Does anyone have experience with the Kirkland Canned Chicken Breast as far as long term storage is concerned?  I was looking at Yoders canned chicken chunks which run $85 for 21lbs of chicken but then theres the Kirkland "Premium Chunk Chicken Breast packed in water" that essentially would $46 for 18.75 lbs.  Seems like a MUCH better deal... but Im curious how it holds up over the years?  Will yoders actually be palatable up to 10 years like claimed?  Can the kirkland stuff even come close of does the water packing make it more of a 1 year type thing?

Safe to say... I just got back from a trip to costco.  Only place where you dont get off looks when buying 25 lb bags of anything

I've eaten the Kirkland chicken 1 year past expiration and it tasted just fine.

never had an issue with it. I have noticed that with my IBS what ever they soak it in can cause some interesting effects when I "read a magazine" but other than that it tastes pretty good and gets the job done.

Id suggest getting one pack and toilet testing it 1st if you have a sensitive stomach.

Just had a can of it last night from a batch I bought at Costco. Flavor was good, I think it's a little salty just by itself. I used it with some cream of chicken soup and it mellowed out the salty bit.

This chicken is G2G - makes a great chicken salad and I've never experienced and side effects from it.

Then again, I have been accused of having a cast iron stomach so YMMV.

It is good quality white meat chicken.  Also, it is cheaper than the canned chicken for sale at Sam's Club––6 cans for the same price as 5 at Sam's, and the cans hold the same weight.

I've had some that was maybe 2 years past the "best by" date stamped on the bottom of the can, the meat tasted good.


Steve

Ill definitely give it a good once over before buying more!  Generally I have a stomach like a junkyard dog.... but ya never know with some weird preservatives.  Thanks for the input gents!  And here I was thinking Id have to buy ONLY yoders type meat for mid to long term storage.

We have tones of it. Buy it often. have it on shelf from 5 years ago and still use it. No issues.

I do find that most anything I buy at sams or costco is actually cheaper at walmart despite walmart owning Sams club. Compare for yourself and you will see what I am saying.

How far past expiration is t?

+1

Kirkland canned chicken breast is good stuff, the only thing that they could do to improve it would be to pack it in cans that have a bit thicker sidewalls. I have to be gentle when picking up the cans out of fear of crushing it. Have a ton of this and Kirkland canned tuna fish stock piled, makes great chicken salad sammach's!

I have also eaten these a year or so past there best by dates with no problems.

We eat it on a regular basis. It's great for making dinner when you running late.

 

Good stuff and cheap.  Buy it at Aldi all the time.

Been buying them for years for consumption and emergencies and I keep rotating them and use the stuff primarily for chicken salad.   My family is very picky eaters, but they love the stuff.  I empty the juice and soak it in water for a couple of times and it washes out a lot of the salt flavor.  I will keep buying! Thumbs Up.!

Don't forget their canned roast beef chunks.  That stuff is awsome right out of the can, cold.

The best canned chicken I have tried is the famous "chicken in a can". They pack it in broth instead of water and it makes a huge difference in taste.

It probably lost some flavor, but perfectly safe to eat, probably like 3 years from the date date of mfgr.

About to make some beef stroganoff for sunday dinner with that.  Our costco has both the chicken and beef for ~$3/lb. Not a super bargain, but for canned long-term meats not bad at all.

What's the realistic shelf life for the chicken and beef if stored at 60F?

No idea. It's marked with a 2yr horizon. Going by other comments in this topic, good for another year after that. (shrug) fits my timeline for 'store what you eat'.  I'm not expecting it to last forever.

It was pretty tasty.  The Kirkland beef has a strong scent when opened, and I'd say the 12oz tin had maybe 9-10oz of meat in it. I should have done a proper study of it, to share with the board. The smell was a cross between a good roast beef and a dinty moore stew.
I whipped it into some hamburger helper stroganoff mix, using a lot of pepper, some dried chopped onions and a pinch of dill.  I used fresh milk but some canned or dehydrated milk would have worked.
It came out quite tasty.   And considering it could be made entirely from materials with a shelf life of several years, would be well worth stocking deep.

The meat is pre-cooked, but looked a little undercooked, but just right for whipping something up in a hurry. And could be eaten cold out of the can if necessary.

Thanks.

Drats!  I didnt see the canned beef while I was there.... Ill have to give it a extra look next time.  I think tomorrow night Im gonna open up a can of this stuff and try it out.  Maybe a little stir fry with some rice?  Seems like itd go nicely with that application.

We prefer the Kirkland turkey to the chicken, like the beef too. We've eaten some that was 3 years out of date. It was gtg.

You should try the Keystone brand. They have Chicken,Beef,Pork, and Turkey. I have had some of each and liked it. I called the company to ask about shelf life and was told as long as the can was good the meat should be too. Walmart is where I found it.

I've also bought the Keystone brand and tried all four fo the meats they offer.  Glad to hear about the expiration date.

with no *twitch* serious *twitch* *twitch* side effects what-*twitch*-so-ever *twitch*

Seriously tho... we have the canned chicken from Costco as a major source of protein in our year's supply - we use it often and cycle through it - and yes, we literally have a year's supply for our family of 6, at about 1200 calories a day. This is certainly adjustable depending on activity level, but we keep enough flexibility to adust the rations up or down as needed.

This, of course, is the key to storage - buy what you use, and use what you buy, replacing what you use. That way, when the trucks stop bringing fresh stuff in, what you have is as fresh as possible.

We do the same for all kinds of foods: applesauce, canned fruit, canned meat, canned veggies etc... I can honestly say that in our supply, there has never been an issue with ever finding a can or stored item that is even remotely close to it's expiration date - the only thing I can recall was a bottle of pimento stuffed olives (no one knows where it came from, as no one in our family likes them) in the fridge. It was way back in the way-back, and expired in 2008. They were probably fine, but we still chucked them.

2 yrs...still kicking...........good stuff

+1 because of this product i started to can my own chicken. I just started to make my own mre-s with chicken....so far so good

DETAILS!!





 

We love it and my MIL makes some incredible stuff with it.  I had some 3yr old cans that I lost track of behind some non-perishables.   Kept in a pantry at room temp.



I opened one up and it looked and smelled like new.

search my name, it's been posted in the food section

The Kirkland chicken is great stuff.  I keep a bunch of it on hand at all times.



My experience has been that canned goods are safe indefinitely as long as the seal of the can isn't compromised.  Older cans may not be at peak taste or nutritional value, but you can live on them for sure.  If the can is dented, swollen, rusting, or otherwise damaged, don't use it; otherwise have at it.  The only exception I make to that rule is tomato or other acidic products that typically have a white or colored lining inside the can.  I give those 5 years past expiration.  Why 5 years?  Personal experience.  



Always rotate canned goods so you don't have this problem.

bought some more from Costco yesterday, it's (6) 12oz Chicken for $9.99 and (4) 12oz beef for the same price.  So $2.22/pound for chicken, $3.33 for the beef

I am thinking there is another epic Protus thread in the making...

My Costco only has the chickenI would like to try the other canned meats.

I have tried all kinds of canned meats, fish, and poultry and found most of them to be pretty good. There are a few Spam-like products that I did not like. Spam is just not something that can be copied easily.

I never found any of them to be especially salty. I got a kick out of the suggestion that one mix the chicken with cream of chicken soup to dilute the salt taste, as the cream of chicken soup probably has a bunch of salt in it (canned soups in general are notoriously high in salt). Everyone seems to have their own perception of saltiness, and it often seems that different foods levels of salt are perceived differently by different people.

WalMart has a pretty decent selection of various canned meat, fish, and poultry products. So does Aldi.

I would suggest buying a can of different products and using them and seeing if you like them. You might be surprised, and they are far cheaper than anything freeze dried. While the FD stuff will keep longer, the difference is not enough to matter for intermediate term needs (like a year or 2). FD stuff takes up less space and is lighter in weight, but that is rarely a significant issue for a small amount of food storage.

As mentioned above, can your own and you wont ever doubt the quality. I can chicken breast, pork loin, hamburger, ham, and beef roast. Soon to try sausage as well. A quart of chicken breast will make a good sized pot-o-stew.

I don't know if I go so far with tomato products.  I've had tomato paste bulge the can lids after a couple years.  

I've been shopping at Costco for a few years now. I never bought the chicken until I read this thread. I have since bought some and tried it, then went back and bought more to start putting it into my food storage.



I was in Walmart tonight and just out of curiosity I checked out their canned chicken. It was priced a little higher at $1.98 a can, so just for comparison I bought a few cans. When I got the cans together and looked at the ingrediants I noticed that the Walmart chicken says it has rib meat but the Costco does not. Some of the nutrition facts are a little different also.







Thats when I noticed the serving size difference also. Costco states 2 oz. drained is a serving size and so does Walmart, the difference is the amount of servings per can. Walmart says 4.5 and Costco says 3.5, if correct that means that the Walmart can has more meat in it. After opening the two I can tell you that the Walmart can does actually have more meat. The Costco can clearly has more water in it. Also, the Walmart chicken has more fat and cholesterol, it's hardly anything but some people may care about that.









The Costco can runs $1.67 with 7oz. of meat vs. the Walmart can at $1.98 with 9oz. of meat. This puts Costco at 23.7 cents per oz. and Walmart a little cheaper at 22.1 cents per oz. It just goes to show you not everything is as it appears.



I also did a taste test. I tried several pieces from each can and they tasted and smelled exactly the same to me. I could not tell a difference. I'll probably continue to buy the Costco brand due to the fact that we earn money back towards our membership, but the Walmart chicken is the better deal and tastes just as good.



With all that out of the way I will share a very tasty and easy recipe my son concocted using canned chicken. It's also a pretty health conscious meal.



We can call it Chicken Corey.....



This is a very loose recipe that has no exact measurements so you can add ingredients to your liking. I used red and yellow peppers, sweet onion, fresh aspargus, Kirkland sea salt and black pepper, basil, and real honey.







I start of by heating up the pan while I chop up some red and yellow peppers along with a little onion. When the pan is hot I throw the chicken in and let it grill for a few minutes.







I remove the chicken when it starts getting hot, put a little bit of oil in the pan and throw in the veggies, I salt and pepper them and throw on some basil. I cook them until they just start to get some brown edges then I throw in the chicken and let it all fry for a couple of minutes and it's done.









Drizzle just a tiny bit of honey on the finished product and it is a very good dinner. Throwing this on top of a bed of rice would really up the carbs.....

well done, lambo!  THat's just the sort of comparison info that ought to be here. And thank you for confirming my suppositions about the meat/water content.

Excellent post Lambo!

Great review lamb.

Now off to Costco to purchase chicken.