If you are concerned about rotating your canned food, there are creative ways to keep it fresh:
• Try a completely new recipe using canned foods. A new recipe means you don’t have a previous version to compare it to.
• Dehydrate canned fruit for snacking, adding to granola, or adding to baked goods.
• Puree’ canned fruit and dry as fruit leather; or puree’ and add to Fruit Spice Cake.
• Dehydrate canned vegetables to use in soups and soup mixes.
• Puree’ canned vegetables and add them to mashed potatoes or spaghetti sauce.
• Puree’ canned foods to make sauces and soups such as Durango Sauce, Green Pea Soup, and Peach Soup. (recipes found in Pantry Cooking: Unlocking Your Pantry’s Potential)
• Donate to a food bank before the “use by” date on the can. The food is still good after that date, but most food banks won’t take it.
See PantryCookingPlus.com and Simply Prepared with CFD Publications on Facebook for more ideas!
P.S. Remember that going past the “use by” date on canned food does not mean it will harm you. It is still good for you and not dangerous to consume. The quality, appearance, and nutrition may be less than what the company guarantees but it is still good. The only time you need to throw away old, canned food is when it is leaking or bulging or has a bad smell when you open it.
