BUCKHORN CLIFFSA preparedness field manual

Food · Supply

Canned Tuna

How long canned tuna really keeps, oil against water, cans against pouches, how to store and check it, mercury and how much to eat, and the protein it brings to a food store.

5-10 YRPROTEINNO COOKINGWorks without power

Quick facts

  • Real shelf life5 to 10 years
  • Label date says3 to 5 years
  • Best storage
    • Cool
    • dry
    • off the floor
  • Watch for
    • Bulging
    • rust
    • a foul smell or spurting

Where this sits on the food shopping list

Canned tuna is the cheapest shelf-stable complete protein there is, cooked, ready to eat cold, and good for 5 to 10 years stored cool. A case of it is a month of protein that needs no fridge, no fuel and no water, which is why it is in the pantry, the bug-out bag and the truck.

Which to buy

Chunk light tuna (skipjack) is cheaper and lower in mercury than solid white (albacore), and it's the one to stock in quantity. Oil-packed carries about twice the calories of water-packed, 190 against 100 for a 5 ounce can drained, which is a feature in a food store. Cans over pouches: a pouch is lighter for the bag but keeps about 3 years rather than 5 to 10. Buy case lots and date the lids.

How long it really lasts

By how it is kept

FormLabel saysReal, stored well
Canned tuna, in oil or water3 to 5 years5 to 10 years at full quality
Tuna in a pouch2 to 3 yearsAbout 3 years
Opened, refrigerated in a covered container3 to 4 days
The Preparedness Food Shopping List (PDF), a one page printable PDF

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Get the one-page food shopping list

What to store, how much of it for one person for one month, and how long it keeps. One page with checkboxes, built from the Survival Foods field guide. Print it, multiply by your people and months, and take it to the store.

The PDF comes by email, with my newsletter now and then. Already on the list? You still get it. Read the full page.

How to store it

Cool, dry, dark and off the floor, between 50 and 70°F if you can manage it; twenty degrees cooler, 70 down to 50°F, roughly doubles how long the contents stay at full quality. Never let cans freeze (the seams can fail) and never store them over a furnace, in a garage or in a vehicle. Rotate first in, first out, with the buy date written on the lid. A dented can is fine if the dent is small and not on a seam; a deep dent, a dent on a seam, rust that pits the metal, or any bulge means the can goes unopened.

How to tell it has turned

Look before you open: bulging ends, a leak, rust that has eaten into the metal, or a seam dent. Listen and look as you open: spurting liquid, a hiss outward, cloudy liquid where it should be clear, foam, or a foul smell. Any of those and the whole can goes, unopened if possible, into the trash where nothing can get at it, because the thing you are guarding against is botulism, which has no taste and no cure outside a hospital. A can past its date with a sound seal and a clean smell on opening is food.

Keep it

Small dents off the seam, surface rust that wipes off, a date years past, and a can that opens quiet and smells normal.

Discard on sight

A bulge, a leak, a seam dent, rust that pits, spurting or foaming on opening, cloudy liquid, or a foul smell. Do not taste to decide.

How much, and how to use it

A 5 ounce can is about 25 grams of protein. Mixed into rice, pasta or beans it makes a meal; with mayonnaise or oil on crackers it needs no cooking at all. The oil from oil-packed tuna is food, not waste; it goes into the rice. On mercury: light tuna is in the low-mercury group, and two to three cans a week is the figure for most adults, with albacore kept to one. Children and pregnant women eat the light kind and less of it.

When the power goes out

Open and eat. Tuna is the first protein in an outage because it needs nothing; eat the opened can at the meal and do not keep it in a warm room.

Shelf-life figures are from the Survival Foods field guide; fridge, freezer and pantry times are from the USDA cold and pantry storage charts. Run the look, smell, taste check before eating anything past its date.

Questions this answers

Tap a question for the short answer.

How long does canned tuna last?

Five to ten years at full quality stored cool, against a label of 3 to 5, and safe longer in a sound can. Pouches keep about 3 years. Opened and refrigerated, 3 to 4 days.

How do I store canned tuna long term?

Cool, dry, dark, off the floor and dated; cans rather than pouches for the deep store.

How do I tell if canned tuna has gone bad?

A bulge, leak, seam dent or pitting rust, or spurting, foam or a foul smell on opening. Discard without tasting.

Is tuna in oil or water better for storage?

Both keep the same. Oil-packed carries about twice the calories, which matters in a food store, and the oil is food in its own right.

Keep going

Read nextCanned BeansHow long canned beans keep, why they earn a shelf beside the dry beans, which kinds to stock, rinsing for salt, how to store and check the cans, and the protein math.Food · Supply

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