# Canned Food With The Highest Calories ??



## neil-v1

I started prepping after the first time I visited this site. I think this site is a very, very valuable tool for every person to use........Anyway, I am kinda kickin myself in the bum now for buying so many cans of vegetables when I could have been investing that money (as far as canned goods go) in things like corned beef hash or roast beef hash, beef stew, chili, etc. etc. Things that have a high caloric content and can really keep your butt ALIVE. I put most of my prep money in dry goods now (and of course ammo) and have done well I think. I just keep kicking myself for not knowing more so I could have spent the money more wisely. I guess I am just posting this for any new folk's here so they can learn from it. I am sure I will be very happy to have my vegies when the time comes, but I am glad I know more now so that I won't starve to death eating a majority of them.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has any other ideas as far as high calorie count canned goods, etc that people should look at in the early stages to add to any rice / grain stocks? I hope this post does not sound stupid? I just would much prefer to have 300 cans of beef stew in the pantry over 300 cans of green beens, etc. Hope this makes sense.


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## gypsysue

It's not too late to keep buying canned goods, and you can start getting the higher calorie things now. Sounds like you've done fine so far. Great start, great job.

The highest calorie canned foods will be those with some fats/oils in them. Meats are a good one, as is meat stew, meat ravioli, etc. Chili with meat. Tuna in oil. Canned ham, canned chicken, etc. Check olives, they might be higher in calories too.

The very highest in a can is Sweetened condensed milk. There's more than 1,300 calories in a can. Awfully sweet stuff, but tons of energy in that can!

You can make a quick rice pudding by adding the stuff to cooked rice. Add a little vanilla and/or cinnamon, too, if you have it. 

Speaking of which, spices are something I have to keep reminding myself to stock up on...


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## lotsoflead

i would think cans of chicken breast would be a healthier product to stock than canned hash, in a survival situation, a person should always eat the best foods they can to stay in the best health.Chicken breast aren't to bad if doctored up with some mustard or warmed on a grill with bar be Q sauce. hash is 270 fat cal and 35% cholest,33% sodium.


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## UncleJoe

Peanut butter is an item that will give you a lot of bang (calories) for the buck. 190 calories in 2 tablespoons with 130 of those calories coming from fat. Yeah, I just went out and looked at the jar.  We keep a lot of PB on hand.


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## NaeKid

UncleJoe said:


> Peanut butter is an item that will give you a lot of bang (calories) for the buck. 190 calories in 2 tablespoons with 130 of those calories coming from fat. Yeah, I just went out and looked at the jar.  We keep a lot of PB on hand.


I love my PB-honey-n-Cheeze sandwiches - lots of energy packed into a simple sandwich. Add in a couple of cross-country-cookies and you have energy for a day! (You can see my recipe for cross-country-cookies here in the recipe section).


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## gypsysue

*slaps forehead* Why didn't I think of peanut butter!!!

If you can find it in glass jars and keep it in a dark place, it'll keep from getting rancid as quickly as plastic jars. Even so, I think it takes a year or two for it to go rancid in plastic jars. Harder to find in glass, but it's out there.


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## mosquitomountainman

I've read several accounts of Alaskan trappers and hunters who carry a jar of peanut butter as survival food when they're out in the woods. 
Even if you're good at "living off the land" the fat content of wild food (including game animals) is very low. You need the fat to keep warm in cold climates and PB is a concentrated dose of both calories and fat.


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## The_Blob

gypsysue said:


> *slaps forehead* Why didn't I think of peanut butter!!!
> 
> If you can find it in glass jars and keep it in a dark place, it'll keep from getting rancid as quickly as plastic jars. Even so, I think it takes a year or two for it to go rancid in plastic jars. Harder to find in glass, but it's out there.


in my personal experience, the foil-lined bulk cans of generic peanut butter keep for 10 years (tasted fine)

quality over calorie is a debate I've seen in this thread & elsewhere and my personal opinion is that if you have the money/space get the healthiest food you can... but sometimes there is something to be said for all those extra fat calories (especially in the winter)

my only other advice at the moment is to try to store as close to a diet of stuff that you already are eating, that way you know you won't be miserable on 'survival food'


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## GroovyMike

great advice above. they already said everything I was going to type.


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## lotsoflead

I love peanut butter but don't eat it anymore, but young people(GKs) may be coming to stay here if things get real tough so we store a few jars for them


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## UncleJoe

That looks like my stash of PB but I noticed you don't have near enough jars of *real* PB, y'know, the ones with the red lid.


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## drhwest

I think canned salmon would be good. Which leads to another question...

Why does canned salmon have such a long shelf life? I've looked at several brands and they all have at least a 4 year shelf life. I even found one that had a summer expiration date for 2016. The only thing that I have noticed is that salmon has an oddly shaped can. It is somewhat conical, having a larger base and a tappered top.


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## The_Blob

datrex & mainstay both make a pretty small (& tasty) 3600 (total) (k)calorie energy bar

kind of expensive, but good for short-term BOBs


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## goose

mosquitomountainman said:


> I've read several accounts of Alaskan trappers and hunters who carry a jar of peanut butter as survival food when they're out in the woods.
> Even if you're good at "living off the land" the fat content of wild food (including game animals) is very low. You need the fat to keep warm in cold climates and PB is a concentrated dose of both calories and fat.


I think this is one of the less well-understood elements of survival prep--that you need fat in your diet.

It's fine to stock rice, beans, wheat, stuff like that which has an extremely long shelf-life. Problem is, almost no fat. And we need fat in our diet.

According to the McKinley Health Center at the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign:

_WHY DO WE NEED FAT TO SURVIVE?
Although fats have received a bad reputation for causing weight gain, some fat is essential for survival. According to the Dietary Reference Intakes published by the USDA 20% - 35% of calories should come from fat. We need this amount of fat for:

Normal growth and development
Energy (fat is the most concentrated source of energy)
Absorbing certain vitamins ( like vitamins A, D, E, K, and carotenoids)
Providing cushioning for the organs
Maintaining cell membranes
Providing taste, consistency, and stability to foods_

(McKinley Health Center - Macronutrients: the Importance of Carbohydrate, Protein, and Fat - University of Illinois

Storing fats long-term is problematic, to say the least.

One reason I stock spam--yes, spam--is due to fat content.

I recently bought one of the processed tinned hams Aldi sells ($2.69); fat content is 60 percent! It's reasonably palatable, but the real gem is that it lasts years and has that high fat content. So I think I'll be laying in a number of those as well. I can see using it in a rice and bean dish.

I'd love to stock Peanut Butter for all the obvious reasons--it really is a lovely food--but we don't eat a lot of it and I'm afraid it would go to waste as the PB went rancid.

I'd love to know other long-term-storage sources of fats and oils.


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## goose

drhwest said:


> I think canned salmon would be good. Which leads to another question...
> 
> Why does canned salmon have such a long shelf life? I've looked at several brands and they all have at least a 4 year shelf life. I even found one that had a summer expiration date for 2016. The only thing that I have noticed is that salmon has an oddly shaped can. It is somewhat conical, having a larger base and a tappered top.


I decided to check on this, and simply googled "why does canned salmon have such a long shelf life?"

Here's what I found as a link:

Gold Seal - FAQ

It doesn't say why (though the claim is 10 years, same for canned tuna), but what it does say, among other things, is that they use tapered cans because when empty, they nest, saving space.


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## lotsoflead

goose said:


> I think this is one of the less well-understood elements of survival prep--that you need fat in your diet.
> 
> It's fine to stock rice, beans, wheat, stuff like that which has an extremely long shelf-life. Problem is, almost no fat. And we need fat in our diet.
> 
> According to the McKinley Health Center at the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign:
> 
> _WHY DO WE NEED FAT TO SURVIVE?
> Although fats have received a bad reputation for causing weight gain, some fat is essential for survival. According to the Dietary Reference Intakes published by the USDA 20% - 35% of calories should come from fat. We need this amount of fat for:
> 
> Normal growth and development
> Energy (fat is the most concentrated source of energy)
> Absorbing certain vitamins ( like vitamins A, D, E, K, and carotenoids)
> Providing cushioning for the organs
> Maintaining cell membranes
> Providing taste, consistency, and stability to foods_
> 
> (McKinley Health Center - Macronutrients: the Importance of Carbohydrate, Protein, and Fat - University of Illinois
> 
> Storing fats long-term is problematic, to say the least.
> 
> One reason I stock spam--yes, spam--is due to fat content.
> 
> *I'd love to know other long-term-storage sources of fats and oils*.


 we buy a couple gal of the olive oil everytime it's on sale like half price and just leave it in the cans where it's cool and dry. we vacuum pack other oils in mason jars and store it in the same place. I think we're going to pick up 15-20 cans of the solid veg shortening and melt it just enough to get it out of the cans, then pour it in plastic pails lined with mylar bags, I think having about 15 gallons of that stuff may last longer than anything. We keep about 80 pounds of butter in one of the freezers most of the time, but if we lost power for a long time butter will spoil.


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## The_Blob

this part of the thread just reminded me of something...

has anyone tried pressing their own vegetable oil? to me, it's one of those things I would rather stock up on than produce, but eventually it's a skill/necessity I might just have to do


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## gypsysue

lotsoflead, butter can also be canned. If you lost power long-term and you have the canner and jars, can at least some of it. There are directions on another thread here, but basically you cube it into sterilized (boiled) jars, let it melt until the jar is filled (I set it in shallow water in a pan on the stove on low heat), put lids on, and water-bath it for 30 mins. to 1 hour (depends on which internet directions you read!)

I've bought cheap shortening and cooking oil and repacked them into glass jars, vacuum sealed them, and put them in our root cellar to lengthen their shelf-life.


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## sailaway

Seems like we all like PB, I have alot of that. I also have alot of those small cans of Vienna Snausages, yum yum!


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## Clarice

As for peanut butter we eat it everyday, in some form or another. If I know I need extra energy in the mornings, I'll have a PBJ sandwich for breakfast. We both like PB and crackers. I make PB cookies with the crunchy.
On another note, I have stocked my pantry with several "cans" of shortening. I do not like the cardboard cans, is there a way to repack in glass jars and reseal?


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## Emerald

The_Blob said:


> this part of the thread just reminded me of something...
> 
> has anyone tried pressing their own vegetable oil? to me, it's one of those things I would rather stock up on than produce, but eventually it's a skill/necessity I might just have to do


I kinda have- I took hulled sunflower seeds(it has been a few years and I think I just used unsalted toasted ones) and ground them in my food processor and then I put them in a heavy sauce pan and put about a quart of water on them and slowly simmered them for a while and then when the mix cooled I put the whole pan in the fridge- a nice thin layer of sunflower seed butter(_not really like butter but harder/creamier than oil- most of the solid stuff sunk to the bottom and the chickens love it! But I think I could have put it in bread instead._) set on the top and you peel that off and it was used for cooking--the brownies wanted to see where oil came from... 
Yeah I do a lot of odd stuff just cuz I like to see the whole process from beginning to end-- you ought to try making nixtamal- doesn't take that long and your tamales are to die for!


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## HarleyRider

lotsoflead said:


> I love peanut butter but don't eat it anymore, but young people(GKs) may be coming to stay here if things get real tough so we store a few jars for them


Pretty good stash of peanut butter.... but where's the jelly? :dunno:


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## lotsoflead

HarleyRider said:


> Pretty good stash of peanut butter.... but where's the jelly? :dunno:


we don't keep much store bought jelly as we have our own bees and honey goes great with peanut butter and starting tomorrow, we'll be making about 50-80 pints of our own apple butter which also goes good with PB.


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## gypsysue

Yes, Clarice, soften the shortening and repack it into glass jars. If you can avoid water-bathing it to seal the jars, that would be good since heating the oil reduces it's shelf life.

If you have a jar-sealer attachment for a Food Saver vacuum sealer (or can borrow one!) you can seal the jars that way. Fill them as full as you can to reduce "air space" even when vacuum sealing them, but make sure no oil gets on the rubber seal or rim of the jar before sealing it.

Then keep the jars in a dark, cool place, if possible. Dark is as important as cool when it comes to oils (including peanut butter).


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## The_Blob

we use pillow cases to squeeze the juices out of the various berries we gather, we used to throw the solids to the birds & then throw out the pillow cases, but one day I washed them (thoroughly) & put them inside other pillow cases & had fragrant sleepy-time for the rest of the year...

waking up to berry smell as opposed to the smell of my BO is always a plus

I never had any insect troubles like I thought I might, annybody else ever do this, or am I just a 'special' brand of freak?


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## gypsysue

That's a novel idea! I like the idea of the berry smell while sleeping! 

Great idea, too, for squeezing out berries! I never thought of that! Brilliant!


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## Bigdog57

I love Peanut Butter, but I stick with the Natural - I refuse to eat the Jiff/Peter Pan/Etc that has Canola Oil - nasty stuff if you Google it.
Also, anything 'diet' also has some nasty junk in it - ingredients read like a high school chemistry project...... stay with the 'real' stuff!
"Smart Balance" is a PB brand I like.

Also, canned boiled peanuts! 600 calories (420 from fat) per can, and I can sit and eat a can with no problem. At $1.16 per can, they are a cheap source of tasty calories! I have been stocking many cans of it - our Publix grocery stores carry them.


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## Mcflye

You may also want to consider powdered Soup ( I personally recommend the Baked Potato Cheese or the Broccoli Cheese) in combination with your regular store bought variety. The #10 Thrive brand have an 8 year shelf life plus 250 calories for just .5 cup of soup (not to mention that it is incredibly filling and tasty). Each can contains 43 servings and actually go a long way.

Ratio is 3 cups of water to 1 cup of powdered soup mix.


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## gypsysue

Mcflye said:


> You may also want to consider powdered Soup ( I personally recommend the Baked Potato Cheese or the Broccoli Cheese) in combination with your regular store bought variety. The #10 Thrive brand have an 8 year shelf life plus 250 calories for just .5 cup of soup (not to mention that it is incredibly filling and tasty). Each can contains 43 servings and actually go a long way.
> 
> Ratio is 3 cups of water to 1 cup of powdered soup mix.


I'm interested. Anyone know who carries that? Who to order from?


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## Mcflye

gypsysue said:


> I'm interested. Anyone know who carries that? Who to order from?


If you are based in the USA - then your best bet to go directly through Shelf Reliance- Food Storage, Emergency Kits and Food Storage Racks

If you are Canada side - you can get the soup along with the rest of the Thrive lineup at Briden Solutions Canada - Freeze Dried Fruit, 72 hour kits, long term food storage, water storage, emergency kits

Good Luck!!!


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## gypsysue

Mcflye said:


> If you are based in the USA - then your best bet to go directly through Shelf Reliance- Food Storage, Emergency Kits and Food Storage Racks


Just went to their site. Easy to use site, very nice. Some of the powdered soups are on sale right now, too! The shipping is reasonable. Climbs according to how much you spend, but up to $70 is only $6.99.

Thanks for the link, Mcflye.


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## booter

Try to imagine a 'really really really long extended camping trip/living out of a backpack' scenario. Calories = BTU's = Fuel for your own internal combustion engine = Your Body plus Metabolism. Reality is 'you're not going to be sitting around watching 'reality shows and tuning into ESPN 
for the current sports season playoffs, and then cruise on over to the mall for a StarBucks Latte' and a take-out pizza'. Whatever preconceived notions the subliminal advertising commercials and the fitness guru's have deposited into your subconcious, concerning what your daily caloric intake required to keep your swimsuit body should be.... has been put on 'TEMPORARY HOLD UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE' by TSH-ingTF. 'You best 
get your calories wherever/however you can find them'! Consider Michael Phelps 12,000 calorie-a-day diet during the Olympics, he was burning 
up every calorie from the physical demands on his body plus output and efforts. We are all going to be clocking overtime everyday!

Regarding the storage of butter, the best way I know how is to clarify it, liquify on low heat, cool-room temp., then skim the 'foamed' milk solids [anything floating around the container, not translucent and liquid]. I lived in India for years, and everyone used this for cooking and food prep. they call it GHEE or Clarified butter. The clarifying process removes all the water, carmelizes the milk solids, and purifies the butterfat. A finished product will keep without refrigeration, in an airtight container/to prevent oxidation, and stay in a liquid state [if you did it right, and strained out everything that doesn't belong]. It will be a golden viscous liquid, which with care and the right conditions [cool/dark out of direct sunlight], will keep for a good length of time.


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## The_Blob

I tried to make ghee once, just for a lark, botched it up totally :gaah:


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