Yes, open and eat. Canned goods don’t “need” to be cooked and taste just fine without being heated. Set them out in the sunshine pr on the car dashboard if your family “wants” them hot. Tuna tastes fine straight from the can.
Be wary of the tuna pouches, soups in paper boxes and those that have foil tops for long term storage because they likely won’t hold up as well as all metal cans. Even then, keep a close eye on the all metal cans because they are being made thinner these days so are easily dented. I had to throw out six dog food cans recently because they were brown and dried out when I opened them. The cans looked fine, no dents but they were so thin I could bend them with my fingers. There has also been a few cans of people food I’ve thrown out over the last few months without opening because their lids seemed a bit poppy. Before this, I haven’t had a can go bad for probably 20 years.
I’ve tried talking to an elderly neighbor about just preparing for a natural disaster or our frequent power outages and have given her little emergency bags to which she rolls her eyes and soon eats. Never mind she grew up during the Depression so should know better. Anyway, she told me last week she saw a woman in the store who kept climbing the shelves to get every last little individual potted meat cans. She asked her what she was doing and the woman only said she liked them. Surprise, light bulb moment! My neighbor put two and two together that the woman was prepping. Of course, dear neighbor still hasn’t done anything for herself.
Be wary of the tuna pouches, soups in paper boxes and those that have foil tops for long term storage because they likely won’t hold up as well as all metal cans.
Even then, keep a close eye on the all metal cans because they are being made thinner these days so are easily dented. I had to throw out six dog food cans recently because they were brown and dried out when I opened them.
*****************************************************
I don’t even trust those pouches for weekly use. LOL I too have pitched some cans due to poppy lids. Mostly when I didn’t have as big a storage space.
I had a 2ft. wide pantry in the kitchen, and stuff would get shoved to the back and missed. Rotation was kinda haphazard. Now I have 30 linear feet of floor to ceiling storage, so most everything can be grouped together and seen at a glance.
I really don’t understand why any one who lives in an area prone to power outages, tornadoes, and/or hurricanes doesn’t do a little stocking up. I guess Denial is not just a river in Egypt.