prepping

[Cwi555]

Any idea about the shelf life on the single serving SPAM packs? I keep a couple in my bag in the trunk of my car but with the heat, it can't be going well. So far they aren't swelling up but I think I need to check them.

2 years @ 78° aka ideal conditions. Never tested under your conditions, but I'd be surprised if it made it three months.

[Beowulf]

Any idea about the shelf life on the single serving SPAM packs? I keep a couple in my bag in the trunk of my car but with the heat, it can't be going well. So far they aren't swelling up but I think I need to check them.

[W.Lynn]

I rotated some preps big time this week.

Lunch was fried rice, leftover cooked rice from another meal, a bit high on the spam, but I'll admit I used a little much. Add some carrots and onions (I hope to always have diced carrots and dried or freeze dried onions on hand, so quick to use,) but forgot that I have a large can of freeze-dried mushrooms open. Used a fresh egg, but Mountain House would have worked, used up some soy sauce and noticed the brown sugar was low.

I was going to go to the store anyway, so 6 pounds of dark brown sugar later, and I should be good til the end of the year for that at least, maybe longer. Since I fought the cap off an unopened bottle of soy sauce, I knew I had to replace that, so that's another purchase that was made, and someone used up the water chestnuts - or at least, the ones I hadn't used up, so I got another 4 cans of those, and several cans of pork and beans.

I'm a bit overdue to prep some metals, but that's often the case when we prep other high-dollar items (the cross-bows! Did I mention my cross-bow? I really, REALLY like my cross-bow.)

No, I don't think I'll be trying to trade ammo or silver for anyone's beanie-weenies. I might let someone hire me for some of my skills, and yes, I'll take trade if they don't have silver or gold. Live chickens & rabbits, canned goods, manual labor, but at the moment, I just don't see myself desperately trying to trade an ounce of silver for anyone's beanie-weenies.

I don't even like beanie-weenies.

[W.Lynn]

Puffy or leaking cans must go, but dang, the loss of all those accessory packs!

[unseenone]

LOL, well puffy is one thing, leaking is another.. They were leaking.

[kickstand]

Don't you just hate it when our wives keep us safe from ourselves? Now admit it, you probably would have popped one of those cans open and tried it, just to see if it was ok.

[unseenone]

Good Idea.

I do Dak Canned Hams, Beef Stew, Hash and that sort of thing.. Along with Freeze dried meats. The problem with freeze dried stuff, it the calories are low. The good thing is it keeps forever. The problem with current MRE rations is they do not have the shelf life, and true MRE's are hard to find.

My better half tossed out the last few cases of C rats just because all the cans were puffy. Plenty of guys were getting food poisoning just before the first MRE's came out. They were still using ones from Vietnam. I was pretty annoyed as I could have pulled all the extra packs with P38's, TP, etc. in them... Oh Well...

[whydahdvr]

What about salt-beef and salt-pork - a la 18th and 19th c Army/sea rations?

[Gwynmael]

Not all food grade buckets are made the same either with some better than others. HDPE (high-density polyethylene) buckets as designated by the #2 inside the recycle symbol on the bottom are considered the better grade. PETE (polyethylene terephthalate #1), LDPE (Low-density polyethylene #4), and PP (polypropylene #5) are food grade.

An info tidbit on ^that -- while the plastic may be food "grade", it isn't automatically food "safe". It's the form mold release agent that determines if it's food "safe". The food "safe" release agents are more expensive, hence the higher cost of buckets and lids that are labeled as food "grade".

If you're also using mylar so that there is no direct food contact to the bucket, it should be safe. That risk is for everyone to determine for themselves.

[Cwi555]

The sharp turn on it makes me think stress cracking. Stress cracking is a brittle failure that occurs at a stress level lower than the short-term mechanical strength of the material. In that time frame, I am inclined to believe there was something wrong with those lids before you got them in your hands.

[unseenone]

Well, I had them stacked 3 high, but some buckets were heavy. Obviously I put the heaviest on the bottom. By design, if you actually study the lid, the weight goes on the center of it, and the lip part (that broke off on multiple buckets) takes all the weight..

I was careful not to "shock" load it, by dropping buckets on it. I was very careful in general.

I just do not think they are designed to stack. But you see there, the label and all.. Seemed genuine decent quality..

After I discovered the first broken one, I thought, oh, bummer. Replaced it and went on. Next annual inspect, 3-4 more were busted, and that's when I took action. Of course contents are also sealed in Mylar, and had not lost suction so I was good there.

Just did not take the weight. I think 4 in all broke before I finally sorted it out, rearranged the buckets and replaced the broken lids with permanent ones. Also have a couple of spares.

Over Tightening?

[Cwi555]

Here is the thread showing the picture of the cracked gamma lid.

http://angeryamerican.net/showthread.php/1117-Preps

Looked at the pictures. That's an odd location for a crack. The only ones I've seen do anything similar turned out to not be HDPE, and Chinese counterfeits.

[Kessler]

I have no idea why they cracked. They were not stacked, on the floor and in my pantry inside the house. Maybe a bad batch? They were not loaded down heavy either and not in light except when I turned a light on. Others loaded heavier have not cracked, but it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on them, especially if you expect them to be full of life saving vittles at a later date....

[unseenone]

Here is the thread showing the picture of the cracked gamma lid.

http://angeryamerican.net/showthread.php/1117-Preps

[Cwi555]

A word of caution:

If you store in 5 gallon plastic buckets, be sure to check the bottoms once a year or so for cracks. I have had two crack and although the food was in Mylar and not compromised, I wasn't a happy camper!

That's usually a sign of extended exposure to light/uv and or thermal break down. I have had some stacked (with gamma lids) three high for years and haven't had a problem. Weight limit for that particular brand is three hundred pounds with a fifty pound margin of error. I rotate every two years so that in a six year cycle, one bucket only has two years on the bottom. They are kept in a darkened location, no exposure to temperature extremes, nor light until we are there to rotate or picking up/dropping off.

Not all food grade buckets are made the same either with some better than others. HDPE (high-density polyethylene) buckets as designated by the #2 inside the recycle symbol on the bottom are considered the better grade. PETE (polyethylene terephthalate #1), LDPE (Low-density polyethylene #4), and PP (polypropylene #5) are food grade. They each have pros and cons, but for overall performance the number 2 is the best one for its resistance to light, structural strength, and resistance to thermal fatigue. The #4 has a much lower strength but otherwise the same as #2. #1 tends to be more susceptible to degradation from light and thermal, especially thermal. #5 tends to be weaker all around.

The symbols look like this;


To give you an idea of the difference between HDPE #2 and LDPE #4, the former averages 30 mpa ultimate tensile (4351 psi) and the latter 7mpa (1015psi). Compressional strength varies depending design and nominal thickness, but I've tested mine at 300# plus.

Long and short, there are many potential reasons for a bucket to crack, if one does its time to start asking why.