Canned Food Longevity

I was looking in my pantry and noticed a can of soup from a brand I think went defunct a couple of years ago.  I think it is time for that can to go.  I was just glad my mother who was visiting this weekend did not see it.  See, keeping canned food is practically a blood sport in my family.

My mother was raised in a time when people thought that once food was “tinized” it would last forever.  Whether you were interested in ever eating it or not you still kept it.  I am not such a believer.  In trying to convince my mother that despite her very full pantry she really did not have much that was edible she challenged me to prove it.

I told her I could do one better than prove it, but that I could do it with my eyes closed.  She took that challenge and I went to the pantry and she watched as I closed my eyes and opened the door.  Without peeking I reached my hand in and pulled out a can.  It was the first one I touched, not one in the back behind some two-year-old crackers.  When I opened my eyes I knew I had hit pay dirt.

My father was witnessing this game and seemed to take cover as I squealed in delight at the can of Pepperidge Farm Gazpacho.  First, the idea of gazpacho in a can is revolting, but I was not there to comment on the original quality of the product, just it’s age.

The can I held was so old that it did not have a bar code on it, but an old-fashioned price sticker.  Granted there are still stores, like small bodegas, that do not have scanners so they put price stickers on items, but those items still have barcodes from the manufacturer.  Just the mere absence of the barcode was proof that the can was at probably made before 1980, but the particular price sticker was an even greater clue to the exact age because it said the words “Stop & Shop” along with the .79¢ price.

My parents lived in Wilton, CT. at the time a Stop and Shop was open in Ridgefield, the next town over.  I can remember my mother shopping there until the store closed on or around 1978.  That was proof enough for my father who declared me the winner in this game.

Being the spoiled winner that I was I went on to point out that not only was this can decades old, but that my parents had moved it five times when they moved from Wilton to London, London back to Wilton, Wilton to Massachusetts Heights in Washington DC, Mass Heights to Georgetown, and Georgetown to Pawleys Island, SC.  I consider that can better traveled than 99 % of all Americans.

My mother gave in and threw the can out.  We were all too afraid to open it and recycle it, so please forgive us.  So for today’s challenge, go to your pantry, find something that has been there at least since the last republican administration and either eat it or properly dispose of it.

Having a full pantry of things we are not going to eat is wasteful.  If you find anything that is still good and you don’t want to eat it, donate it.  There are lots of people who might need it, as long as you are sure it won’t kill anyone.