Is Spam or Corned beef in canned ok if it freezes?

D

Don'tkillbill

Joined
Nov 25, 2005
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Although not the lightest foods out there can we let these tins freeze and still be ok to eat them if they thaw while camping?

2 tins is a lot of calories so I'd love to leave some in truck with crackers if we got snow bound.
 
I would think it would be fine as long as the seal is not compromised. I would not think either would expand much, which is the main reason cans burst. Put some in your freezer and see what happens. You may be better going with a different food source thou, as botchulism (? sp) is a killer. MREs?
 
I've been thinking of what to leave in the truck also. I eliminated canned goods. Even if food quality isn't compromised, the hassle of dealing with it frozen in the can would be a problem. Even though I don't eat high-carb, my survival choices for food would be. Chocolate, peanut butter, macadamia nuts, jerky,honey& candy, pemmican....these things can be dealt with when frozen or really cold. Suff frozen inside a can has to be thawed somewhat just in order to remove it. Spam , with it's greasy texture ,is hard to get out of a can in room temp. nevermind frozen. My .02
 
Got a can in the freezer as we speak. There is no moisture but fat in those so I'll do the thaw tomorrow and see the seal.

My truck food.

pack of jerky
pop tarts (blueberry)
granola bars
instant noodles
Oatmeal pack.
all in an ammo can I can melt water in.
Oh yeah instant coffee and a few KFC wipes.
I don't have a cup but usually have a few coffee cups in the cup holders :)

I keep a roll of TP under the cab seat in back too :)
 
As long as the seal on the can doesn't become cracked or compromised it should be ok over the short term for consumption. However the txture taste and quality of the product may be adversely affected. Especialy in the long term with repeated heatings and thawings.

i.e. if it was used after freezing once it may not be too bad, after a couple seasons at temp extremes of vehicle storage it may be downright nasty if not toxic.
 
jw2n said:
I would think it would be fine as long as the seal is not compromised. I would not think either would expand much, which is the main reason cans burst. Put some in your freezer and see what happens. You may be better going with a different food source thou, as botchulism (? sp) is a killer. MREs?
Click to expand...


I don't think botulism should be an issue. That's an organism which grows in environments with very little oxygen that creates a toxin. The reason it's associated with cans is that sealed cans become oxygen-less enviornments. If a can bursts from freezing, it may be exposed to botulism in the environment, but the seal will have been broken and is thus exposed to air. A ruptured can will fail to normal food rotting processes and not botulism.

Botulism is really only a concern for people who can or jar food at home. Industrial processes such as the one used to pack SPAM have an essentially 0% rate of sealing viable botulism into the can, which is the only way it can become a concern.

That all said, this is just what I've kind of picked up and so could be wrong, but the bottom line is that if your food goes bad, you should be able to see or smell that it's bad the same way that the chicken left in the refrigerator too long would go bad.

I know that cans have expiration dates, but I think this has much more to do with flavor, liability, and nutritional changes. With organisms unable to enter the good, there's very little to no potential for the food going bad. I'm sure Google would shed some more light on the matter.
 
Got one of those little blue RubberMaid boxes with a big bag of nuts and raisins, stoned wheat crackers, noodles, coffee, alco stove, saucepan, first aid kit, blanket, poncho, bogroll, a Mora and a Fenix

All neat and tidy. All just in case :D:D

The kids eat the nuts and raisins and the crackers all the time though
 
This doesn't necessarily apply to spam but I thought I'd add that from what I've read, botulism needs a basic environment to survive. The articles I saw indicated that it can't survive in an acidic environment (like home canned strawberry preserves).

DancesWithKnives
 
I used to carry them for longer winter showshoeing trips in -20
A can a day for supper was a huge amount of energy and protein.

I had to boil them in water to get the tin soft enough so I could use the opening tab.
Then I would continue heating the can, with the top above the water, and eat from the can.

It tasted just like corned beef...
No, I did not carry powdered Colmans mustard......
 
as long as the vacuum of the sealed container is not compromised the contents will be safe. we used to leave beer in an old concrete structure in the desert in texas. i checked with several of the guys & they said the beer was o.k. after extremes of 25 degrees to 130 degrees. sounds crazy but after putting the year old beer on ice--tasted great.
dennis
 
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