Food Options

[Mortblanc]

Most canned meats from any source are going to have dates two to five years out and be good longer than that. Even smoked and salt cured meats last 1-2 years.

If you space is limited you are not going to have room to store canned meats at the 5-10 year shelf life anyway. A tin a week, or 500 or so cans of sausages, are going to take up some space.

Buy meats you will use regularly and rotate them out. I keep a couple of cases of Spam and use a can a week or so. When one case gets sparse I buy its replacement and rotate the stock. Same with canned soups, stews and such. Hopefully you have better quality of canned meat choices than we have here in the States.

I did come across a can of Spam that had escaped the rotation by falling behind something a while back. 5 years outdated. I opened it and it looked and smelled no worse than any. I had it for breakfast the next day and I have so far survived.

I do remember eating C-rats in the army that were 10-15 years in the can. They were stamped with a canning date, not a "use by" date.

Use by dates are all self imposed artificial limits selected by the producer and not mandated by the government. Swollen or rusty cans are a better indicator than a stamped date.

Though I have known people that would have turned cannibal before eating an out of date Twinkie.