weight issues canned food versus pouches

http://ilbob.blogspot.com/2012/03/packaging-weight.html
I did a quick weighing of some canned food versus pouched food. As I suspected, comparable canned food items versus pouched items I just happened to have available to weigh showed there may actually be a weight advantage to the canned foods.

How much of the weight is water?

Az

There was a thread, maybe 6 months to a year ago about something similar to this. It was an MRE vs Mountain House thing, if I remember correctly. In any case, it was a how much water question that was poised. If you research the archives, I'm sure you'll find it. Just sayin.

Well, you can always heat-up in the cans, and you don't have to look for water, either. All right if weight in not a concern, but canned food gets real heavy real quick in a backpack.

I use canned foods with the pop-top lids in my car kits and for much of my home preps. Heating in the can, expense and reduced water consumption wins over the freeze dried for me.

A can of chunky beef soup is ~$1.25 or less, on sale.

I do keep a couple of MRE entrees in the GHB.

Not to mention cans are pretty tough and available at any grocery store. If you shop sales you can net yourself a pretty good pantry of food between cammed and dried food for pennys on the dollar compaired to MREs or MH freeze dried stuff.

Another thing that bugs me about mountain house is it has me RUNNING for the "office" in short order. I ordered a can of beef stew and good lord did it do a number on me. Same with most MREs. Yet a can of dinty more stew sits fine in my stomach. I woun't put anything up I have not had the chance to eat first.

There are certainly advantages and disadvantages to both types. That's why it's a good idea to have both.

Bugging in is plan A, and there's nothing wrong with canned goods if you have plenty of storage. It's cheap, sturdy, long lasting, and requires a lot less water for cooking.

But if we have to leave on foot, I will be very happy to carry dehydrated food. Water is typically plentiful around here, and we're setup for easy, light water filtration while on the move, so water should not be an issue. I make my own dehydrated meals and ingredients from leftovers, so that higher cost of store bought freeze dried food or mres. We have several recipes that are supposed to be eaten cold, and a few that aren't but are edible cold if needed. They rehydrate fine in cold water, it just takes longer and occasional agitation helps. For times we can boil water, we boil in our steel water bottles or small cup and pour the hot water directly into the freezer bag the food is stored in. No untensils needed, no cleanup.

Az

I compared comparable items. Comparing freeze dried stew to canned stew is not comparable unless you have to carry all your water with you. If that is the case, the freeze dried stuff may well be heavier on a net basis.

Try comparing a typical MRE entrée to a can of beef stew. I bet there is not enough difference to matter and canned stews of various types are readily available, cost effective, and come in more palatable varieties. The MRE entrée does have the advantage of the non-flame heater. I wonder if an MRE heater could be used to heat up canned food. I can't see why not.

I just picked up a couple Hormel 'Compleats' meals to try. They are designed to be microwaved, sure, but come in a fairly tough, plastic tray, about 10 oz that looks like it would cook up nicely if transferred to a stainless USGI canteen cup. Lighter than a can, about the same price as freeze dried, w/o the need for water (a possible issue here in AZ - the main reason I haven't bought a ton of freeze-dried yet.) They would be good for a BoB IMO, but at a BOL 10# cans of dehydrated are the way to go IMO. I'm going to have one tomm. I'll let you know what I think, but they don't require refrigeration. With some rice added they'd go further of course.

In the case of these items not much at all, other than the water that is in Spam or tuna.

I don't think it would make a lot of difference if you compared a cn of beef stew to an MRE entree, since they would have whatever water such things have in them.

Mmmm... I love heating up food in cans lined with bpa...delicious, and good for my moobs.



You'll be hard pressed to find any soups or stews in cans without the non-stick plastic lining crap that absorbs into your food when you heat it. Don't really see the point to bugging out for survival while simultaneously poisoning yourself, but food's food.

I've also started stocking the single serving, (7.5 oz) beef stew, mac & cheese, spaghetti Os, etc... They come in a sturdy plastic microwavable container, but could be eaten cold, heated in a canteen cup, or even heated by setting the container in a bit of boiling water. The heated water can then be used for tea or coffee. At ~89 cents they're not a bad deal for a small no waste single serving.

Meh. Summarized in layman's terms BPA risk is "slight concern for potential health problems". I bet, even if full impact is realized those health problems are less than the ones that occur by not eating.

MRE's will lock your ass up quick....That said your body usely adapts and all is fine after about a week but the down size to canned goods is Sodium as it has a shit load of it. All in all if water is abundant canned is great and MRE's are field proven so to each his own and situation dictates which is better. Freeze dried is just not practical in most cases.

I don't really get why abundant water matters if you have canned food or MRES?

Your body uses the exact same amount of water whether some of it comes from the food you eat or not. All three versions of the foods you mentioned dehydrated, canned, or MRE, often have a lot of salt in them. At least with canned foods you have the option of selecting lower salt versions if having lower salt matters any to you. That option is not available with MREs or dehydrated.

Dehydrated or freeze dried food makes a lot of sense if you have relatively easy access to hot water. However, if boiling water is an issue, it may well be a big problem.

MREs make the most sense if you do not have relatively easy access to hot water and have to use the MRE heaters.

Cans have all the advantages of MREs other than the MRE heater, cost a lot less, and have a lot more variety available. And if you have boiling water available you can heat up the food in the can quite easily. But you could eat them cold if you had to.

To me MREs only make sense if for whatever reason you cannot boil water and need to use the MRE heaters.

If you keep some in your vehicle for getting home or emergency will canned foods last in a hot vehicle in the summer time, or will anything stay good in that heat?

Will MREs? Keep in mind that the charts the military has for MRE life show a very significant loss of shelf life at elevated temperatures.

For storage at 120F, the "official" chart I have seen shows only 1 month of shelf life. That does not mean it is unsafe or useless after that point, but that there will start to be noticeable degradation in the quality and taste of the food.

I think anything stored at those temperatures for any length of time will need to be rotated on a regular basis. Datrex type rations may be an exception.

Not interested in MREs just wondered if canned food would last long. MREs are to expensive there is a lot of other foods that can be used and a lot cheaper.

I think maybe I did not make my point very well. At very elevated temperatures, even MREs do not last real long. You will probably need to rotate whatever food you were to store in your car if you store it with elevated temperatures.

Keep in mind that canned foods are shipped via truck and rail car and are often exposed to temperature extremes during shipping. Why would them being in your car and experiencing the same kind of temperature extremes be any different?

Canned goods in transit aren't exposed to those temperature extremes for long. How long does it take to go from one side of the country to the other by rail?

Storage on the other hand is somewhat indefinite.

FWIW I tried a couple of the Hormel meals this weekend, and although I microwaved them, the directions show they can be heated by putting them in boiling water. Of course, transferring them to a small pan or canteen cup would work well also. FWIW they weren't bad - the beef stew was pretty darned good. Has anyone besides me eaten Chef Borardee ravioli out of the can cold? Did it a lot when I was a kid - just picked up a few cans for .99 cents apiece. Good point about the sodium though - LOTS of salt.

Living in the Arizona high country we don't see the same heat as the desert areas, but inside the car can still get 120^o plus during the summer.

I rotate all my food / water in the GHBs and car kits starting May 1st; then again about mid-July; then again in October. All the food, including the canned goods has always been tasty and GTG.

Since we eat the food anyway, there's zero additional cost to do this.

Also, the bags and kits are covered and out of direct Sun light.

How do you think the items got "canned" in the first place? The contents are generally put into the can hot, then they are sealed and heated some more.

THis is good thinking, although heat certainly wasn't a problem THIS weekend eh?

That's why I don't do the first food rotation until May.

Today, there's still a foot of snow on the outside car.

In spite of the cold temps during the winter, I haven't had any issues with cans freezing, (salt?), or even water bottles freezing solid.

Correct, and there is already bpa that leached into the food from that time onward. But, it's kinda silly IMO to add more chemicals to food I'm going to eat when it can be avoided by using a pot, bowl, lid, or something else to heat it in instead of being lazy.

It's like throwing good money after bad. Does not compute.

IMO better safe than sorry. I'd prefer not to grow "moobs", have my prostate enlarge, or my sperm mutated. I don't need a chemical replicating estrogen in my body, my wife has more than enough for both of us.

I'm all set, but it's America, and you can still (for now) make whatever decision you want, good or bad - as long as you're willing to personally accept the consequences of those actions or inactions (long term or short term). When my tax dollars have to go to help fix you because you're a putz? That's when you become part of the problem instead of the solution.

An ounce of prevention and all that.

I was eating those a few years ago for lunch at work. I gave them up when I found out how much sodium they have.
The Salisbury Steak has 950mg of sodium. But they were pretty convenient, and tasty.
Linky

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