Good day hunters: I am looking for a specific type of food cans.

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TheAzn

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Hey guys. I'm not sure if this is the appropriate sub-forum, but I do like hiking and it seems like hunters should know what I am talking about. Furthermore, you guys seem pretty good with metallurgy.

I am currently looking for food cans that are of the original type: steel plates coated with tin (but without lead). The reason why I am interested is because I want to try out a certain 'boy scout' technique.

Since boy scouts sometimes lack resources, they just cooked their foods in their sealed cans. What they would do is to create dents in the cans and throw them in the fire. Before the cans explode from over-pressure, the dents would pop back up and they would quickly remove the cans through safe methods.

Obviously, you shouldn't be doing this in plastic coated cans. Some companies are even making enamel coated cans as a sort of compromise. Supposedly, enamel doesn't leach even at high temperature, but I'm just not sure.

Whatever the case may be, I don't think companies are producing labels that differentiates between 'boy scout cooking' safe cans and those that are not. How do I know if the cans are safe to cook in without even opening them? I don't want to call up individual companies (like the customer services would really know) and I don't want to try out every single cans from the existing companies (that would take up a lot of time and money; and they can change the material anytime in the future).
Why are the Boy Scouts so confident? Trial and error?:eek:
 
Eagle Scout here. I must say I never heard of that either. But I have cooked in cans by poking some holes in the top of the can.

Sounds like you might be creating a bomb, dents or not.
 
I wouldn't do it. Zinc and other things on some of the cans which may be released with heating. If it was the only option I had vs starvation, sure, but as a party trick I would pass.

Shouldn't leave acidic foods in open cans since they can leach chemicals out so heating them I think is not wise.
 
There is no period in history in which this would be entirely safe. Not the heating, I am referring to can/liner materials. FWIW, we used to warm our MRE pouches on the engine of the Deuce when we got to our destination, or during morning 'startups' n the field.
 
Highly unlikely you'll find any food rated cans that have any lead or zinc or tin anywhere in 'em. That story sounds like it came out of Lord Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys.
"...Why are the Boy Scouts so confident?..." The shorts. snicker.
 
I would guess that the cans would pop the dents out before the food got warn all the way thru..I would rather eat it straight from the can,I am pretty sure it would be safer to eat unheated..I like baked beans straight from the can to the bowl,and look at all the canned tuna fish people use for tuna salad..If they want to eat something warm just bring some foil,and taters..I assume the point of cooking in the can is to keep from dealing with packing,and cleaning a pan,so I would pack some of those food boiling bags,and one pan.Canned food will be bulky and heavy anyways,and it makes a lot of trash.
 
As a prank, as a teen we put a can of unopened beans on the grill, and went to bed in our tents. Realizing the reach and scope of the explosion afterwards,I never after that, put sealed cans to heat.
 
When I was a boy scout, we cheated whenever possible. (It was a Chicago troop and cheating is endemic in Chicago.) We wrapped the cans in tinfoil (called aluminum foil now) and put them along side the exhaust manifold of the vehicle we traveled in. The first night we had hot food right now! After that we had to build the fire and get our pots all black and then clean them with sand and water (Don't ask me why).

When I worked a summer job in college, we had a plywood box lined with foil with a light bulb and placed the cans of chili, etc. in there. When lunch time rolled around, a hot meal was ready.
 
NOT A MYTH :D
I've seen it done, while as a Boy Scout in Maryland in the 1970's. A standard can of franks and beans was dented on opposite sides, and placed into the fire by a senior scout on the hiking trip. He heated it until it went "pop" from the sides popping out, then he removed it from the fire and poured a cup of cold water over it. He had done this is the past. After the dousing with the water, the can was allowed to sit for about 10 minutes, and then he opened it and it was steaming hot. It works faster, like a pressure cooker, than if you simply opened the can and heated the can over the fire, or if you heated the can a double boiler to reduce cleaning after the meal. The problem really is that campfire temps can vary a huge amount, and you might have a few minutes before that can ruptures and spews scalding, sticky, franks and beans all over the poor chaps sitting around the fire, OR you may only have seconds. :confused:

Getting a person to use rolled iron that was then tinned, to form a can that was then filled and sealed during the canning process, just to try it out, would probably run you a pretty penny. There are some "whitesmiths" out there using rolled iron that has been tinned for the living history folks...., but I'd not worry about that detail.

IF you want to try trail foods from the beginning of the Scouting Era, I suggest you get a copy of Camping and Woodcraft by Horace Kephart. https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Woodcraft-Handbook-Travelers-Wilderness/dp/0870495569 Have the lads make their own jerky, and rock-a-hominy, and have them learn how to carry and use air cured dry bacon.

LD
 
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We used to heat cans of C rations on the engine when on boat crew in the Navy. We vented the cans,(using the handy dandy "John Wayne" opener provided), first though.
Never occurred to us that the cans wouldn't be "food safe"... o_O
 
When I was in scouts, we took cooking shortcuts like this. We didn't even pause to consider
safety issues like can linings. A couple other tricks were to open the can lids first, you would lose a little
gravy or sauce, but save yourself getting a pot dirty. We also occasionally heated the cans with a propane
torch.
 
Loyalist Dave said:
NOT A MYTH :D
I've seen it done, while as a Boy Scout in Maryland in the 1970's. A standard can of franks and beans was dented on opposite sides, and placed into the fire by a senior scout on the hiking trip. He heated it until it went "pop" from the sides popping out, then he removed it from the fire and poured a cup of cold water over it. He had done this is the past. After the dousing with the water, the can was allowed to sit for about 10 minutes, and then he opened it and it was steaming hot. It works faster, like a pressure cooker, than if you simply opened the can and heated the can over the fire, or if you heated the can a double boiler to reduce cleaning after the meal. The problem really is that campfire temps can vary a huge amount, and you might have a few minutes before that can ruptures and spews scalding, sticky, franks and beans all over the poor chaps sitting around the fire, OR you may only have seconds. :confused:

Getting a person to use rolled iron that was then tinned, to form a can that was then filled and sealed during the canning process, just to try it out, would probably run you a pretty penny. There are some "whitesmiths" out there using rolled iron that has been tinned for the living history folks...., but I'd not worry about that detail.

IF you want to try trail foods from the beginning of the Scouting Era, I suggest you get a copy of Camping and Woodcraft by Horace Kephart. https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Woodcraft-Handbook-Travelers-Wilderness/dp/0870495569 Have the lads make their own jerky, and rock-a-hominy, and have them learn how to carry and use air cured dry bacon.

LD
Click to expand...
:what:I guess my reality has been reset again. Thanks for the book recommendation, will read.
 
Not a Boy Scout recipe, but a Bushmen's recipe for cooking food in its can.

You get yourself a big fat turtle, then... :D:D:D
 
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