Relying on how it's stored, canned and boxed food can last a long time. See extra boxed meals pictures.
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The average American household of four throws away greater than 120 pounds of meals each month [supply: CBS]. That is a variety of waste, particularly in robust financial times. As an alternative of tossing out all these dusty previous cans and boxes, open them up and make them part of your next meal. Depending on how it's stored, canned and boxed meals can last a very long time. But which lasts longer?
Boxed Variety
The answer really is determined by what kind of boxed meals you are talking about. At this time, boxed food encompasses a quantity of various preservation strategies, together with airtight luggage (suppose cereal), vacuum-sealed bags (like the ones lunch meats and bacon are available in), frozen containers (Television dinners, for example) or dried goods (akin to a box of pasta). No matter how it is packaged, frozen food can keep for months or years -- generally even for decades. In a single extreme case in the early 19th century, William Buckland, a professor at Oxford College, served his dinner visitors meat from an extinct mammoth that had been frozen for more than 10,000 years [source: Shepard].
No matter how they're preserved, many boxed goods contain chemicals that inhibit or kill micro organism. (Bacteria are what makes meals perishable to begin with.) Sorbic acid, sodium nitrite and sulphur dioxide all lengthen a product's sell-by date, but they also can lower a meals's nutritional value.
Sterile Cans
Canned meals is not laden with chemicals and preservatives because all of the bacteria are killed throughout the canning process. This process permits sealed cans to remain contemporary for years. Although most canned foods don't have any expiration date, it's not beneficial to keep them longer than two years. Nevertheless, the majority of canned foods are nonetheless edible lengthy after that interval, however their taste, color and texture might alter slightly [source: Canned Meals Alliance].
That's to not say that each one canned food is chemical-free. While many manufacturers of canned meats and vegetables have little to no preservatives, other standard canned goods are rife with chemical preservatives. In fact, the chemical bisphenol-A (BPA), is often added to the liners of canned foods, equivalent to rooster soup, ravioli and plenty of manufacturers of baby formulation. There's some evidence that might hyperlink BPA to cancer, lowered sperm rely, miscarriages and delivery defects [source: Natural Information]. In March 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives announced legislation aimed toward outlawing BPA in products consumed by infants and youngsters [supply: JSOnline]
Correct Storage
It could also be a toss-up as to which keeps longer -- canned or boxed meals -- however both kinds of goods have an extended shelf life once they're properly taken care of. They must be saved in a cool, dry place, akin to a pantry or cupboard. Bagged boxed items, equivalent to cereal, could be resealed in airtight containers to prolong freshness after their preliminary opening. The mixture of air and metal may adversely have an effect on foods' flavor, so any leftover canned items must be faraway from their original container and refrigerated after opening.
Do you know? Canning and bottling both observe the identical sterilization process, which involves sealing the meals in an airtight container and making use of enough heat to kill any micro organism. In truth, the time period "canning" applies to any container that undergoes this therapy, together with bottles and packing containers.
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Shopper Affairs. "Expiration Dates: What do They Imply?" 2009. (July 15, 2009).http://www.consumeraffairs.com/nutrition/expiration_dates.htm
Davidson, Alan. "The Oxford Companion to Meals." "Canning." Oxford University Press. New York, 1999.
Environmental Working Group (EPG). "Bisphenol A: Toxic Plastics Chemical in Canned Food: Canned Meals Test Outcomes. 2009. (July 15, 2009).http://www.ewg.org/node/20933
Gutierrez, David. "Canned Foods Found to Include Dangerously High Level of Toxic Chemical Bisphenol-A (BPA)." Pure Information. April 2, 2007. (July 16, 2009).http://www.naturalnews.com/021761.html
Kissinger, Meg and Susanne Rust. "U.S. Lawmakers Move to Ban BPA from Meals, Beverage Containers." JSOnline. March 13, 2009. (July 16, 2009).http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/41215752.html
Lauwers, Judith and Anna Swisher. "Counseling the Nursing Mother." "Food Additives and Processing." Google Books. 2009. (July 16, 2009).http://books.google.com/books?id=crW6348Iw_wC&pg=PA145&lpg=PA145&dq=
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Mealtime.org. "Continuously Requested Questions on Canned Foods." Canned Food Alliance. 2009. (July 15, 2009).http://www.mealtime.org/content.aspx?id=132
Shepard, Sue. "Pickled, Potted, and Canned: How the Artwork of Food Preserving Modified the World." Pg. 15. Simon and Schuster. New York, 2000.