Buying #10 Cans of Prepper Food

Every Prepper Pantry needs a small variety of dehydrated foods in #10 cans. For me, one of them is Tomato Powder. I long-term store a fair amount of pasta in various shapes and a pasta sauce is necessary to create familiar comfort meals. This simple tomato powder makes great tasting sauces, soups, juice, ketchup etc.

One of the issues with #10 cans of food is the cost. Maybe WalMart has changed that with their online selling of the Augason Farms brand of Prepper foods.

There are numerous sellers of #10 cans and over the years one of my favorite sellers was Honeyville Farms because of their variety, fast service, good prices, and low-cost shipping. Regardless of how many items or pounds the order weighed, shipping was $4.99 for the entire order. However, I recently purchased two more cans of Tomato Powder and naturally shopped my normal sellers for the best price and was surprised at the price and shipping increases today.

Here’s what I discovered: (per can price shown)

Honeyville Farms Tomato Powder:

$26.99 plus $8.99 shipping. A $4.00 shipping increase.

WalMart, Augason Farms brand Tomato Powder:

$26.03 and zero $ shipping because I opted for in-store pick-up. (Also because WalMart has stores here in Florida food is not taxed. I save another 7% on the order).

Summary:

It looks like WalMart will be the first place I shop for Prepper Stuff especially because of the Free In-Store Order Pick-up!

Links to Augason Farms and WalMart Augason Farms:

https://www.augasonfarms.com/

https://www.walmart.com/browse/augason-farms/YnJhbmQ6QXVnYXNvbiiBGYXJtcwieie

Freeze-Dried vs Dehydrated Food

A quick review of what they are and what’s the difference?

Dehydration:

Removes about 90-95 percent of the moisture content.

Freeze-Drying:

Removes about 98-99 percent of the moisture content.

THE DEHYDRATION PROCESS.

Modern-day dehydration isn’t that complex and can easily be done at home with a low-cost dehydrator such as the NESCO Dehydrator. Machines, like this NESCO circulate hot and dry air across the food. This removes much of the water. The moist air is then dried so that water continues to be removed. The temperatures are high enough to remove water but not high enough to cook the food. Dehydrated food is usually withered and harder.

THE FREEZE-DRYING PROCESS.

The freeze-drying process is a relatively modern preservation process. Freeze-drying is a fairly simple process but isn’t something you can do at home without high-tech machinery.

The food is placed on large racks inside of a vacuum chamber. The temperature is lowered to below freezing and then slowly raised. The water in the food moves from a solid state to a gaseous state - maintaining the structure of the food and keeping the nutritional value.

Freeze-drying can be done at home with a machine like the Harvest Right Freeze-Dryer. This machine is expensive, depending on the model size will cost $2,000 - $3,000.

The Main Difference between the process’ is Moisture Content.

The objective of food preservation is to remove the moisture so that the food doesn’t decompose, grow mold, etc.

Shelf Life:

The moisture removal has a direct impact on the shelf life. Most dehydrated products like dried fruits, vegetables, powders, and TVP; have a shelf life of about 15-20 years. However, dehydrated items like honey, salt, sugar, hard wheat, and oats have a 30-year shelf life - sometimes longer. Freeze-dried foods will have a longer average shelf life. Freeze-dried fruits, vegetables, just-add-water meals and real meats will have a 25-30-year shelf life.

Cooking:

Dehydrated foods will require cooking. Many times, they will also require some type of seasoning. This means that you’ll need to spend time boiling the product in hot water and letting it cook. The preparation time for dehydrated products can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 4 hours depending.

However, with freeze-dried foods, you just need to add water. Adding either hot water or cold water will get the job done depending on what you’re eating. Freeze-dried foods will usually be ready to eat in less than 5 minutes.

Cost:

Obviously, the cost of food storage will depend on what you're buying. But usually, dehydrated foods are going to be cheaper than freeze-dried. Freeze-dried and dehydrated foods offer different benefits that might be worth the cost. However, if you're on a tight budget, dehydrated foods are the way to go.

Ideally, all of your food storage would be stored at a temperature of 60 degrees or lower.

NESCO Dehydrator Link:

https://www.amazon.com/Nesco-FD-75A-Snackmaster-Dehydrator-White/dp/B0090WOCN0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1530197446&sr=8-3&keywords=dehydrated+machine&dpID=41r7i4OKQJL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Freeze-Dryer Link:

https://harvestright.com/product/medium-freeze-dryer/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrqTC_Y332wIVCAVpCh11CACdEAQYAiABEgJfc_D_BwE

General Info Source Link:

https://www.thereadystore.com/food-storage/8376/dehydrated-vs-freeze-dried-food/

#10 Cans Storing the Unused Contents for Later

The issue I have with using #10 cans of dehydrated foods is I don’t use the entire can in a couple months. Normally, I fill a 1-quart canning jar to cook out of that one and the remaining amount is re-packed in three canning jars with absorbers for later use.

Today, I had to open another #10 can but didn’t have any extra canning jars. So I decided to try vacuum bagging the remaining amount and put the bagged amount back into the #10 can. It worked out perfectly. Now when I need to re-fill the working jar I simply will cut off the top of the sealed bag, re-fill the working jar and re-vacuum-seal the same bag for next time I need a refill. Quick and easy! The width of the bag stock used is 8 inches wide by 12 inches long.

I have not had a rodent problem in all the years of storing food so I’m hoping that the cans plastic lid will deter any rodents should they find a way into my storage area. We’ll see.

I had an anonymous commenter suggest that after opening and bagging the remaining contents, store the #10 can upside down on its’ plastic lid. If a rodent did chew on the lid they would hopefully be stopped when they got to the metal of the can.

Here’s the #10 can, the 1-quart canning jar, the vacuum sealer and the remaining contents of the can vacuum bagged with an oxygen absorber inside.

The remaining bagged contents of the can slipped inside the original can.

The bags top is folded over and fits nicely inside the original can.

The cans plastic lid on and the 1-quart canning jar I bake or cook from.

                                                                              

Summary; instead of using canning jars for storing the unused food, (currently about 30 are needed), I can now use the same #10 can to store the unused contents back into for storage. With this method, I will save a considerable amount of food storage shelf space by not using canning jars for storage and now be able to use that saved space for other food items. When it comes to prepping storage you can never have enough shelf space!

#10 Cans, Long Term Storage & Spoilage ??

I do store #10 cans of Freeze-Dried/Dehydrated vegetables because it is convenient, tastes great and they have a shelf-life of 10-20 years.

Wednesday, I was re-organizing and re-inventorying my long term stored foods when I noticed one can of my Tomato Powder the top and bottom of the can is bulged about ¼ inch! (They are normally flat). The can that is bulged is 4-5 years old and this is the first time I have experienced a bulging #10 can. I’ll contact Honeyville Farms and see what they have to say about it and let you know.

Something must be alive inside that can and I want to know what it is as I’ve been eating out of another can and have several more cans in storage. Tomato Powder makes outstanding tomato sauces and I use it often.

Link to Tomato Powder:

http://shop.honeyville.com/tomato-powder-373.html

Here’s the can with a straight edge across the top, the bottom is bulged the same amount.

Lot I.D. and date. Looks like it was packaged in 2013 and about when I bought it. First 2 numbers are the year, next 3 the julian date and last 2 numbers is a production code.

A #10 can of Freeze-Dried Corn showing what the cans normally look like. They have a flat top and bottom.