Early Retirement Extreme Forums

What are the general thoughts on canned food? I've been eating a lot of canned salmon, sardines, and beans from Costco. The cans all claim to be "BPA Free" but it still feels weird. I didn't eat much of anything out of cans until about 6 months ago.

I know that beans are more expensive this way, but the canned ones don't give me intestinal distress. I've tried all kinds of soaking and prep methods with dry beans, and they always seem to give me bad gas. But I can devour a whole can of Goya black beans in a sitting and have no ill effects.

The fish, on the other hand, is cheap and nutritious. Wild caught canned salmon from Costco seems to be the most affordable way for me to get salmon.

Canned beans and vegetables have lost a bit of nutrients if that's important to you. Fresh are best, then frozen, then canned. Otherwise, I think the only thing to watch out for is salt intake. I'm not hyper about avoiding salt but some canned food can have a lot of salt, which would add up if eating it every day.

As JP mentioned, salt can be a problem with canned food. Also, sugar is added to canned fruit.

The big issue for me is taste, consistency, and texture. Canned beans and fish are fine for some things, but I really don't know why anyone would eat canned vegetables or fruit unless they had too. Fresh or frozen is so much better and much of it isn't that much more expensive.

JP also noted that nutrients are lost in canning. Also, most of the vegetables canned aren't the highly nutritious ones in the first place (green beans, peas, corn, etc.). Some are only "vegetables" on school lunch menus.