Cooking in cans, good idea or bad idea?

[Tyla]

I expect we've all done it. As kids it was our staple camping method, no pots to clean or carry just heat and eat. The question is whether its dangerous. I've read on here that there are chemicals in the cans that are harmful, surely they are more likely to be released by heating the food in the can.

Can anyone confirm this or all we all still ok to do it?

 

[Mad Canoe]

Well to be honest thats how I cooked all my grub when I was a wee yin, and it has never done me any harm. Tins of beans and tins of taties cooking away at the side of the fire. Them were the days lol.

 

[Gagnrad]

I expect we've all done it. As kids it was our staple camping method, no pots to clean or carry just heat and eat. The question is whether its dangerous. I've read on here that there are chemicals in the cans that are harmful, surely they are more likely to be released by heating the food in the can.

Can anyone confirm this or all we all still ok to do it?

Tins used to be plated with tin—hence the name. (Ordinary steel, of course, rusts.) These days many have a layer of plastic instead. The plastic can contain BPAs—the reason why you’ve probably already switched from a plastic-lined aluminium water bottle to stainless steel one! Well ... your food cans have the same issue. And, I believe (though I may be mistaken here), the UK is worse than some other places so far as that goes.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...-secret-in-your-kitchen-cupboard-1932742.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/2...s-the-risk-of-heart-disease-and-diabetes.html

Could heating the tin cause more of the BPA to migrate into your food? I don’t know. I wouldn’t be surprised.

But you can get a stainless steel pannikin for around a tenner, and stainless steel is food safe, so at that price why not?

Here's one source at £10.95:

http://www.lakelandbushcraft.co.uk/acatalog/BCB.html

 

[rancid badger]

As long as you dont allow the tins to actually start to burn and end up with the can lining parting from the metal, I'd say it's fine.

using empty tins to cook in, repeatedly? Not too keen on that but I know a few who do it now and it used to be "all the rage" when we did survival exercises.

R.B.

 

[blacktimberwolf]

Yes there are chemicals & notably bisphenol-A (BPA) used in the lining & is known to be a carcogen, even in small quantities, which is one reason ( taste being another,) we should reduce our intake of canned foods. Why the food industry continues to use such chemicals is beyond me, there must be alternatives.
As for heating, to be honest I don't know the effects of heat on this stuff but I can't imagine it being a good idea, (though I've done it many times,).....I like to think that eating this crap from time to time, doesn't have any long term health effects............but no one can be sure, not even the people in white coats that feed it to labarotory rats.

 

[rik_uk3]

Plastic melting into your food would be your biggest worry, you won't drop dead in your tracks heating up a few tins, more likely to burn your fingers. Pick up a set or army mess tins for a fiver (no, you won't go gaga eating out of aluminium).

 

[Ronnie]

I worked in a factory called Metal Box (Does exactly what it says on the tin), stamping out billions of tin cans. It's tinplate. Steel with a tin plating. No plastics involved as far as I know. I can't see there being any harm in it. Would probably steer clear of aluminium cans, but they're mostly used for pop.

 

[bilmo-p5]

I think it depends on which cans you use to do your cooking in. Some cans are the recommended cooking vessels for their contents; canned meat pies and puddings are probably the best known examples, and much canned food (meat, fish, veg) is cooked to some extent as part of the canning process. I recently made-up a messkit by recycling household containers and the cans I used for cooking pots worked very well indeed, with no apparent ill-effects. I have read on these pages that there are problems with the breakdown of some drinks can coatings when they are used for cooking purposes.

 

[tiger stacker]

Yes there are chemicals & notably bisphenol-A (BPA) used in the lining & is known to be a carcogen, even in small quantities, which is one reason ( taste being another,) we should reduce our intake of canned foods. Why the food industry continues to use such chemicals is beyond me, there must be alternatives.
As for heating, to be honest I don't know the effects of heat on this stuff but I can't imagine it being a good idea, (though I've done it many times,).....I like to think that eating this crap from time to time, doesn't have any long term health effects............but no one can be sure, not even the people in white coats that feed it to labarotory rats.

Is there any difference in food served up in retort pouches or the hotcans that are used by the armed forces. I know the old 10 man ration pack has changed for the better. Where possible they use fresh as much as they can.

 

[locum76]

Some cans have plastic linings to stop acids corroding the metal, such as for tinned pineapple. Those particular plastics contain oestrogen mimicking compounds and may give you moobs if you eat too much. But I guess you wouldn't be heating up tinned pineapple anyway.

 

[Gagnrad]

As for heating, to be honest I don't know the effects of heat on this stuff but I can't imagine it being a good idea ...

Snap!

Actually, it seems that you (and I earlier in the thread) were right in guessing that heat would be a problem.

A new study may provide a clearer picture of how a controversial chemical called bisphenol A leaches out of plastics ....

The study in today's Toxicology Letters provides evidence that heat — not frequent use — may pose the greatest problem. Previous studies have shown that repeated wear and tear — such as running baby bottles through the dishwasher — makes BPA leach out of plastic, says the study's main author, Scott Belcher of the University of Cincinnati.
... In the study, new and old bottles filled with room-temperature water released the same amount of BPA. When scientists exposed new and used bottles to boiling water, however, they released BPA up to 55 times more rapidly than before heating. ...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-01-29-plastic-chemical_N.htm

I like the next bit, where BPA is described as ""environmental estrogen". Personally, I tend to steer clear of anything that's like female hormones. (Unless the OP's a woman and looking for a bit of DIY HRT perhaps!)

But perhaps that's just me ... what the safe dose is (which would doubtless also be dependent on one's genetics, diet, and lifestyle as a whole) no-one's likely to know for sure. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

So, yeah, if the can has a plastic coating inside maybe play safe and don't heat it. I've noticed that most cans of plum tomatoes are plastic lined now, same for coconut milk. I prefer fresh food to canned food on the whole, so I don't see a lot of cans—don't know what the penetration rate of plastic coatings is in the industry currently.

 

[Frogo]

A lot of the canned food manufactures heat treat there food once canned to kill any harmful bacteria. Cant see any problems really.

 

[Tyla]

Cheers for all the replies, its pure lazyness with a dash of sentimentality on my part to be honest. I have all the billys, mess tins etc, i just fancied going oldschool and reducing pack weight.

Is the conclusion that its ok unless tins are plastic lined? I should be ok then, i have a particular liking for canned rice pudding and i've not found any lined cans of it so far.

 

[Grendel]

Always used to boil tins in cadets MANY years ago just put a dent in it and when the dent popped out you know it was done. BUT also went of a overnighter with a friend who put a tin of beans in the fire to see what would happen which got so hot it exploded sending shrapnel and hot beans and hot embers everywhere.

 

[Tyla]

Hmmm ... i've always opened them but left the top down, seemed safer that way. Alot easier to open when they're not boiling hot too. Out of interest, when you used the dent method how did you open the can after?

 

[gowersponger]

Some cans have plastic linings to stop acids corroding the metal, such as for tinned pineapple. Those particular plastics contain oestrogen mimicking compounds and may give you moobs if you eat too much. But I guess you wouldn't be heating up tinned pineapple anyway.

saying that i have got a billy can made from a big peaches tin but it seems to work fine

 

[Grendel]

Hmmm ... i've always opened them but left the top down, seemed safer that way. Alot easier to open when they're not boiling hot too. Out of interest, when you used the dent method how did you open the can after?

Carefully

The idea was that in boiling the can you could make a brew up with the water.
To be honest you took the can out the moment the dent started to push out and let settle for a few minutes then opened well away from you in case you had a spurt of hot contents escaping.

 

[rik_uk3]

I think it depends on which cans you use to do your cooking in. Some cans are the recommended cooking vessels for their contents; canned meat pies and puddings are probably the best known examples, and much canned food (meat, fish, veg) is cooked to some extent as part of the canning process. I recently made-up a messkit by recycling household containers and the cans I used for cooking pots worked very well indeed, with no apparent ill-effects. I have read on these pages that there are problems with the breakdown of some drinks can coatings when they are used for cooking purposes.

Quite right and well said. you do get plastic in high acid foods like toms or some fruit (as already pointed out), most tins don't have plastic liners.

SMA (Baby) milk tins are nice and big, re-sealable lid and perfect for carrying Hurricane lanterns or for us lucky one, Coleman 221 lanterns. No plastic and easily baled, I used one a few times then passed it on, I believe its still in use. Ian I was messing with a S&K pie tin as a 111 reflector, must get back to that project.