Some canned foods can last almost indefinitely if they are stored in the right conditions and are not dented or bulging. Make sure to exercise discretion when using old canned foods. And keep these safety tips in mind when storing canned foods for long periods of time:
* Always remember to label your cans as you buy them. I would recommend simply writing the month and year they were purchased on the top of the can with permanent marker. For most items, you should be quite safe to eat these items within two years of this date. After two years, make sure to inspect the cans carefully before you eat the food inside.
* For the longest shelf-life, store canned foods in controlled, cool and dry locations, with temperatures varying between approximately 68 to 78 degrees. This should be a storage location inside your home, and not in the garage or a storage facility with a wide temperature range.
* Periodically check your stored cans to look for cans that are badly dented, bulging, rusty, leaky, or that have broken seals. Large dents can break a seal in a can, even if the seal still looks intact. Bulging cans must be thrown out, even a slight bulge is a very bad sign. You should not see the top of your cans dome up even in the slightest. To test for this, push the can lid and see if it pushes in and pops back. If it does, throw it out.
* Never eat canned food that has a strange odor, color, or flavor, or that spurts when it is opened.
Proper rotation of your food storage will keep you from having your canned food go bad. As the old saying goes, when in doubt, throw it out! It is not worth risking your family’s safety to be this frugal.
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