Canned Food Challenge, Day 7: Beanie Weenies

February is National Canned Food month and canned foods are a great way to stay prepared for any disaster or SHTF event. So, for all of February, Chowmageddon is all about eating out of cans--not all three meals, every day, but one meal per day. Soups alone could meet this requirement, but who wants to eat soup every day?

A lot of preppers stock buckets of beans for the apocalypse. Personally, I can't imagine anything worse than having to eat beans every day for months and months. Particularly beans that need a lot of cooking. Don't get me wrong, I like beans--in my chili. I also frank n' beans, but hot dogs don't seem to do so well without refrigeration... That's where Beanie Weenies come in handy.

Van Camp's has been making Beanie Weenies for years--which never made sense to me when I was a kid, as you could make your own with a can of pork n beans and a pack of Oscar Meyer's. But, hey, when it comes to stocking my bunker pantry, I'm not going to complain. 

For the past few years, I haven't been able to find my favorite canned frank 'n' beans--barbecue flavor--so I generally keep a bottle of KC Masterpiece in the fridge at work to add a dash of flavor to my canned magical fruit. In the apocalypse, that won't be an option, unfortunately, as once opened, the BBQ sauce requires refrigeration. 

Overall ratings:

PRICE:

I don't recall exactly what I paid for this particular can--it's been in my desk at work for almost a year (would have expired in 2020, don't worry), but I recall it being pretty cheap. Oddly, when you go on Amazon.com and look at prices, they vary greatly. One seller had ONE CAN for $14.99. ???

SHELF LIFE  

Well, I bought my cans of Beanie Weenie, intended for days I forgot to bring a lunch to work, or couldn't get away to buy anything, about a year ago. I was surprised that the expiration date was in 2020--about two years after I purchased them. I suppose that's the pop-top to blame. Pop-tops don't have the shelf stamina a regular can of food does.  Still, 2 years is pretty good, with rotation. 

EASE OF PREPARATION

No can opener needed for this one. Just lift the ring and pull, then pour into some kind of vessel for cooking. A canteen cup over a fire would work great. 

NUTRITIONAL VALUE

I'm going to focus on a far more important issue than just nutritional value--I mean, how good can sliced hot dogs and beans be for you? A hot dog is something like 50% water, and is no substitute for real meat. Those dog slices are clearly just for taste. Beans on the other hand, are mostly protein. I imagine a can of this is about the same as a can of chili. The portion is the real problem here: there aren't enough slices, and the can is awfully small. I found that filling my spoon, with one slice per spoonful, there wasn't enough hot dog slices to eat all my beans. What a let down. 

VERSATILITY

I suppose you could pour this over rice. I guess it'd taste okay. Like all mean-in-a-can selections, this isn't really meant to go with anything, other than a slice of bread, or some crackers or something--assuming you have those in the apocalypse. 

TASTE

Ugh. My memory of these is way better than the reality. I mean, I can eat them, but as noted above, at work, during peacetime, non-apocalyptic conditions I can only do so with some barbeque sauce added. The beans aren't very good, and there's far too much water/juice in the can. When I make a big pot of beanie weenies at home, they are WAY better. And since that's a favorite weekend meal for me, I eat them often enough that this canned stuff is pretty disappointing. Still, it's better than a bucket of pinto beans or lima beans. Blagh.

Home made is way better, and, if you keep hotdogs in the freezer, those first few days after a power outage, you could whip up a batch of better Beanies with a can if Bush's baked beans...