Cooked Meat Preservation: Q&A

Question:

If you vacumn seal something with cooked meat in it, does this extend the life of the meat if frozen or refrigerated. What about canning something with cooked meat, can you give me some idea of the shelf life of something canned with cooked meat in it?

Answer:

When you are trying to figure out the shelf life of any kind of food preservation process, you have to take into account many factors that include more than just whether something can be eaten. For example, some years ago I worked for a pickle company. We figured that our pickles could be eaten as long as six years after they were put in the warehouse. However, after about two years their crunchiness had degraded to the point that we did not want our name associated with them.

For most preservation processes you should plan on consuming the produce within a year. However, with vacuum sealing, coupled with freezing, meat should easily be edible for a year and a half. Canned soups, if done correctly will also last for 1 1/2 to two years.