Fresh meat is one of those things it’s basically impossible to keep in your food stockpile. That’s unfortunate, because it’s a great source of protein, but it’s just too perishable.
Even refrigerated, its lifespan can be measured in days; frozen, it can be kept for a year or two, but can you keep your freezer running if the power goes out? For most preppers, the obvious alternative is to stockpile canned meat instead.
Canned meat is an attractive option. It can last for years. It’s versatile; you can use it in a wide range of recipes. It’s also precooked, so in an emergency you can eat it straight out of the can. There’s a wide variety, too, from Vienna sausages to Spam to chicken chunks or ready to eat chilli. Don’t forget fish, either – tuna, salmon, sardines and many other fish come in convenient, long-lasting cans.
Durability, variety and convenience are all great, of course, but how does canned meat actually do as food?
Most preppers tend to be big fans of canned food, because while dried beans and rice are excellent staples they can quickly get boring, and canned goods – especially canned meat – are a good way to make them more interesting.
That matters, after all; good food improves morale, and that’s important in a crisis.
Eating My Meat Supply
Anyway, I’ve just had a chance to investigate canned meat in a bit more detail myself. With the state of the economy over the last couple of years it was sometimes difficult to find the spare cash to rotate out my food stockpiles as regularly as I’d like.
Eventually I found myself with shelves of food that was getting worryingly near its use by dates, and I decided it was time to do something.
The plan I came up with was to just stop buying fresh meat, and use the money I saved from that to replace my stockpiled meat with new cans.
In the meantime, even the oldest cans I had were still within date, so I’d simply use those to replace the fresh meat I wasn’t buying. What could possibly go wrong?
Related: 11 Meat Processing Mistakes You Are Probably Making Right Now
The first thing I noticed was that canned meat is easy to use. Because it’s precooked it also saves on fuel, which would be a big plus in a crisis, and it’s also pre-seasoned.
Some of my supplies were ready to be eaten right away; a can of chilli just needs to be heated. Cook some rice and you can make the chilli stretch further plus add some more carbohydrates to your diet, which is great if you’re burning a lot of energy.
Other things I had were easy to add to meals. A can of chicken chunks, a couple of cans of vegetables and some seasonings makes a pretty good stir fry, which again can be served with rice. A can of tuna, some rehydrated dried vegetables and a pack of ramen is a quick and tasty meal.
About eight cans of various meats and fish (mostly tuna) a week was plenty to give a diet that didn’t lack protein and was a lot more interesting than just beans and rice would have been.
How Healthy Is It?
It wasn’t all good news, though. I check my blood pressure every week, and after a couple of months I noticed it was starting to creep up – not enough to worry me, but it was definitely rising. It wasn’t hard to find the culprit, either, because basically all canned meats are much higher in sodium than fresh meat.
That’s why, if you raise livestock, hunt, or just have a little extra cash to buy fresh meat, I highly suggest trying this canning method—it can preserve it for over a decade. Plus, it tastes way better than the canned stuff from the store, and you get to control exactly what goes in it, unlike the store-bought versions that sometimes sneak in all kinds of preservatives and unhealthy additives.
By the time I’d eaten every can I had that had less than a year left until its use by date – just over six months – my blood pressure had risen from low normal to the upper half of the normal band. That still wasn’t a serious issue, but if your blood pressure is on the high side anyway eating too much canned meat could start pushing it into dangerous territory.
Canned meat can also have a pretty high fat content. That’s more true of things like Spam or other canned hams, and less so for good-quality canned chilli or chicken chunks. In an emergency situation I wouldn’t worry too much about the fat; there’s a good chance you’ll be burning it off anyway.
On the other hand if you’re eating a lot of canned meat but aren’t very active – for example if there’s been a nuclear attack and you’re spending a couple of weeks in your root cellar sheltering from the fallout – you’re likely to notice your waistline starting to expand.
I didn’t notice any real health issues from my canned meat experience, apart from my slowly climbing blood pressure, but I know some people have worries about it.
If you’re concerned about managing elevated blood pressure, this tincture may be a valuable addition to your stockpile. It is known to help lower damaging LDL cholesterol and support balanced blood pressure, making it a practical option when medical care is not readily available.
Food cans are usually lined with plastic to protect the metal can from acids and salts in the food, and that plastic can slowly release bisphenol-A (BPA) into the contents.
People who eat a lot of canned food show elevated levels of BPA. Is that a problem? I don’t know.
Some studies have linked it to various health conditions including cancer, infertility and asthma. On the other hand other studies didn’t find any health effects, and even the ones that did found that to get any risk you need levels much higher than you’d get from eating canned meat. Personally, BPA isn’t something I worry about.
So How Did It Go?
My canned food stockpile is now fully replenished and I’m back to the normal rotation cycle. Every time I go to the grocery store I get a couple extra cans of meat or fish, put them at the back of the shelf and add the oldest ones from the front to this week’s menu plan.
Related: “Long Shelf Life” Foods That Will Actually Go Bad Faster Than You Think
It’s nice to have fresh meat again as well, but overall I was pleased with how the canned meat phase worked out. I didn’t feel malnourished at any point, which wasn’t a surprise; the industrial canning process is actually pretty good at preserving the nutrients in food.
I didn’t develop any health issues except for slightly elevated blood pressure. I didn’t even get bored of canned meat, because there’s a good variety of it and it can be prepared in a lot of different ways. If you’re planning on eating a lot of Spam, tuna and hot dogs after the apocalypse, it’s probably going to work out fine for you.
Overall, my experience with canned meat has shown that it can be a reliable and convenient addition to your emergency food supply. Its durability, variety, and ease of use make it a strong contender for any prepper’s pantry.
However, if you want to ensure you have a more comprehensive plan for keeping your food supply fresh and abundant during a crisis, you will find valuable insights inside this guide.
It is filled with practical advice on building a long-lasting stockpile of food that doesn’t rely on refrigeration. Whether you’re new to prepping or looking to refine your current strategy, this guide offers essential tips for turning your home into a fortress of food security.
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