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Seeds & Preserved Food

3 min read

Salvage canned goods and dry staples to bridge the months before a harvest, and open-pollinated or heirloom garden seeds to produce that harvest, since canned food buys months while seeds buy years. Check cans for swelling or rust-through, treat flour as shorter-lived than rice, beans, lentils or oats, and take salt, cooking oil and honey for preservation, calories and variety.

Part of Tier 3: Tools, Seeds & Reference

Canned and dry food bridge the months before a harvest and seeds produce it; viability testing and storage are covered in Seed & Food Salvage.

Eating Buys Time, Planting Buys A Future

Salvaged food runs out. Seeds are what turn a one-time supply into a repeating one, which is why the list has both.

What To Take

  • Canned goods. Vegetables, beans, meat, fish and fruit. Check for swelling or rust-through.
  • Dry staples. Rice, beans, lentils, pasta, oats, flour (shorter life), sugar and salt.
  • Garden seeds. Open-pollinated or heirloom varieties, which can be saved and replanted, unlike many hybrids. Hardware stores and garden centres stock them seasonally.
  • Honey. Does not spoil, has antibacterial properties and is calorie-dense. It should not be given to infants under one year old.
  • Cooking oil. Vegetable, olive or coconut. Calorie-dense, and needed for cooking and nutrition.
  • Spices and salt. Salt is critical for preservation; spices relieve flavour fatigue. See Food Preservation.

Where To Look

Grocery stores are the first target for everyone. Look also in pantries, school and restaurant kitchens, warehouses and loading docks. Garden centres, hardware stores and farm supply stores for seeds.

Checking Food

Step 1: Reject swollen or leaking cans. A bulging can, a can that spurts when opened or one that smells wrong is discarded unopened. Rust that has eaten through the metal means the seal has failed.

Step 2: Check dry goods for pests and damp. Holes in packaging, webbing, insects or a musty smell mean loss. Keep sealed packs sealed.

Step 3: Use flour sooner. It has a shorter life than whole grains and legumes, so eat it first.

Step 4: Store seeds cool, dry and dark. See Seed & Food Salvage.

Common Mistakes

  • Taking hybrid seed and expecting to save it. Seed from hybrids may not breed true.
  • Eating from damaged cans to save time. Bad canned food can cause severe illness.
  • Leaving seed for spring. Stocks vanish.

Safety

A swollen or leaking can may contain deadly toxin

Canned food spoiled by the bacteria that cause botulism may not look or smell spoiled, and the toxin is dangerous at very small amounts. Discard swollen, leaking or deeply rusted cans without tasting.

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