After opening, how long is it good?

[Low Drag]

So to the question.....

How long is a typical can of beans, taters, veggies etc after you open the can if you have no refrigeration? (I have some snap on plastic lids for cans) Anyone have any idea?

Background: I do basic prep, I have the stuff I normally eat in my pantry and extra that I rotate on a couple of shelves in the basement. Additionally I have some long term food (couple week's supply) but mainly just the "normal" food I eat.

So after opening a can of beans, veggies etc and a plastic lid put on any idea how many days it's safe to eat? My wife and I would have a hard time putting away a couple of cans of veggies/tatters and some small can of meat in one sitting.

Old school rice/beans take a ton of fuel to prepare, I have some but not a lot due to the fuel required.

Thanks

[Just a Jarhead]

So to the question.....

How long is a typical can of beans, taters, veggies etc after you open the can if you have no refrigeration? (I have some snap on plastic lids for cans) Anyone have any idea?

Background: I do basic prep, I have the stuff I normally eat in my pantry and extra that I rotate on a couple of shelves in the basement. Additionally I have some long term food (couple week's supply) but mainly just the "normal" food I eat.

So after opening a can of beans, veggies etc and a plastic lid put on any idea how many days it's safe to eat? My wife and I would have a hard time putting away a couple of cans of veggies/tatters and some small can of meat in one sitting.

Old school rice/beans take a ton of fuel to prepare, I have some but not a lot due to the fuel required.

Thanks

2 hours, 4 hours tops. Already cooked canned vegetables are susceptible to rapid bacteria growth. Not the same as raw food. The same food safety rules apply to open canned foods as any other cooked food for the most part. If bacteria is present after 4 hours it can be deadly.

Anyone with a small solar system enough to power a Sundanzr 4.8 Cu. Ft dc refigerator will have such an advantage. A small system with couple solar panels to produce enough for 40 amp.hrs./day a few deep cell batteries (no inverter, run dc direct more efficient) can be done for around $1,500, including the refrigerator. Keep it in the garage boxed up til needed after testing. Also big enough to charge AA & D batteries for your flashlights and LED camp lights.

[Nathan_Bell]

Even less if you have eaten directly out of the can or had any saliva on the spoon you scooped it out with. Lots of funky bacteria in spit.

2 hours, 4 hours tops. Already cooked canned vegetables are susceptible to rapid bacteria growth. Not the same as raw food. The same food safety rules apply to open canned foods as any other cooked food for the most part. If bacteria is present after 4 hours it can be deadly.

Anyone with a small solar system enough to power a Sundanzr 4.8 Cu. Ft dc refigerator will have such an advantage. A small system with couple solar panels to produce enough for 40 amp.hrs./day a few deep cell batteries (no inverter, run dc direct more efficient) can be done for around $1,500, including the refrigerator. Keep it in the garage boxed up til needed after testing. Also big enough to charge AA & D batteries for your flashlights and LED camp lights.

[Dirk Williams]

Seems reasonable, I think back to a time when I was living in SE Asia or living in Spain or Moracco? when nothing was kept cold to include the canned foods which were rare. Only thing kept cold was the beer.

Although different, I remember when you wanted a ham or beef or chicken dish they simply cut a slab off of a hanging hunk of meat after shooing the flies off of it and provided it to you.

I don't recall ever getting sick from that food, I sometimes think we in the US are over the top on that stuff, I mean look at the old days when their were no Ice boxs around, what did they do then.

I would rather be safe then sorry, but I see a time coming when all bets are off. Food poisoning sucks

Dirk

[Atchcraft]

It's funny this should come up. I found an open jar of marinara in the pantry the other day. Knowing that it wasn't me or my wife, I asked my daugther (19, who has moved back home before she ships out for basic) how long it had been since I opened it. She told me it had been a few days. We've been over this before. When I asked her if she knew that anything canneed, jarred and opened needed to go in the firdge, explaining that this practice could kill her she said, "well, I do now"... God, help me!

[Just a Jarhead]

Seems reasonable, I think back to a time when I was living in SE Asia or living in Spain or Moracco? when nothing was kept cold to include the canned foods which were rare. Only thing kept cold was the beer.

Although different, I remember when you wanted a ham or beef or chicken dish they simply cut a slab off of a hanging hunk of meat after shooing the flies off of it and provided it to you.

I don't recall ever getting sick from that food, I sometimes think we in the US are over the top on that stuff, I mean look at the old days when their were no Ice boxs around, what did they do then.

I would rather be safe then sorry, but I see a time coming when all bets are off. Food poisoning sucks

Dirk

Sure, you could do this a million times with no ill effect. Only takes once and you'll never do it again. Do it in an environment where antibiotics aren't available and you may not have the opportunity to ever do it again.

In a tits up situation, unless you're literally starving to death and you have no choice, an ounce of prevention is worth 20 lbs. of cure. Not 1 lb. of cure as in normal times. If you're starving and have no choice, boil it for 10 minutes first.

[pmarc]

Not to derail, but...

Old school rice/beans take a ton of fuel to prepare, I have some but not a lot due to the fuel required.

If you let you beans soak overnight, change the water in the morning. Light a fire and just let a pressure cooker pressurize and count 5-10 minutes. Soft beans.

Let rice soak for 30-40 minutes prior to cooking. That should speed up a bit.

Rice and beans are a staple of brazilian food.

To prepare beans, you fry some bacon, maybe some smoked pork chops, together with minced garlic and onions, some bay leaves, a pinch of cumin, coriander, black (or red) pepper, salt. Add the soaked beans, cover with water and boil until soft.

You can also just boil the beans with salt and bay leaves. When soft, take another pan and fry bacon, add cooked beans and the seasonings.

Sometimes we use put some sort of sausage in the boil or frying pan, but, without knowing the sausage varieties in the US, I would not venture... Some friends that live over there said that there is no sausage like ours to put in the beans...

[Low Drag]

Thanks for all the info guys.

I may have to look into a pressure cooker, that sounds like a nice way to do rice/beans. These keep really well so they make sense if the cook time/energy can be reduced.

[Iraqgunz]

Something else to consider is a good personal cooker that uses multiple types of liquid fuel. I am going to invest money in a few of them soon.

[doriwoogie]

To prepare beans, you fry some bacon, maybe some smoked pork chops, together with minced garlic and onions, some bay leaves, a pinch of cumin, coriander, black (or red) pepper, salt. Add the soaked beans, cover with water and boil until soft.

Sorry to continue the derail, but that sounds really good, I'm going to have to try that out, and the tip about soaking the rice. Funny but this is the last place I expected to find a recipe.