LDS Freedom Forum

Hello Everyone,

Whenever I go grocery shopping, I always look at expiration dates on the food I buy. I notice that most canned goods seem to have a shelf life of one to two years printed on the can. Do they really expire in such a short time? For example, I found a good deal on some canned raviolis at Sam's Club yesterday. However the expiration date was within two years (or less, I don't recall and don't want to go check). I believe they have to have a useful shelf life a bit longer than that. I did a quick search on the web and didn't find anything useful. What do you all know? I am hoping they will last quite a bit longer because I would like some canned goods for longer term storage.

Thanks.

This is just my opinion, but I believe if the canned goods are stored in cool, dry areas they will last at least a year or two beyond the recommended dates. There may be some loss of vitamins, but I think they are still good. From my personal experience I've used canned goods a year past their "use by" dates and they were fine. I think if you see rust or bulging, toss the food. Also see how it smells and looks. I would go ahead and buy whatever you can that's a good buy. I believe it will come in handy.

I am lucky. I have enough grown kids that I can give my older canned food to use if it's becoming close to the expiration date and I just replace it. It's just my opinion that we're going to need this food sooner rather than later. I hope I'm wrong, though.

kathyn wrote:This is just my opinion, but I believe if the canned goods are stored in cool, dry areas they will last at least a year or two beyond the recommended dates. There may be some loss of vitamins, but I think they are still good. From my personal experience I've used canned goods a year past their "use by" dates and they were fine. I think if you see rust or bulging, toss the food. Also see how it smells and looks. I would go ahead and buy whatever you can that's a good buy. I believe it will come in handy.

I am lucky. I have enough grown kids that I can give my older canned food to use if it's becoming close to the expiration date and I just replace it. It's just my opinion that we're going to need this food sooner rather than later. I hope I'm wrong, though.

My wife sorted through our storage a while back and wanted to toss a bunch of cans, some of which were bulging. I found a much better use. They made great targets and exploded quite nicely when hit with a .30 or 8 mm bullet. I hated to see cranberry sauce go to waste, however it acted a lot like ballistic gelatin.

From what I've been told the actual shelf life of canned goods is much, much longer if the can is in good condition (no dents, etc.) The actual nutritional value of the food will start to decrease as time goes by but it is still edible far beyond the "best by" date. How long? Nobody really knows and manufacturers aren't saying. There seems to be a consensus that certain meats oxidize faster and will probably only be good for 3+ years. For canned tuna in oil and SPAM there seems to be some sort of talk that they will last several years (with SPAM maybe outliving the human race). But I don't think anyone knows for sure. If it were me, I would not trust most canned foods beyond double the shelf life advertised. Most of the canned food I buy is set to expire in a year. I would trust it 2 years later if I had to. I have eaten some canned corn out of our food storage that was about 5 years old. It was fine but it clearly didn't taste as fresh.

exploded quite nicely when hit with a .30 or 8 mm bullet

8 mm? Are you are Mauser guy Gunner? If so you are an even finer human being than I already thought!!!!

.

The only trouble I have ever had with canned goods was with tomatoess. The acid can eat thru the can. Then the tomatoes spoil and ferment, and can cause a real mess. Also tomatoe sauce cans seem to bulge faster that anything else that I have had. Other than that, I have had no problems with canned food.

believer

Mosby wrote:

exploded quite nicely when hit with a .30 or 8 mm bullet

8 mm? Are you are Mauser guy Gunner? If so you are an even finer human being than I already thought!!!!

Thanks-you gave me a good laugh! Yes. I started off with Nagants (which I still love). I always wanted a Mauser and I recalled seeing them ~5 years ago when the Turks could be had for $50 and the bandoleers were ~$4 for 70 rounds on stripper clips. I always kicked myself for not buying one then. One day, long after one could no longer find $50 Mausers, I stopped by a gun store and was looking around like I enjoy doing. The salesman came over and asked me if he could help me. I told him that I was looking for a $50 Mauser, though I realized I probably wouldn't find one. He told me to wait while he checked to see what he had in back. He brought out a very nice ATF (not our favorite fed agency, but some Turk initials for something) Turk Mauser. It had never been used and had a beautiful bore. I asked him how much and he told me it and the bayonet and scabbard would be $80. I asked him if he would throw in a bandoleer of ammo, which he kindly agreed to do. I called my wife, half hoping she would talk me out of it because I didn't really have much money. Of course, being the good woman that she is, she said "Well, you have been wanting one of those for a long time, you should probably buy it." So I did. I took it home and slugged the bore and confirmed what I suspected - an almost perfect .323 bore! It shot very well also. I couldn't find any 8 mm brass (except on line and it was a bit pricey) so I made my own out of some .30-06 that I had. I loved it so much, that I decided I would like a shorter and lighter version (Just like when I purchased the long Nagant, then later also purchased a M-38 Nagant). A neighbor one day wanted to purchase a rifle, so we went shopping all of the gun shops. We found him a nice Yugo Mauser and I told him that if he didn't buy it, I would. So he did. However, we saw another very nice one. Again, my wife gave me the go ahead, so it went home with me. Both mine and my neighbors shot 2' high! After looking around on the internet for long front sight posts to remedy the problem, and going shooting with my son, I realized that his Turk was shooting ~ 2 feet low! And they have the same front sight post! So I swapped them and did some filing et voila! Now they shoot w/in a couple of inches or so of point of aim (depending on loading)! I do love those rifles. Better workmanship than the Nagants, though I do love both kinds of rifles.

So yes, you could say I am a Mauser man. One other thing that the 8 mm has over the 7.62x54 is the fact that you can easily make 8 mm brass out of .30-06 (since the .30-06 is kind of a copy cat of the 8 mm) whereas I don't know how to make the 7.62x54 out of anything readily available (or otherwise). Though all three are great cartridges and a great choice ballistically.

Mosby wrote:

exploded quite nicely when hit with a .30 or 8 mm bullet

8 mm? Are you are Mauser guy Gunner? If so you are an even finer human being than I already thought!!!!

And judging by your Thomas Jefferson quote, you must be quite a fine man also! Thomas Jefferson had it together!

Got a couple of Yugo Mausers myself - I really want a German one, but too cheap to pay the $250.00 for one. Great guns. I have hit steel gongs at 400 yds with iron sights, not bragging because I'm not a sharpshooter- just a great shooting gun!

Nagant's huh? You really are 100% man if you can shoot those cannons!! - Funny story with those guns, I bought two of those one day at Big 5 for like $59.00 a piece- took them out to the range and started to shoot- man, that thing was killing my shoulder ( and I'm not a wimpy guy) but I can admit when I'm licked.
While I was struggling to save my shoulder and my dignity a few guys came over and said " What in the world is that thing!" I told them - then they said; "man that thing was shooting out a 3 foot flame from the barrel and is one of the loudest guns we have every heard"!

Anyway I took them both back beacuse I don't think I want something that feels like a mule kick to the shoulder each time I fire it. I know regret taking them back (one was a 1939 and the other 1942).

I guess I'm just not as tough as the average Russian solidier was.

Great guns however, beautiful and very rugged and great shooters- but I'll stick with my Mausers!

Mosby wrote:Got a couple of Yugo Mausers myself - I really want a German one, but too cheap to pay the $250.00 for one. Great guns. I have hit steel gongs at 400 yds with iron sights, not bragging because I'm not a sharpshooter- just a great shooting gun!

Nagant's huh? You really are 100% man if you can shoot those cannons!! - Funny story with those guns, I bought two of those one day at Big 5 for like $59.00 a piece- took them out to the range and started to shoot- man, that thing was killing my shoulder ( and I'm not a wimpy guy) but I can admit when I'm licked.
While I was struggling to save my shoulder and my dignity a few guys came over and said " What in the world is that thing!" I told them - then they said; "man that thing was shooting out a 3 foot flame from the barrel and is one of the loudest guns we have every heard"!

Anyway I took them both back beacuse I don't think I want something that feels like a mule kick to the shoulder each time I fire it. I know regret taking them back (one was a 1939 and the other 1942).

I guess I'm just not as tough as the average Russian solidier was.

Great guns however, beautiful and very rugged and great shooters- but I'll stick with my Mausers!

Here are a couple of my secrets-While I have shot hundreds of rounds with no shoulder protection (correction-I think I can say safely based on the amount of 440 round tins of ammo I have shot through, over a thousand-though maybe not all w/o shoulder protection-I had better not get carried away with my bragging without remembering the facts perfectly , I did develope some rather nasty bruises. However, that can be remedied two ways. The first and best for shooting that full power surplus ammo is to find a nice slip on butt pad. They work wonders. Just find one that fits snugly (I also employed the Red Green method and used some duct tape to make sure it was nice and tight). Second, take up bullet casting and load lead bullets with ~16 grains of 2400. When shooting at 100 yds, if I remember right, you have to use the 400 or 600 yd setting, but it still shoots very well. The shot is much quieter and doesn't kick. I assume it is still as powerful as a .44 mag ( I guess-I don't remember and don't want to check right now, but I think I load my .44 with similar charges). I was shooting the same load in my 8 mm at ~ 300-400 yards or so (with 800 yard sight dope) and was hitting quite tight with wheel weight bullets and open sights with my Turk a couple of Saturdays back. In fact I just cast another couple hundred or so wheel weight bullets the other night and sized most of them tonight, before I had to leave with the family to go to karate class. It is a fun load to shoot, doesn't punish the shoulder, the brass, or the weapon. It is also fairly accurate and a very good practice round. It doesn't use a lot of expensive, and might I add, scarce, powder even. You don't even need the butt pad with the reduced loads.

Also, the M91/30s are a bit heavier and don't kick quite as much. Also, because the barrel is significantly longer, there isn't as much muzzle flash and the noise is a little farther away from your ears. Either way, with the Mausers or Nagants, you have a good weapon, in general. Of course the condition of individual rifles varies.

Gunner-
Thanks for the tips, my Nagants were the shortys so I'm sure it gets better with a longer barrel. And I have found out that the recoil pad is worth its weight in gold when it come to surplus rifles. - But man, those Russians must have been seriously tough- can you imagine shooting that thing all day long, and with no hearing protection?

Mosby wrote:Gunner-
Thanks for the tips, my Nagants were the shortys so I'm sure it gets better with a longer barrel. And I have found out that the recoil pad is worth its weight in gold when it come to surplus rifles. - But man, those Russians must have been seriously tough- can you imagine shooting that thing all day long, and with no hearing protection?

With the Germans shooting at them from the front and their own officers shooting at them from behind, they probably weren't supposed to live long enough for bruises to develop or their ears to start ringing.