As a teacher I once had said, the only dumb question is the one that you don't ask. To answer your first question.
Canned bacon is just that bacon that has been sliced and then put into a can.
Canned it has a life of about a year. I don't think it is precooked. Yes, beef is probably a better meat to store, but one can get pretty tired of jerkey. Besides you need fat to survive and you cut off as much of the fat from beef as you can prior to drying it. Now I have a question for you.