9 Cans You're Shelving Wrong (Tomatoes Fade Years Before Beans Do)

Your canned tomatoes won't keep half as long as your beans. The tomatoes are good for about a year and a half. The beans, up to five. Same shelf, same store, same week you bought them. The difference is acid, and once you know that, you stock a hard times shelf a whole different way. So today I walk you through the nine cans I keep, sorted by how long each one really lasts. The sour ones that want eating first: tomatoes, fruit in its own juice, and evaporated milk. Then the long keepers that handle a bad winter: beans (and the salt problem nobody mentions when the water is off), plain pumpkin, the wet vegetables whose liquid is water you already own, salmon with the bones left in, tuna, and the one can I call a luxury and keep anyway. Then the four things that ruin a good can long before its time. Heat (Earl and his pickup full of peaches). The one kind of dent the health inspector made us throw out every time. The can opener, and the ice storm that taught the neighbor lady about hers. And the order you put them on the shelf. And that date stamped on the end, which means a lot less than you think. I cooked in a school cafeteria for thirty years and opened more of the big gallon cans than anybody in this county. None of this needs anything special. Just a marker, a cool closet, and a plain hand opener. Tell me down in the comments: have you ever thrown out a can over the date? And what was the one can your mother always had on her shelf? I read every one. If this helped, do subscribe. It costs you nothing. Waste not, want not. 0:00 Tomatoes against beans 0:44 The cans that keep the shortest 1:13 1. Tomatoes 1:58 2. Fruit in its own juice 2:22 3. Evaporated milk 2:52 The long keepers 3:10 4. Beans, and the salt problem 3:46 5. Plain pumpkin 4:11 6. The wet vegetables 4:39 7. Salmon with the bones 5:08 8. Tuna 5:21 9. Canned chicken 5:46 Heat, and Earl's peaches 6:27 The dent that means trash 7:08 The can opener and the ice storm 7:39 Oldest first 8:08 What that date really means 8:49 Don't stock it just because it's cheap 9:06 My mother's cellar 9:27 The whole shelf 9:54 Tell me in the comments #frugalliving #pantry #cannedfood #emergencyfood #depressionera #homemaking