Stock canned food for no-cook meals
Canned food is the easiest prep there is. It lasts years, it's already cooked, and your family will actually eat it. When you have no power or want to save fuel, you can just open it.
At the bare minimum, aim for two weeks of meals your family likes. Store what you eat and eat what you store.
YOU'LL NEED
- A manual can opener (and a spare)
- Shelf space away from heat
- A marker
- The food calculator above
Instructions
- Pick meals, not just cans. Think in meals: chili, stew, tuna and crackers, soup, beans and rice. Then buy the cans that make them.
- Cover protein first. Beans, chickpeas, tuna, salmon, chicken and stew give the most value. Add vegetables, fruit and soup for variety.
- Skip what nobody eats. If your kids won't touch canned asparagus now, they won't in an outage either. Buy what's already on your grocery list.
- Date and rotate. Write the month on the lid. New cans go to the back, old cans to the front, and use them in normal meals.
- Check the cans. Throw out any can that's bulging, leaking, deeply dented on a seam or spurts when opened.
TIPS
- The liquid in canned vegetables and beans counts as water. Don't pour it out in an emergency.
- Pull-tab lids are handy, but keep a can opener anyway.
- Most canned food is fine well past the 'best before' date if the can is in good shape.