[FishSticks]

Another option is precooked bacon, not canned, but vacuum packed in plastic. Although it is usually sold in the refrigerated case, it is shelf stable for many weeks without refrigeration. It is so simple and non-messy to use, you may end up adding it to more recipes, such as salads, toppings and quick sandwiches. Just heat the slices for a few seconds in a frying pan or microwave them. I buy 100-slice packs in a club store like BJ's Wholesale. A little bacon adds a lot of flavor. Precooked is sliced very thin, and you don't need much to get the flavor, so it's not too unhealthy. In the US a very large proportion of foodservice bacon is precooked in high power continuous microwave lines. At least 60% of the raw weight is rendered out in the process.

Hormel, the maker of Spam, and the US leader in the canned meat category, has other very good products, like Dinty Moore beef stew, a line of chile products, roast beef hash and one of my all time favorites, corned beef hash, the very thought of which has gotten me through many long cold night watches.

In the soup category there is a huge array of products from Campbell, Progesso, Healthy Choice and others. There are high standards for manufacturing canned meats in the US, and each of these products has a minimum standard for percentage of meat content.

I have always sailed without refrigeration, making me a leading consumer of products like these. I have also had some involvement in the manufacturing of all these products as a supplier to the meat processing industry.