Wertz Canned Meats Review: Quite Possibly the Best Non-GMO Meats for your Pantry!

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I recently had the pleasure of trying Wertz’s Canned Beef’ and Wertz’s Canned Pork.

I will tell you from the get-go that I was very impressed with the quality of the meat – both the pork and the beef, and that I not only recommend these products but that I am adding them to my home food stores. Read on to learn more about why I enjoyed these products and what you should expect from each.

2018 Update: Wertz has recently updated their inventory and packages, so we have updated the article accordingly.

1. Wertz’s Home Grown Beef

The beef comes in 14.5-ounce cans. Each can offers about seven servings.

One of the first things that I noticed was the texture of the beef. Even before it came out of the can, it was firm, well-formed and smelled good. I admit to sticking a fork in and trying a piece right out of the can and enjoyed it.

They can their beef in broth, and it had the texture of perfectly cooked pot roast with plenty of flavors. If you had no other option but to eat it cold, you’d still be satisfied with the texture and the taste.

Cooking with Wertz’s Home Grown Beef

Out of the can, the meat is fully cooked, so it offers you a lot of options for including it in meals. I enjoyed several meals from one can by adding a portion to fajita vegetables during the last few minutes of cooking. It not only maintains a good texture while hot, but its’ flavor also added a positive touch to the meal.

A little more challenging was to use it cold. I tried it on a sandwich with tomato and bacon and was pleased with both the taste and the texture. It comes out of the can in nuggets so aside from trying to slice nuggets into sandwich slices it worked well.

What Makes Wertz’s Home Grown Beef Good?

The big difference, at least in my opinion, is that Wertz’s starts their quality control process long before they even consider purchasing beef for their product. What I mean is that they are not using slaughterhouse and monoculture beef. They are using farm-raised beef that is free of hormones, free of antibiotics, and free of drugs that are commonly found within the beef industry. That attention to detail means that their beef is already miles above many other brands of canned meats.

Another big difference is that they use the prime cuts of beef too. Where some canned beef is the “other” bits and lesser cuts, Wertz’s uses all best portions including the filet. So, what you are buying is high-grade beef, and that shines through both in the texture of their canned meat and the flavor.

A big plus with me is their non-GMO feeding program. You are what you eat, and so are cattle. If you feed cattle crap that’s what you have at harvest time – crap. The beef in Wertz’s is raised for the specific purpose of producing a high-quality product on the consumer end of that process.

So, what you get in a can of Wertz’s Beef is goodness, quality nutrition, quality meat. What you are not getting is leftover beef from a processing plant, GMO tainted beef, or beef that is doped up on antibiotics, drugs, and hormones. The result of their process is quality meat that is firm, with good texture, and plenty of flavor.

The Nutritional side of a Serving of Wertz’s Home Grown Beef

Each serving of Wertz’s Home Grown Beef offers 11 grams of protein, 80 calories, and 3.5 grams of fat. Beef has zero carbs, and there is no added sugars or fiber. You are buying pure beef and none of the junk. 29 calories of the 80 are from fat. There are only two ingredients in their canned beef – beef and sea salt.

This product is designed for use as part of a meal system or as an ingredient in other foods. The shelf life is 25 years making this a perfect addition to any food storage plan. In a 2000-calorie per day diet, you need 667 calories per meal (three square meals per day.) A single serving of Wertz’s Beef adds 80 calories per meal and 11 grams of protein. The firm texture makes it easy to add to other foods, such as cooked rice, salad greens, or in pasta.

Final Opinion

I could not be happier with the quality, texture, or taste. As such, I highly recommend Wertz’s Home Grown Beef.

2. Wertz’s Home Grown Pork

I am equally pleased with their canned pork as I am with their canned beef. Like the beef, the pork had good texture and taste, even right out of the can.

My experience was good. The pork is shredded but not fluffed. It has the texture of well-cooked pork roast that is falling off the bone. As such, you get nuggets of perfectly cooked pork that shred easily with a fork.

These are 14.5-ounce cans, and their ingredients are only pork and sea salt. It comes in a light broth which helps keep the pork from being dry. I was pleased with its firm texture and good taste, even cold.

Cooking with Wertz’s Home Grown Pork

The shredded pork was easy to use and because it is fully cooked it did not take long to make good meals. I used their pork in stir-fry, pulled pork tacos, and in sandwiches.

It was very successful in all three of those dishes. To use the pork cold, I just mixed it with a little BBQ sauce and put it in sandwiches. It gets high ratings from me for its versatile use.

Why Choose Wertz’s Home Grown Pork?

Like their beef products, Wertz’s starts the quality control process long before the swine are butchered. The swine are produced from hormone free, drug-free, and GMO-free sows and then raised to continue that process. That effort shows in the high quality of their canned pork. What you gain is good tasting pork that becomes easy to add to your meals. Even out of the can, it tastes good.

One of the big selling terms for expensive cuts of beef is marketing terms such as grass fed. Old school ranchers understand the difference between traditional beef and pork and meat that comes from monoculture environments. In monoculture, the rancher overpopulates a small area with cattle or swine. There is no grazing, and all the food comes from grain or hay. Animals walk around in their own feces and urine which causes disease.

To treat this disease, ranchers must use antibiotics so that their animals meet the requirements for FDA food-grade meat. I am not sure about you, but I am very focused on my health and the health of my family and eating that kind of food seems counterproductive. That is why I appreciate how Wertz’s approaches their canned meat production.

Nutrition:

There are 10 grams of protein per serving and 100 calories. Each can of pork has about seven servings, and there are seven grams of fat per serving. Pork is naturally free of carbs, and there is no added sugars or fiber in Wertz’s canned meats.

Overall, this product is a good product to add protein to your meals. Mixed with a single cup of cooked white rice, you end up with 300 calories out of your meal goal of 667 calories – for a 2,000 calorie per day intake plan.

Key takeaways for both Wertz’s Home Grown Beef and Pork

• Texture and Taste: First is the uniform texture and flavor that was consistent between both canned meat products. I found both products to be superior to any other brand of canned meat that I have tried. As someone who is fond of food, I appreciate the firm texture of both their pork and beef and the easy way that both combine with other foods as ingredients or as a standalone product.
• Long Shelf Life – Both the canned pork and the canned beef have a 25-year shelf life making them an easy addition to any home food stores program.
• Quality out of the Can: I was surprised by the high-quality of both product. Not only did both taste good cold, but they also held their flavor when added to meals. That quality comes from the way Wertz’s chooses the high-grade of meat for their canned foods. Expect no GMO’s, no Antibiotics, no hormones, and no drugs. Their grain-fed animals make outstanding meat for their canned products.
• Nutrition: I loved that the ingredient list was small. Both were just pork and sea salt or beef and sea salt. The meat is not overly salty, and the broth is natural juices from the meat with a touch of flavor from the salt. Both were a good source of protein, fats, and calories.

David is an active prepper and freelance writer. He lives in rural Northern California in the shadow of an active volcano. He hunts and fishes as a means of providing. He brings a science background to his writing and discusses botany, biology, geology, and weather as they apply to live, growing your own food, and surviving. He is a master gardener and understands food production, storage, and preserving. He lives five miles down a single-lane road and he deals with power outages, wildfires, earthquakes, flooding, and crazy pot growers, raiders, medical emergencies, law enforcement and the potential of that volcano.

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