Stephanie, I don't think the BPA issue a total scam, however, there's still much to be researched. That said, when you weigh the reasons for having food stored up, any risk from BPA is going to be miniscule. It's like worrying about fluoride in your stored water. When the faucets run dry in some disaster, fluoride is the least of my worries.

The problem for us is, we don't eat much that comes out of cans. Just don't like it. Canned corn? Blech! Canned green beens? Blech! What we do eat sometimes are canned soups, which I think probably make poor choices for long term storage. Oh, and I guess beans too. Beans are OK out of a can. But for long term storage, dried beans would be the better way to go.

Somebody need to invent something that stores for a long time, tastes good, has good nutrition, is something you won't tire of quickly, doesn't necessarily require cooking, and is inexpensive. If someone knows what that magical stuff would be, let me know! I'll go stock up on it.

I have actually taken to canning two to three dozen of tomatoes, or even dehydrating them and then turning them into powder. I was curious if others thought this was something to be concerned about