Some Tips for Preppers on Cooking with Wet Packed Canned Foods

July 02, 2014

Many of us plan to cook with wet packed canned foods after TEOTWAWKI.  Our stocks would include canned vegetables, canned fruits and canned meats. Now using these canned foods sounds simple.  However, after watching people cook with them and doing a bit off experimenting we have found some differences. 1. The first thing that most people do with canned vegetables is to pour of the juice, often because it tastes salty.  In an emergency, you don’t want to throw these calories away.  The juice can be used for numerous purposes, including.

    • Drinking if you are short of water

    • Adding to stews for flavoring

    • Gravies

    • Soups or broths for flavoring

    • Sauces

2. Canned fruit, the juice can be used for

    • Drinking if you are short of water

    • Making jello

    • In place of sugar for baking, just reduce the amount of liquid you add proportionally.

    • Thin with water to make fruit drinks

    • Can be used to make sauces.  My wife sometimes uses it to make a sauce for chicken or turkey.

3. Canned meats

    • The fat of meats like Vienna Sausages or span should be saved.

    • This can be used for oil to fry foods.

    • The fat can be used for flavoring many different foods.

    • This can be a base for gravy.

4. Misc cooking with wet packed canned foods

    • Nothing that is edible should be thrown away.

    • Figure out a use for all juice and liquids.  Your imagination is the key.

    • Sardines or fish packed in oils, save the oils and reuse them.

The point of the whole article is that in a serious emergency you cannot afford to waste food.  In cooking with wet packed canned foods, you must use everything.  Now I know that for many people salt is a problem.  One way to handle this is not to add any additional salt, but use the vegetable juice for your salt. Also don’t forget to have a good quality hand operated can opener.  Howard

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