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What is the Shelf Life of Canned Soup?

Rimlee Bhuyan
The shelf life of canned goods like soup depends a great deal on the way in which it is stored. Let us discuss the same.
What can be more comforting than a bowl of steaming hot soup on a cold winter evening? But nowadays, who has the time to make a pot of soup from scratch by making one's own chicken stock and browning vegetables and meat. Slow cooked soups made at home, no doubt tastes delicious.
But after a hectic day at work, the last thing that we want to do is slave away in the kitchen. This is where canned soup comes to the rescue. There are many canned soup brands, and they are available in a lot of flavor variants, and the best thing about them is that they are very easy to prepare.
Their shelf life is also much longer than homemade ones. Although canned soups have a high content of sodium and are not as nutritious as homemade ones, they provide an easy dinner option for those times, when you do not have the energy to cook.

Shelf Life
Knowing the shelf life of soup, whether it is freshly made at home or canned is very important. Having it past the expiration date might make you ill, and it might even lead to food poisoning. All canned products, like soup and beans have a 'best before' date stamped on the top or bottom of the can.
As a consumer, you should always check this date before making a purchase. This date indicates how long you can store your canned products before its taste deteriorates or it becomes unsafe to consume. Canned soup shelf life is around 1 - 2 years.
Ideally, it should be consumed within a year, as it tastes the best then, and all the nutrition in it is preserved. You can actually consume it after a year too, but its taste, flavor, texture, and nutrition is greatly reduced after this. After 2 years, it should definitely not be consumed.
Unopened and perfectly sealed canned soups should be stored in the pantry, which is dry, cool, and free from any moisture. If the pantry is too humid, then the cans might get a bit rusty, which might lead to leakage in them. To prevent this, make sure that you do not over-stuff the pantry with too much food, and it is perfectly dry and cool.
If any of the cans are leaking, have become puffy, or are rusting, it's best to discard them. Consuming soup from such damaged cans might lead to food poisoning. But, is canned soup healthy? It contains high amounts of sodium and preservatives, which doesn't make it such a healthy option. Still, you can pick a low-fat one with more vegetables and less cream.
Although shelf life of canned soup is around 1 year, it is best to consume them within 3 to 4 months. You should ideally purchase only that many cans that you are going to consume in less than 4 months. There is no point in filling up your pantry with too many of them, when you can always go the supermarket and replenish your grocery supplies.
Canning of soup can also be done at home, if you have the necessary equipment. Its shelf life is around 6 months, if canned properly. Further, canned soups and stews are very useful to have in your pantry, when you need to prepare a meal quickly.