I buy this separately and usually a different shopping day than from the food budget. I track both on a spreadsheet. Right now I’m buying fewer cleaning products and using up what I have. Also in this grouping is bug sprays. I use them for wasps and ants. But I do track this in a different column on my spreadsheet.
When buying large packages of anything, like meat, go home and prep it that day into smaller freezer packages and date it, freeze it. This is tracked in a separate column of my spreadsheet
But for buying ‘flats’ of canned items, I date each can with the purchase date. I don’t buy flats of corn, peas, etc very often. I don’t shop at large warehouse stores very often. It’s only for me and my husband.
The best help: make a menu for the week, gather older canned items to use that week in a box or shelf, try to cook one afternoon for 2-3 days of cooking food, then just reheat items. This saves on buying fast foods. I do buy at Dollar Tree smaller aluminum foil tins to put my version of a ‘fast food meal’. Yum’. Just transfer to a plate to heat in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Never put aluminum in the microwave.
There is much more thought now on how to cook, bake, organize meals. I’m continually learning and evolving from this experience.