Hi,

What's the shelf life of store bought canned goods? I can't imagine buying something like Chef-Boy-RD or another product that we would never eat at home in any other given situation. I think I read a quote here, "eat what you store, store what you eat". On good years I go to the west coast to salmon fish. It's a luxury however I usually bring home enough fish (frozen) for a years worth cooking once per week. There is an option out there to have some of or all of the fish professionally canned at St. Jeans Cannery. I never really thought about prepping in the past and always passed over this option (although I did have some candied salmon done and it was to die for). Again, not really a cost effective way to build up your larder, however I am not prepared to stop living while waiting for something that I hope doesn't happen.

Hey Antsy, I can my own salmon. I work on boats on the west coast and I sometimes take salmon as payment. If you don't have time to can yourself I suggest getting St. Jeans to do it for you. Canned salmon will last for years. My thoughts is that it's the best kind of stored food you could have. Plus it's better to have most of it canned instead of jamming your freezer up. Especially if there is a power failure you don't loose all that good food. I still get some of my fish smoked professionally (don't have the time or equipment) And candied salmon is the best! A great treat!
As for shelf life on canned foods there is - almost always, a best before date printed right on the lid of the can. This , I'm sure, is a suggestion and I bet, under proper storage conditions, could be stretched to several more years.
I'd way rather eat wild west coast salmon than Chef-Boy-RD any day! Fish on!

Anyone ever try canning halibut fish? How about catch it? I'd love to be able stock-up on this when it's in season.

Mountaineers Wife

2 items...

Great idea quietman

I had some Busch (sp) pork and beans this weekend. It had the white lining in case anyone wants to know. I don't think I would have noticed either if not for this thread. Does white automatically mean bad? That would suck as they are good beans!

Yes...all white lining is bad!

Here is an opportunity for someone with a large acreage or farm to step up if they have room for a sea can, trailor or maybe an available steel grainery. Our co-op should be willing to pay rent for this just the same as a storage facility, but this way it is away from onlookers.

Great idea however with the weather we've been getting and the increase in tornadoes, it would be wise to store food underground, in a basement. Any idea how we could accomplish this type of set-up?

Mountaineers Wife

Anyone ever try canning halibut fish? How about catch it? I'd love to be able stock-up on this when it's in season.

Hi Mountaineers wife!
I'm sure it would be the same as any fish - 75min @ 10psi. You catch it with a large jigging rod with heavy line and some octopus for bait or herring. I've only caught one in my life and it was 130lbs! We had to bring it up on a beach and bludgeon it. Was a great catch but I haven't really fished for them since. Halibut is yummy!

Anyone ever try canning halibut fish? How about catch it? I'd love to be able stock-up on this when it's in season.

Hi Mountaineers wife!
I'm sure it would be the same as any fish - 75min @ 10psi. You catch it with a large jigging rod with heavy line and some octopus for bait or herring. I've only caught one in my life and it was 130lbs! We had to bring it up on a beach and bludgeon it. Was a great catch but I haven't really fished for them since. Halibut is yummy!

Love Halibut...soooo expensive here! Would love to be able to get some and can it! Here is a video http://www.youtube.com/watch ?
feature=player_embedded&v=GW4Kt5LafGQ

I wonder if we can get a deal from the fish market in Calgary for Halibut based on volume purchasing???

Mountaineer's Wife

I have no idea...I have stopped eating anything that comes from the oceans/seas/rivers since Fukushima happened...we eat a bit of chicken and beef (maybe 1 or 2 times a week we have meat)

This is relating to can food storage....

Does anyone know where one can purchase "rotating can racks food storage system" from in Canada that won't cost a fortune? I'm not crazy about "plastic rotating shelves" but don't want to spent every penny on the "platinum" version either. (I don't really have time to make them either) 🙂

Mountaineer's Wife

My neighbour just bought some strong metal shelving from Canadian Tire.

http://www.bridensolutions.ca/catalogsearch/result/?q=can+rotator

Briden Solutions carries the fancy ones - at least they are near you in Cochrane Alberta so there may be a possibility of not having to pay shipping rates across the country.

My neighbour just bought some strong metal shelving from Canadian Tire.

Do you know if the shelves have a can rotating system or are they just the simple-flat metal shelves?

We currently have wooden shelves but I'm looking for ones that cans can rotate on their own. I think the only way to afford something like this is probably to give-up some time and build them. I did check-out the fancy ones through Briden Solutions but they are out of my budget especially when we still need to buy more food to go onto them.

Mountaineer's Wife

Is it likely that a given cannery may use both lined and unlined cans in their process? I mean, one batch goes out with white liners while the next, of the same product, go out without? Or have the companies more or less standardized?

Last year I tried bottling wild meat for the first time and unfortunately, I must have messed up in the process somewhere because the meat didn't keep. My husband loves to hunt and deer meat bottles well (when it is done right) Since hunting season is fast approaching, would anyone be interested in getting together as a group and going over the canning process?