Living Off On Canned Foods, Is It Safe?

[George Knighton]

I'm hearing all these things about toxic in canned foods. Though, the best way to stay gluten free at home is to eat canned beans and use disposable forks. Is it safe to eat canned foods for the rest of your life?

[kareng]

If all your eating is canned beans with a plastic fork -no.

Read the ingredients, most canned veggies and fruits and beans are gluten-free. BUT read the ingredients.

Don't know anything about toxic cans.

[sa1937]

I don't know if it's safe or unsafe...but it would be mighty boring not to mention probably high in sodium and lots of other things like preservatives. It doesn't sound very appealing to me.

Do you cook? If not, this might be a good time to learn.

[GlutenFreeManna]

I'm hearing all these things about toxic in canned foods. Though, the best way to stay gluten free at home is to eat canned beans and use disposable forks. Is it safe to eat canned foods for the rest of your life?

Why can't you use silverware and eat fresh fruit and veggies? Canned food is safe, but it's not as tasty, IMO. I have an emergency stash of canned goods for huricanes and it will be fine if I need to eat it, but I can't imagine living on that during non-emergency times. Sure you can live on it if that's the way you want to live--there is no "toxic" danger AFAIK.

[Reba32]

if canned beans are "safe" I can't imagine why fresh beans wouldn't also be safe! Plus, fresh beans are, well, fresh! They actually have vitamins and stuff in them still.

Like Sylvia suggested. This might be a good time to learn how to cook

[eatmeat4good]

Open Original Shared Link

At first I was going to reply that you could eat canned food and successfully avoid gluten if that was really the best you could do for your food. Then I decided to google the question just as you posed it....this page is what came up right under your post from Celiac.com. After reading it...jeez...I don't think I am eating canned goods anymore.

[lovegrov]

What a miserable way to eat. Why would you want to do that when there are so many safe things to have?

richard

[T.H.]

After reading it...jeez...I don't think I am eating canned goods anymore.

There's now a corn based BPA replacement (isosorbide) that may used in some canned goods, just started being used last year (Open Original Shared Link ). I don't know if it's much better, but it sounds like it may be. Although you'd probably have to go through some real hoops to find out if a can had this rather than BPA.

I heard about this when some sensitive corn allergic folks started reacting to some of their canned goods and ferreted it out. From the little I've read, it's not very common, yet, and they're unsure if it WILL be common. There may be some issues with keeping up with the demand, due to the agricultural base of the product.

Oh, re: the BPA? I didn't know if you looked at the comments below the article. They mention some other potential BPA sources I've heard before, too - aluminum canteens and some stainless steel canteens will have this as a coating on the inside sometimes, too.

[Strawberry-Jam]

I eat a lot of canned fruits because they are cheaper than fresh fruits and ready-prepared. If you have a safe space to cook, I would cook. It is MUCH cheaper to buy dried beans and soak them overnight and boil them the next day than to buy canned beans with hella salt in them and whatever else. you just have to have some foresight and know when you're gonna eat 'em. If you do not have a safe place to cook and so forth, then eat whatever you can to avoid gluten, eh? Just try to find something that is not canned as well. you can't eat everything out of cans...

[George Knighton]

Well canned foods are cheap for one thing. And I'm allergic to gluten, meat/beef/pork, white rice (I think) and seafood. All of these foods give me a bodily itching reaction and rashes appear. It looks like I can eat any fruit, vegetables, and beans.

[George Knighton]

Ok I just watched a few vids on how to make refried beans. I don't have time to let them sit overnight and then cook them for 4-6 hours. Anything else I can cook at home for cheap that doesnt involve gluten, meat/beef/pork, seafood, and rice?

[eatmeat4good]

In a frypan on medium heat saute' cut up chicken breast, potato and onion in a little oil until the potato is soft. Sprinkle with Tony Cachera's seasoning.

You can do the same thing with any vegetables you eat. Is chicken breast OK for you or do you not eat any meat?

[kareng]

Ok I just watched a few vids on how to make refried beans. I don't have time to let them sit overnight and then cook them for 4-6 hours. Anything else I can cook at home for cheap that doesnt involve gluten, meat/beef/pork, seafood, and rice?

There are some good refried beans in cans that are mostly just beans and salt. I love them

What about potatoes? Quinoa? You make it like rice and can put veggies, beans, etc in it. Frozen veggies. Corn pasta and sauce. Cheese? Baked potato with cheese melted on it. Sweet potatoes? Can bake them like a regular potato. I like to boil 1 for about 5 minutes. Then slice into little pieces, mix with a little olive oil and cook on a cookie sheet in the oven at 400 -450F for 10-30 minutes (depends on how big your pieces are). Put a little salt & I like cinnamon on them. Boil or grill some chicken or turkey and add to things. Chili with cooked chicken added? I use ground turkey but it isn't as cheap as chicken on the bone.

Just some examples. You have to eat more than refried beans.

[pricklypear1971]

Refried beans are easy. Cook them in a crock pot, pur

[GlutenFreeManna]

I second the crockpot. Cooking beans in the crockpot is super easy and you don't have to watch then to make sure they don't boil over like with the stove: Open Original Shared Link

(BTW, everything on that site is gluten-free--check out her vegetarian options or chicken recipes if you can eat chicken).

[Jestgar]

potatoes and sweet potatoes microwave pretty quickly, or you can put a bunch in the oven for about an hour (350, overcooking is ok) and leave them in frig. Just nuke for a minute or two when you want to eat them.

While your taters are baking, cook up a pot of quinoa (about 20-30 min, ok to turn off heat after 20 minutes and leave on the stove to finish cooking) and freeze it in plastic baggies when it's ready.

While your taters and quinoa are cooking, make up some baggies of lettuce, and separate baggies of tomatoes, celery, cukes, nuts, cheese chunks, etc so you can throw together a salad quickly during the week.

Puree some chick peas with garlic and lemon for hummus (while your potatoes are cooking). Slice raw veggies, chunk cheese, whatever.

You've invested 90 minutes of time including washing the potatoes, and putting them in the frig when they've cooled, and you have a week's worth of food, none of it out of a can.

[Mango04]

I just want to add that I think it takes no time at all to cook dried beans. I soak them when I get up in the morning. It takes about one minute to put them in a pot and fill the pot with water. Then I leave the house all day.

When I get home at night I drain the water from the pot, add fresh water, and bring to a boil. It takes a few minutes. Then I go off and do other stuff while the beans are cooking (for a few hours). When I come back I have cooked beans. It really only took a few minutes of my time (since I didn't sit there and watch the beans cook) and it cost almost nothing. I think dried beans are a lifesaver for food sensitive people on tight budgets!

[Strawberry-Jam]

yeah, seriously. You can also soak beans while you are sleeping. You can leave them in water until you are ready to cook them. It WILL save you money in the long run, make less waste, and CROCKPOT is MIRACLE I have to say.

[GFinDC]

If you can do eggs, cut up some onion and mushrooms and throw em in a frying pan with a little oil. After a few minutes add some veggies, peas, or green beans, or okra or whatever you like. Then crack a couple eggs in the pan and stir it up or cover and cook for a few more minutes. Add some spices or your preference and all set.

You can also make guacamole very quickly. Just scoop out an avocado or two and smash it up with some lemon juice and salt and garlic powder. Lots of variations possible, like adding salmon or green onions. Guacamole is good added to something like quinoa and veggies too.

You might find lots of quickie ideas in the breakfast thread also. There are also several thread on snack ideas.

[lemontree1]

I cook my dry beans in a pressure cooker. I don't presoak. I get the pan up to pressure with 1 part beAns to 2 1/2 parts water and probably a tsp salt per cup of beans. It takes some experimenting to get the times right, but for 2 cups of beans it takes around 15-25 minutes depending on the kind of beans. Black beans take less time, pinto beans take more. But it really doesn't take a whole lot of time and I freeze what I don't use right away.

[Skylark]

Even if I'm pressure cooking beans I soak them overnight. Soaking beans and rinsing them lowers the amount of raffinose. I tend to cook pots of beans on the weekend when I'm around and can let them simmer or pressure cook. During the week I throw them in a crockpot in the morning and come home to cooked beans. They do freeze well.