Well, as promised, we purchased some Keystone meat products to try.  I have been doing a little research on them and like what I see.  Here is a little breakdown on the five we got.

Beef - 14.5oz, Ingredients: Beef, Sea Salt.  0 trans fats. Sodium 120mg. 0 Carbs. 0 sugar.  11g protein.

Ground beef - 14.5oz. Ingredients:  Same as the Beef.

Chicken - Ingredients: Chicken, Sea Salt.  The rest is the same as the beef but sodium is 100mg.

Pork -  Ingredients:  Pork, Salt.  Sodium 180mg, the rest the same as the beef, sodium 180mg.

Turkey - Ingredients: Turkey, Salt. Sodium 180mg, the rest the same as the beef, sodium 180mg.

All five of the meats we purchased have "0" trans fats which are the "bad" fats.  That's a good thing.

They must sell quickly because all the manufacture dates were in the last 90 days of this year.  The way you can tell the manufacture date is on the bottom of the can.  There are two lines of numbers, one of them has a letter in front of it, the other doesn't  For instance, on the can of Turkey, the numbers are T3258 with the number 15828 under that.  The top number is coded this way:
T = Turkey,
3 is the last number of the year it was made (2013)
258, the last three numbers are the day of the year it was made, in my case, the 258th day of the year.  The other number with out the letter in front of it is their USDA establishment number.

Now lets talk about shelf life.  Here is what the company has to say.

Thank you for purchasing our Keystone Heat and Serve Meats.



Shelf Life and Production Code



The USDA recommends a shelf life of 5 years, provided the integrity of the can is not compromised in any way. Once opened, the meat should be treated the same as any other fresh meat. The USDA does not require a use by date on the can due to the extended shelf life. The numbers you need are on the bottom of each can.

15826 is our USDA establishment number and the other set of numbers is the date of production.

For instance, if your production code was B9174, it would be:

B = beef

9 = 2009 (the first number after the letter is the last number of the production year) (0 = 2010, 1 = 2011)

174 = the 174th day of the year according to the Julian calendar. These 3 numbers are always the day of the year. All of our Keystone Heat and Serve canned meats can be read in this manner.
Read more at http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=179799#vwtHcjcHheemiQGY.99

 "Thank you for purchasing our Heat and Serve Meats.  The USDA recommends a shelf life of 5 years, provided the integrity of the can is not compromised in any way.  Once opened, the meat should be treated the same way as any fresh meat.  The USDA does not require a use by date on the can due to the extended shelf life."

We will open a couple of them this coming week and give you a report back.

Have fun with your food storage.
Bob and LouAnn Singer



1/2/2014

We had a question on the Keystone products so I sent an Email off to them to find out if the livestock that the products are made from were hormone free and grain fed.  Here is their response.

"Joanie Tharp <contact@keystonemeats.com>	7:31 AM (2 hours ago)
to me

Hello Bob,

Thank you for considering Keystone Heat and Serve Meats.  All natural meats there is meat and 1 tablet of sea salt with no additives of any kind including flavoring and coloring.  We do not guarantee whether or not the animals are grain fed or grass fed as we do not raise them ourselves.  We also do not import any meat and use only federally inspected meat.  Any animal in the United States must be hormone and residue free at the time of slaughter. The USDA oversees this and tests for these things at every federal facility in the country.

Thank you,
Joanie Tharp
Keystone Meats
419-225-9600 ext. 105
contact@keystonemeats.com"

Hope this helps.

Have fun with your food storage.
Bob and LouAnn Singer


UPDATE 1/12/2014

We have tried all of the Keystone meats now and they are, as Tony the Tiger would say, GRRRRRRREAT!  5 Stars on these products.  We will be buying more now for our long term food storage.

Bob and LouAnn Singer

Thank you for purchasing our Keystone Heat and Serve Meats.



Shelf Life and Production Code



The USDA recommends a shelf life of 5 years, provided the integrity of the can is not compromised in any way. Once opened, the meat should be treated the same as any other fresh meat. The USDA does not require a use by date on the can due to the extended shelf life. The numbers you need are on the bottom of each can.

15826 is our USDA establishment number and the other set of numbers is the date of production.

For instance, if your production code was B9174, it would be:

B = beef

9 = 2009 (the first number after the letter is the last number of the production year) (0 = 2010, 1 = 2011)

174 = the 174th day of the year according to the Julian calendar. These 3 numbers are always the day of the year. All of our Keystone Heat and Serve canned meats can be read in this manner.



Thank you,

Joanie Tharp

Keystone Meats

419-225-9600 #105
Read more at http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=179799#vwtHcjcHheemiQGY.99

Thank you for purchasing our Keystone Heat and Serve Meats.



Shelf Life and Production Code



The USDA recommends a shelf life of 5 years, provided the integrity of the can is not compromised in any way. Once opened, the meat should be treated the same as any other fresh meat. The USDA does not require a use by date on the can due to the extended shelf life. The numbers you need are on the bottom of each can.

15826 is our USDA establishment number and the other set of numbers is the date of production.

For instance, if your production code was B9174, it would be:

B = beef

9 = 2009 (the first number after the letter is the last number of the production year) (0 = 2010, 1 = 2011)

174 = the 174th day of the year according to the Julian calendar. These 3 numbers are always the day of the year. All of our Keystone Heat and Serve canned meats can be read in this manner.



Thank you,

Joanie Tharp

Keystone Meats

419-225-9600 #105
Read more at http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=179799#vwtHcjcHheemiQGY.99