Ask Lemmy

Canned fruits are often placed in a ton of syrup and sugar. So they aren't all that great for you. Even if you don't drink the syrup.

Canned vegetables on the other hand are perfectly fine and no different from frozen vegetables. There are rarely preservatives added since the heat and vacuum is enough to keep them from spoiling.

It's important to buy just vegetables. If you buy pre-made canned food then the quality drops significantly due to the amount of sugar, salt, and fats added. So canned peas are fine, canned pea soup not so much.

Canned vegetables have a worse reputation than deserved and it mostly comes from taste rather than health issues.

But mixing up your diet is never a bad idea. So instead of just going canned goods you can consider dried goods. Dried fruits don't have the same issue as canned fruits while still having a long shelf life. There are dried apple or banana chips, dried plums, mangos, apricots, also nuts and seeds are great alternatives.

And even dried vegetables are an option. They require a little bit more planning because some of them need to be soaked over night. And beans usually need to be cooked in addition to the soaking as they are poisonous otherwise. But not all dried vegetables need soaking, lentils can be cooked immediately. And offers, such as dried peas can even be eaten as snack in dried form.

Theoretically canned food is fine, if you account for nutritional loss during canning process (vit c hates heat, some other vitamins too) and ingredients added (sugar and salt content can be huge).

There is one practical problem with canned food I didn't see anyone mention. Bisphenol A or BPA consumption can have neurological consequences in diets with a lot of tinned food. Most manufacturers now (location dependent) use BPA-free cans, but not all.

This is why I added more frozen food to my diet. Chopped Frozen broccoli, frozen spinach, peas, beans, carrots etc. Are really quick to thaw and reheat without needing much time and can be dumped into most meals without ruining them. Split red lentils also take maybe 7 mins from dry, no soaking required.

Canned beans are Lemmy’s favorite food

You are probably consuming more salt then you should, but you won't get cancer or anything like that. A good alternative would be peanut butter and white bread. You could add something like peanut butter sandwiches to reduce the amount of canned food, or could move to frozen veggies instead. But as a direct response to your question, usually canned food's biggest issue the salt content and just being overcooked.

Steamable-in-the-bag, frozen vegetables were a game changer for me eating healthier while still being incredibly convenient.

Depends on the canned food.

No, canned food is perfectly healthy, there are no short or long term consequences from eating a heavily canned diet.

Frozen vegetables and frozen fruit in smoothies are considerable replacements. Alternatives include looking into sandwiches or wraps using stuff you can reasonably expect to consume in a reasonable amount of time. Could also consider throwing stuff into the oven (oven roasted root vegetables or broccoli/cauliflower and a rice cooker can make a decent meal with very little active cooking and more just watching the clock).

A pressure cooker is also a nice idea along that vein (dump everything in, leave it and come back to some chilli in a few hours).

"Healthier" is a fuzzy, difficult to define concept in food, but there's minimal nutritional differences between canned, frozen, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Avoid cans with BPA lining and anything with lots of added salt or sugar, but otherwise don't worry about it.

The practical answer is whatever helps you not eat takeout all the time is what you should stick with. If you are worried, prewashed salad lettuce packs are pretty cheap and are a manageable two meals. I really hate juggling the shelf life of produce as well.

We've come a long way regarding canning and food safety, I don't think you'll have any issues like the crews of the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus had.

tldr; a short summary about the demise of John Franklin's 1845 Arctic expedition. Many of the tinned rations were poorly sealed and contaminated with lead, leading to sickness, starvation and general tragedy for all involved. (If you think that sounds interesting there's a 10-episode AMC dramatization called The Terror, which is how I learned about it)

I have bad childhood memories of being forced to eat canned vegetables but this was before flash-frozen vegetables. I refuse to eat canned green beans.

Generally, the less processing a food has the healthier it is for you. After fresh fruits/veggies flash frozen is best. Then comes canned items due to heating.

I suggest visiting c/cooking. Post your go-to recipe and ask for info on making it healthier while still easy. They may say it is already good or suggest tweaks. Either way there is lots of cooking knowledge there.

I would definitely consider frozen veggies as an alternative to canned veggies. To keep things as simple as possible, you can microwave them and they are ready in under 2 minutes. They taste significantly more fresh, and have way less salt content.

If you are looking for other options with long shelf life, pickled/lacto fermented mixed veggies could also be a great option!

Microplastics are a concern, if you're eating out of metal cans rather than glass. However there are microplastics in rainwater now, so it's not like you can avoid them...

Humble can of plain chopped tomatoes is the one thing that keeps my diet interesting and relatively nutritious. It's the base of my little cooking framework that allows my lazy ass to eat warm meals on a quasi regular basis.

The only fresh produce you need are onions, but you can buy a lot of them at once and they won't spoil too quickly. Just brown chopped onions on olive or vegetable oil, pour a can of tomatoes, add salt, pepper and some italian style dried herbs and you have the most basic pasta sauce that took maybe 10 or 15 minutes to make and you have sth for dinner for the next 2-4 days depending on the size of the can. But its true strength comes from its versatility. You can add any random thing you have in your pantry and it still tastes good. You have broccoli in your freezer? Just add it and wait until its soft. Same with anything else frozen. Everything canned goes as well: green peas, corn, string beans, chickpeas, beans... Want something heavier? Add fried minced pork or beef. You can also poach eggs in that sauce. Want to keep it vegan? Fried or baked tofu. Frozen or dried mushrooms? Of course! If you are not sure about some ingredient just add it anyway. It will still taste like a tomato sauce. It only tastes better with fresh produce but you can keep it 100% canned + that inital onion and it's still a solid option that keeps your morale high and your body nourished enough to avoid unnecessary long term problems. Just keep it simple and it's foolproof.

As far as safety of canned food is concerned, I haven't seen any hard evidence against it. It's not a new thing. If it was fundamentally harmful we would already know about it. Just don't exclusively eat readymade canned meals or WW1 western front rations. Also mandatory ~~reddit~~ lemmy style sorry for bad english.

Canned food will give you a lot more gas.

It usually has higher sodium than fresh/frozen options. Frequently other things as well (especially canned “dinners” or fruit.)

I’m more concerned about the apparent lack of variety. Animal protein is basically complete. Vegetable protein isn’t and you need to mix up types of veggie protein, as well as micros from an apparent lack of fruit.

Also, the lack of variation in general. I’m reminded of a guy I know who had low-t. Started eating “simple” like this and eventually got to the point where he was just eating. Bread with mayo (and subsequently went to the doctor because of lack of nutrition. And he was nagged into that- no motivation.) not a doctor… but…