Economical Long Shelf Life Food - What Do You Like?

[Old Jeff H]

I'm wanting to bolster and add variety to my food storage. Curious as to what products appeal to y'all?

One item I found that's unexpected unexpectedly tasty (especially for the price) is the Great Value beef stew from Walmart. MUCH better than the crap the Dinty Moore sells now, and quite a bit cheaper too ($1.82). Best by date is only 2 years, but like everything else I'm sure it would last longer.

I picked up a couple of the Bristol canned hams and I'm going to open one this weekend and try it out. Don't have high expectations, but it has a five-year shelf life.

 

[mtptwo]

How long are you planing for? It is very differnt if you are talking a few days, months, or years.

Personally, I go with freeze dried. If stored right, your are talking 6 years with viable nutrition. Cans don't last more than a few years.

 

[iammaxwell]

A good strategy is just buy extras of what you already eat and make sure you're rotating thru to always eat the oldest. What we found is that more variety actually hinders this because things get hidden/forgotten, or you don't like something quite as much the 4th or 5th time as you did the 1st or 2nd YMMV. We still buy new things to try all them time, but only really stock up on things we use often.
To answer your question more specifically, the Kroger brand stuff at Frys is usually pretty good.

 

[Ballistic Therapy]

Don't forget the Spam.

 

[Electric303]

I'm wanting to bolster and add variety to my food storage. Curious as to what products appeal to y'all?

One item I found that's unexpected unexpectedly tasty (especially for the price) is the Great Value beef stew from Walmart. MUCH better than the crap the Dinty Moore sells now, and quite a bit cheaper too ($1.82). Best by date is only 2 years, but like everything else I'm sure it would last longer.

I picked up a couple of the Bristol canned hams and I'm going to open one this weekend and try it out. Don't have high expectations, but it has a five-year shelf life.

Please give an update on the Bristol canned ham when you try it. I've found that the canned Butterfield diced ham and the DAK canned ham to be little more than Spam.

Keystone 28oz canned meats are actually quite good. I especially like the pork.

If you have a source of water then dried beans, rice, pasta, and noodles are great staples. Salt and seasonings are a necessity. I like to have dried peppers for flavor.

If you're looking for variety you might try walking around the aisles of a local Asian grocery store. They have dried soups that taste much better than Ramen, dried mushrooms, and noodles along with a better variety of seasonings, etc...

I've found that Walmart's Great Value canned veggies have far too much water in the can. Safeway's Signature brand (while a little more expensive) tend to contain more of the veggie you are buying and less water.

I agree about Dinty Moore Stew. Recently ate my first can in years of that stuff and what they make now is crap.

 

[Flash]

Spam is forever, and so is honey.

But with respect to dates on canned foods, they're guidelines to best taste, not when the food inside will go bad.

When I was in the Army in the late 60s, we were eating C Rations from the early 40s and they tasted and ate fine.

 

[Ballistic Therapy]

We were eating c rats that were over 20 years old also.

 

[Old Jeff H]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

Please give an update on the Bristol canned ham when you try it. I've found that the canned Butterfield diced ham and the DAK canned ham to be little more than Spam.

Keystone 28oz canned meats are actually quite good. I especially like the pork.

If you have a source of water then dried beans, rice, pasta, and noodles are great staples. Salt and seasonings are a necessity. I like to have dried peppers for flavor.

If you're looking for variety you might try walking around the aisles of a local Asian grocery store. They have dried soups that taste much better than Ramen, dried mushrooms, and noodles along with a better variety of seasonings, etc...

I've found that Walmart's Great Value canned veggies have far too much water in the can. Safeway's Signature brand (while a little more expensive) tend to contain more of the veggie you are buying and less water.

I agree about Dinty Moore Stew. Recently ate my first can in years of that stuff and what they make now is crap.

Thanks for the info.

I did open the Bristol today. At first I thought it was pretty much SPAM (not that I don't like SPAM, I just already have a ton of it), but it is closer to "real" ham than I thought it was going to be. It's definitely chunked/formed, but good enough that it'd make a decent sandwich or it could be mixed in with a pot of beans. I'd recommend buying one and see what you think.

I did some checking and it looks like the best place to order Keystone might be directly from them. Their shipping is high, but it still works out to be less per can than other online sources that I'm finding. I have no idea how long their shipping time is, but I think I'm going to find out.

Dinty Moore stew used to be pretty darn good, but they changed their recipe (maybe 10 years ago?) and I can't even stand to eat it anymore. The Great Value brand is probably better than the original DM was.

 

[Electric303]

Thanks for the info.

I did open the Bristol today. At first I thought it was pretty much SPAM (not that I don't like SPAM, I just already have a ton of it), but it is closer to "real" ham than I thought it was going to be. It's definitely chunked/formed, but good enough that it'd make a decent sandwich or it could be mixed in with a pot of beans. I'd recommend buying one and see what you think.

I did some checking and it looks like the best place to order Keystone might be directly from them. Their shipping is high, but it still works out to be less per can than other online sources that I'm finding. I have no idea how long their shipping time is, but I think I'm going to find out.

Dinty Moore stew used to be pretty darn good, but they changed their recipe (maybe 10 years ago?) and I can't even stand to eat it anymore. The Great Value brand is probably better than the original DM was.

Thanks for the info on the Bristol Ham, I'll be sure to add it to my next order.

When they're in stock, best prices I've found for 28oz cans of Keystone meat are from Walmart considering free shipping over $35. These are currently in stock:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Keystone-Heat-Serve-Pork-28-oz/10317620

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Keystone-All-Natural-Chicken-28-oz-can/22309255

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Keystone-Turkey-28-oz/22309257

I really like their "All Natural Beef" as well but don't see it in stock (you have to check daily). Don't think I've tried their "Ground Beef" yet. This canned salmon is also good:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Chicken-of-the-Sea-Traditional-Style-Pink-Salmon-14-75-oz/10291691

 

[kptaylor]

Spaghetti and pasta sauce.

 

[Old Jeff H]

Definitely can't go wrong with that.

I'm actually a pretty big fan of the Hunt's original.

 

[az_ranger74]

Spam and mre cheese can’t go wrong

 

[Old Jeff H]

I picked up a can of this to try it out.


It's probably 50-60% broth (as expected), but the meat is pretty good. If you mixed in a little cornstarch slurry and served it over rice, it'd make a pretty decent meal.

 

[tripletap]

along with the standards everyone does im sure, i smoke meat, dehydrate it and vacuum seal/mylar bag seal, also any leftovers too-
it will keep for a long time

 

[Old Jeff H]

Where do you get your mylar bags from?

 

[Flash]

Most vacuum sealers require special bags. I've used FoodSaver vacuum sealers for a long time and they need special bags, but there are other places that make them specifically for FoodSavers.

 

[AZ_Five56]

I had no clue that specific sealers need special bags. I have some off-brand sealer and I've used a variety of bags that I purchased off of Amazon. Rarely have I had an issue. I might be wrong, but I think FoodSaver probably makes a big deal about only using their more expensive proprietary bags because they want your money.

I bought some bags one time that were slightly thicker, so I had to seal them longer for the heat to really work its magic. That's the only issue that I've ever had with different brands.

 

[tripletap]

amazon or anywhere ifind the
m

 

[Flash]

I had no clue that specific sealers need special bags. I have some off-brand sealer and I've used a variety of bags that I purchased off of Amazon. Rarely have I had an issue. I might be wrong, but I think FoodSaver probably makes a big deal about only using their more expensive proprietary bags because they want your money.

I bought some bags one time that were slightly thicker, so I had to seal them longer for the heat to really work its magic. That's the only issue that I've ever had with different brands.

No, as I just said, others make bags compatible with FoodSaver and they're cheaper. They're what I buy.

It's understandable that a Brand X sealer would use just about any bag, and the built in ability to seal them longer probably is because they figure a bunch of different bags would be used. Foodsaver doesn't have that ability. It draws a vacuum and then seals the bags while holding the vacuum. That's why it requires a certain type of bag.

Does your sealer draw a vacuum and then seal while holding the vacuum?

 

[AZ_Five56]

I had no clue that specific sealers need special bags. I have some off-brand sealer and I've used a variety of bags that I purchased off of Amazon. Rarely have I had an issue. I might be wrong, but I think FoodSaver probably makes a big deal about only using their more expensive proprietary bags because they want your money.

I bought some bags one time that were slightly thicker, so I had to seal them longer for the heat to really work its magic. That's the only issue that I've ever had with different brands.

No, as I just said, others make bags compatible with FoodSaver and they're cheaper. They're what I buy.

It's understandable that a Brand X sealer would use just about any bag, and the built in ability to seal them longer probably is because they figure a bunch of different bags would be used. Foodsaver doesn't have that ability. It draws a vacuum and then seals the bags while holding the vacuum. That's why it requires a certain type of bag.

Does your sealer draw a vacuum and then seal while holding the vacuum?

Yes, my sealer draws a vacuum while sealing, and no, mine doesn't seal any longer to be compatible with different brand bags. After it finishes sealing, I've just hit the button to seal it again, and that did the trick in those applications. It makes the bag extra melty from the additional heat, so I also let it sit there a few extra seconds before I remove the bag.

All of that to say, you should be able to make just about anything work. That workaround I had was only with one of my many bag orders. Most of the brands have worked fine.