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Check your local markets. If you live in SW Oregon, go to Sherm's or Bi-Mart. There's a big sale on canned beans this week.
S&W canned beans #10 can $0.78 a can. Of course dried beans are cheaper, but canned beans are pretty convenient. I bought pinto, kidney, butter, white, garbanzo and seasoned chili beans at that price, 28 cans for $21.84.
WF Pork & Beans 2/$0.98. You can't beat 49 cents for a can of pork and beans. Heat and serve, or eat them cold.
B&M Baked Beans 28 oz. can $1.48. I bought a couple cans of the bacon and onion beans.
Nalley corned beef hash $1.88 a can, not exactly cheap eating but a convenient hearty breakfast.
Nalley chili $0.89/can. Nalley is pretty good canned chili. This price was at Bi-Mart.
All this will get eaten up as the inventory is rotated.
We also buy canned goods. All we store "dry" are rice, oatmeal, pasta, milk, and potato flakes. We do not store dried beans. Takes too long to prepare them. My idea is, if TSHTF I will have more than enough to do, than to worry about soaking and cooking beans.
We store canned goods of all sorts of protein - beans, tuna, chicken, turkey, beef stews, meat soups, hash (try the roast beef; better than corned beef, we think), and yes, chili. We do store some #10 cans of freeze-dried whole eggs (for scrambled eggs) and something called "Breakfast Skillet".
My family prefers dry beans, but they do take a long project to get them ready to eat. I keep canned beans in case I decide at the last minute I want something that includes beans in the recipe.
For preps, the canned beans are good for a situation where water is going to be in short supply, cooking time will be in short supply, and/ or you won't be needing to carry your supplies with you. The down side is that cans of beans are heavy to carry around.
So far (touch wood) I haven't had a problem with canned beans having a tinny canned taste. A lot of canned goods that used to be fine are now coming in cans that flavor them with a metallic taste. Cheap cans from China?
BiMart is one of the least expensive places to buy canned foods. They have good sales and they appear to have less of a mark-up than most grocery stores. Grocery Outlet also sells canned beans for a good price, but it is hit and miss about what they will have on the shelves.
Beans are hard to beat. Even here in relatively "disaster free" central Maryland, it's good to have canned beans and similar around the house. It's not as if we're immune to power outrages, ice storms, and hurricanes.
We had a similar "case lot" sale this week at a local grocer. I mainly store grains, dry beans, and other baking/cooking supplies, but when good buys like this come along it's a welcome addition. And as you said, can be used as part of the rotating stock. There are some specific things I buy from grocers quite often because they are hard to beat as far as price and economy. After all, my dry goods have about 20 years or more left for me to use them up and I'm always game for reducing my spending and having a little variety in what I eat.
I certainly understand the convenience and the appeal of canned beans, and yes, I have them on my first tier shelf of "minor inconvenience" food supplies.
Moving into the category of "major disruption," however, it is very hard to beat a sealed 5 gallon pail of rice and a sealed 5 gallon pail of dry beans for providing a compact, inexpensive store of a whole heckuva lot of meals. Add just a small amount of foraged greens and whatever else is available and you can have a surprisingly well balanced... if somewhat boring... diet while things settle down.
I keep dry beans and rice in gallon glass jars. It's nice to be able to see what is in the jar and judge how much is left. However, my buying is more gauged toward economy than survival, though the effect is the same. For instance, frozen vegetables are substantially cheaper than fresh vegetables, and have more food value because they haven't been in cold storage. There are times of the year when freezing plants have to clean out their old inventory because the new crop is going to come in. It's not uncommon to find a pound of mixed stir fry vegetables for a buck and a half. I fire up the industrial sized wok and cook up a gallon and a half of stir fry, then fire up the pressure canner and put up quarts. For a hearty meal, all you have to do is cook up some rice and reheat the stir fry.
I don't know how many quart canning jars I have, but probably a couple hundred at least. Maybe more. That's 50 gallons of canned whatever. Mix it with beans, rice or pasta and I have several months of gourmet meals stashed. Much of what I preserve is done just because you can't buy flavor like that in the store.
The things I would run short on are milk and eggs. I keep canned evaporated milk and dry skim milk on hand. If you mix up a quart of dry milk and add a can of evaporated milk you end up with something almost potable. I also keep a couple of gallons in the freezer, in cardboard quarts. The milk separates when you freeze it, but vigorous shaking will homogenize it again. I have bulk dried egg powder for cooking and frozen scramblers for the occasional custard. You see, I do think about major disruptions, and prepare by stocking up. I also try to keep at least 2 months toilet paper on hand at all times.
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