When it comes to having an effective prepping strategy in place, stockpiling food sources is essential. As a part of this, securing a source of protein with a long shelf life that does not require refrigeration for storage or heat for preparation is fundamental. Canned meat is an excellent solution, but what canned meat options are best?
The best canned meats for a prepping strategy combine the attributes of affordability, having a long shelf life, a high protein and caloric content, and good flavor. Canned meat provides those who eat it with an excellent source of protein and calories. When stored properly, it can last for years.
This article will present to you the six best canned meat options for prepping. It will also provide you with information regarding what you should look for when choosing canned meat for your stockpile.
Mountain House Cooked Ground Beef
A can of Mountain House freeze-dried cooked ground beef is an excellent choice to keep in your food stockpile. Each can contains 800 grams (28.2 ounces) of pre-cooked ground beef. This provides you with a total of 22 servings.
With each serving providing 20 grams of protein, its nutritional value is considered to be good. Also, in terms of preparation, it is ideal for a wide-ranging set of survival scenarios.
All that is required for preparation is the addition of hot water for 10 minutes and the ground beef is ready to eat. In situations when you do not have access to hot water, it can also be prepared using water at room temperature. You simply have to allow an additional 10 minutes for the ground beef to become hydrated and ready to eat.
The large cans are well suited for storage. They also come with a plastic lid that allows you to cover the portions that you do not eat in one sitting. Using the plastic lid, you can gain a few days of additional storage time from every open can.
Unopened, each can of Mountain House freeze-dried ground beef can be stored for 30 years. The company guarantees its taste for that length of time.
This extended amount of shelf life makes Mountain House freeze-dried ground beef an excellent product to be used as your long-term protein source stockpile. If you are limited in space for your stockpile, this Mountain House offering will provide you with an excellent way to get maximum shelf life for each square inch of your prepper’s pantry.
Another good thing about Mountain House freeze-dried ground beef is that it not only comes in the 22 serving cans, but it also comes in boxes containing pouches containing single serving and double serving portions. This gives you the option of having transportable food for those moments when your survival requires mobility.
In other words, if you have to venture out of your secured location, you can easily carry a few days of protein with you in a backpack.
When it comes to taste and texture, Mountain House freeze-dried ground beef, once rehydrated, has a consistency that is comparable to lean ground beef that has been browned in a skillet. It retains its flavor. It is tasty on its own or when used with other ingredients at your disposal.
In terms of calories, each serving provides you with 220 calories. The 20 grams of protein that it contains is equivalent to 20% of the recommended daily requirements.
If you are concerned about artificial colors and preservatives, you can rest easy with Mountain House freeze-dried ground beef. It doesn’t contain any artificial colors, flavoring, or preservatives.
Kirkland Signature Chicken Breast
Kirkland Signature chicken breast in a can is a very convenient way to store poultry in your prepper’s pantry. Each 12-ounce (354 grams) can contains 3-1/2 servings of premium chicken breast presented in chunks with chicken broth.
The chicken breast is fully cooked and can be eaten straight out of the can. It can also be reheated in its broth or drained for the other preparation styles.
Each can of Kirkland Signature chicken breast is easily stackable to maximize the use of your storage space. Also, each can is sealed with a full style lid. These cans do not come with easy pull-off lids. This means that they require a can opener to be opened.
While in a stable world this can be seen as an inconvenience, when it comes to prepping, this is an advantage. By having a fully sealed can, it maximizes its shelf life by minimizing the possible entry points for bacterial contamination. You can expect to get a 3- to 5-year shelf life out of this product.
Kirkland Signature chicken breast also has the advantage of being readily available in brick and mortar Costco’s and online. This makes it an excellent go-to option when you need to restock your food stockpile on short notice.
In terms of the amount of protein that each serving of Kirkland Signature chicken breast provides, this is equivalent to 26% of the daily recommended value. The only downside from this product is that each serving only provides 60 calories.
This means that while it is a great source of protein, it may not be your best choice on days when you have to engage in intense physical activity. This means that you should rely on Kirkland Signature chicken breast to provide sustenance on days when great amounts of physical exertion are not necessary.
Armour Star Banner Sausage
Armour Star Banner sausage is a canned pork-and-chicken sausage product. It makes this list because it provides you with an excellent option to augment the diversity of choices in your prepper’s pantry.
Each 10.5-ounce (298 grams) can of this product contains five servings. Its form factor is small, being able to fit in the palm of your hand, but easily stackable for storage. This makes it ideal for using it as a food source at your base station or as a mobile food source to take with you when you must venture outside.
Each can of Banner sausage provides you with five individual servings—each providing approximately 14% of your daily recommended amount of protein and 140 calories.
As with any recommended canned meat product for prepping, Banner sausage can be eaten straight out of the can as it is fully cooked. Its consistency when eaten in this manner might seem a tad pasty or greasy to some palettes. However, as a field ration, it is acceptable.
Overall, the flavor of Banner sausages is reminiscent of a pork sausage that is slightly salty when eaten straight from the can. It has a tendency of acquiring a more meaty taste when sliced and fried in a skillet. The consistency also firms up when prepared in this fashion.
What makes Banner sausage so convenient to have in your stockpile is that when you need a large number of calories and protein, you can assign one can to an individual and it will provide that person with close to 70% of their daily protein requirements and 700 calories—500 of which come from fat.
In normal situations, that may not sound too healthy. However, in a survival situation, if you are facing a day requiring strong physical exertion, having a protein and calorie source that you can carry with you, easily open, and consume with minimal waste is ideal and a can of Banner sausage is an excellent option.
The only criticism that we have with the cans of Armour Star Banner sausage is that they come with an easy lift-off lid. This means that, especially if you have kept them on your shelves for
more than three years, you need to check the integrity of the can before consuming it. Likewise, it is more susceptible to a can breach in the event of improper handling.
Keystone Meats All Natural Canned Beef
Keystone Meats All-Natural Canned Beef is one of the most popular choices for stocking a prepper’s pantry. It is literally as all-natural as you can get. It contains only two ingredients, beef and sea salt. Nothing else is added.
No additional water is added to pad up the weight. It does not contain any artificial colors or preservatives.
Each 28-ounce (794-grams) can of Keystone Meats All-Natural Canned Beef contains enough beef for 14 servings. Each of these servings provides you with roughly 20% of your daily protein requirements along with 15% of your iron requirements. Each serving contains 70 calories, 30 of which originate from fat.
The nutritional profile of Keystone Meats All-Natural Canned Beef aligns well as a protein source that should be kept in a prepper’s food stockpile. It allows you the luxury of modulating your consumption to match your nutritional requirements based on the amount of physical activity required of you in a survival situation.
If you need more calories and protein on a given day, you simply need to eat additional servings. Likewise, if you are spending sedentary days in hiding or waiting for a situation to clear, you can extend the use of the product by reducing the rations.
Out of all of the canned meat products that made this list, Keystone Meats All-Natural Canned Beef impressed us most in terms of flavor and consistency.
Since the beef is fully cooked before canning, it can be eaten straight out of the can. However, under those circumstances, the fat released from the meat can congeal and give you a gelatinous sensation that some people may not enjoy.
When heated in a pot or skillet, it takes on the flavor and consistency of freshly cooked beef. Its flavor profile can be described as rich, never bland. It can be combined with other ingredients to make stews, soups, or skillet dishes.
If your anticipated survival needs do not require you to have access to 14 servings per day, Keystone Meats All-Natural Canned Beef is also available in cans half the size.
This is a crucial option to have, considering that once you open the can2—unless you have access to refrigeration—you will need to consume the entire content in 24 hours.
When you purchase this product, you will usually find a “use-by” date of approximately five years from the date of purchase. However, when stored properly, it is not out of the ordinary to get a shelf life that is roughly twice as long. Of course, when extending the shelf life in such a manner, you should always check the can for swelling and other signs of possible contamination before consuming its content.
Before wrapping up Keystone, it should be mentioned that it is also available in the following varieties:
- Keystone All Natural Canned Chicken
- Keystone All Natural Canned Turkey
- Keystone All Natural Canned Pork
Readywise Freeze Dried Meat
Technically, Readywise Freeze-Dried Meat is not a canned meat product—it comes in a bucket. Each of these buckets contains 60 servings of freeze-dried beef and poultry.
The fact that it doesn’t come in a can didn’t prevent us from including it in this list because it is extremely practical and convenient to have in your prepper’s pantry.
Each bucket of Readywise Freeze-Dried Meat contains 30 individually wrapped servings each of beef and poultry.
To make use of the meat, all that you have to do is add water. Hot water works best, resulting in a rehydrated ready-to-eat serving in 12 to 15 minutes. It can also be hydrated with cold water, but this can take up to 30 minutes to have a ready-to-eat serving.
Once the beef or poultry is rehydrated, it can be eaten on its own. Served in this manner, the beef has a consistency similar to crumbled browned ground beef. The chicken’s consistency can seem a bit rubbery to some people.
When the rehydrated chicken is used to prepare more elaborate dishes, such as stews or as a topping on other meals, the consistency issues with the chicken diminish. It begins to assume a consistency that you are more accustomed to in stewed chicken. The beef’s consistency remains solid regardless of what method of preparation is used.
The flavor obtained from the rehydrated Readywise beef and poultry can be considered satisfactory. It is by no means bland, but it is also not as robust as canned meat options or other freeze-dried options.
Readywise stands out due to its ease of storage and its 15-year shelf life.
Augason Farms Freeze-Dried White Meat Chicken
If you want a white meat chicken option that retains an excellent consistency and fullness of flavor, you should consider Augason Farms Freeze-Dried White Meat Chicken.
Each 16-ounce (454 grams) can of Augason Farms contains 15 servings. It is certified as being all-natural and gluten-free. All that is required to make use of the chicken is to add water to rehydrate it. This process is similar to the other freeze-dried meats listed above.
A can of Augason Farms freeze-dried white meat chicken has a shelf life of 30 years. That fact alone makes it very useful for prepping situations. However, when you couple it with the quality of the product in terms of flavor and consistency, it makes it very worthwhile to have it in your stockpile.
What to Look for in Canned Meat Options for Prepping
Ease of Storage
When considering canned meat options, you should choose cans that are easy to stack and can be accommodated in whatever racking and storage system you use.
Variety in Sizing
There isn’t an ideal size for canned meats that will be ideal for everybody. This will depend on the number of people that you need.
What is important in considering the size of the cans that you will stockpile is that you provide yourself with options. Since canned meat–even when it contains freeze-dried meat–needs to be consumed soon after being opened, the size of the cans mustn’t needlessly contain a quantity of meat that cannot be consumed before it begins to spoil without refrigeration.
This is why selecting can sizes that will accommodate your food preparation cycle for a 24-hour period is recommended. Smaller sizes more suitable for individual meals when you are on the move should also be kept on hand.
Meeting Protein and Caloric Requirements
In a survival situation, nutrition in the form of meeting your protein and caloric requirements under the stressful conditions that will be required of you is more important than flavor.
Fortunately, the recommendations listed above fulfill the nutritional requirements brought about by a survival environment without sacrificing flavor or texture.
That being said, it is important to choose canned meat options that allow you to modulate your intake of protein and calories based on the level of physical exertion that you will experience on a given day. In other words, choosing canned meats that allow you to raise your caloric and fat consumption when needed, is highly desirable.
Conclusion
Having a well-stocked and varied supply of canned meat options is highly recommended for any prepping strategy. By relying on the options presented above, you will be ready to face any survival situation that may arise.
By having a supply of proteins and calories in the form of canned meat in various presentations, you will be better able to adapt to a strategy that requires you to stay put or one that requires constant movement.
It will also allow you to have a variety of choices in terms of nutritional and preparation options.
