[FromLori]

Soup doesn’t have that long of a shelf life though.

[Netizen]

Soup doesn’t have that long of a shelf life though.

Canned soup doesn't have a 1 year shelf life? I just looked and a can of soup I have in the cupboard is dated to Aug 15, 2012. That is more than a year away.

[Vigilanteman]

Canning was invented in the early 1800's. The technology was an essential ingredient in the success of the long campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars. The Brits actually found a can of tinned beef from that era in one of their museums back in the 1930's, so roughly 120 years old.

Nobody dared eat it even though the seal was intact, so they fed it to one of the museum cats, who promptly chowed down and suffered no ill effects.

Shelf life on canned food is for flavor viability, not "safe to eat" purposes.

[Ellendra]

Most soups have a “best if used by” date that is more for the sake of the company’s bottom line, rather than for the sake of food quality or safety. Those dates have been slowly changing as the economy worsens, because they know most people will throw out perfectly good food if it’s past that date.

As long as the seal is intact, that soup will still be edible 20 years from now.

[Psalm 73]

"Soup doesn’t have that long of a shelf life though."

It will if you eat a lot of it (or whatever) anyway and rotate it.

[ChocChipCookie]

Lori, store the *ingredients* for soup for a much longer shelf life. I’ve written about how to do this on my blog, if you’re interested.

Having on hand tomato powder, dried milk, and bouillon are a great way to start. Then have rice, beans, barley, dehydrated veggies, etc. whatever you typically like in your soups. All of these have extensive shelf lives.

[little jeremiah]

Soup is mostly low calorie and provides very little solid nutrition.