UPDATE - Following Toe's lead, today we are working in the pantry. Should have done this a long time ago. There is a lesson here so please pay heed. DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, PURCHASE FOOD FROM THE FAR EAST! We threw away 29 cans of diced mangoes at $1 a can. They had all spoiled and were from China and Thailand. The only other thing we have had spoil were cans of carrots we bought at China Mart. I later found out that China Mart (under their Great Value label) will distribute stuff from everywhere, whichever is best for their bottom line. As far as food goes, unless it has grown and packed in the USA, now we don't buy it. Another good reason to do your own home-canning from your own garden!!!!

Heartily agree with what you are saying. In our case, we both will use expired items. I have used canned goods up to 12 years old with no ill effects of any kind. The secret is to know what to look for and what to smell for. My wife says I have a magic nose. It is routine that I smell anything that has date that has long gone. Anything acidy, look for leaks and bulges. To me, even if the taste has broken down, if it is edible and safe, it will be consumed. My schnozzola first makes the 'rancid' smell test. Usually that is not apparent unless the product contains fats of some kind. I wouldn't advise all to try this - practice. Over the years only tomato products and carrots seem to go bad. We're using cans of tomato sauce that are 7 years old and okay. Practice, practice - and look for the signs. I opened a can of grapefruit sections that were 11 years old and they had little white specks. The first thing I thought was mold, but mold can't grow in a vacuum unless there is a leak in the can. I researched it and found this is a normal by-product of citrus canned stuff. The texture was a little mushy bu it was good. Just be careful.

We had another day of April showers so I decided to go through my pantry and take account of everything in stock and verify what the expiration dates were on the canned supplies. We try to rotate the old and replace with newer stock but every once in a while something will slip by. My wife considers canned goods that have been on the shelf past their recomended expiration dates as no longer edible but I disagree and will consume canned goods 5 years past their due date. I found a can of pork and beans with an expiration date of July 2006 and a half gallon of vegetable oil, unopened, from 2004, plus some bottled cranberry juice from 2001 that was stashed out of sight way back in the corner. The juice was no good and smelled rotten so I dumped it out. The 8 year old can of pork and beans was still good but the contents had started to degrade and break down. I ate it last night for dinner, tasted alright and I have had no intestinal repercussions from ingesting this outdated food. The vegetable oil will remain unopened as a test. I have no idea how long of a shelf life it has. I also found a small container of dehydrated tomato's from 1989 and they are still edible.
Prices of canned goods have jumped up by 50 cents per can in the big box stores just in the last couple of weeks. This fact will cause me to postpone any resupply activities until the fall, after the fruit harvest and fresh canned goods become available at a lower case lot price once again. I can't see any reason to pay extra money and get less supplies.