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How Long Do Canned Goods Last? A Simple Guide

You're making chili and reach to the back of the pantry for a can of tomatoes. The label says best by sometime last spring. Is it fine? Is it a little sad? Should it go straight in the trash?

Canned food has a reputation for lasting forever, and it does keep a long time. But not every can keeps the same, and the date on the lid doesn't always mean what people think. A few simple habits take the guesswork out of it, so you use what you have instead of tossing it or second-guessing every can.

Here's what to know, with or without an app.

Sort your cans by acid level

How long a can keeps depends mostly on what's inside it, so start by knowing which kind you have.

Canned foods fall into two rough groups:

  • High-acid foods, like tomatoes, tomato sauce, fruit, fruit juice, pickles, and sauerkraut. The acid slowly works on the can, so these keep the shortest time. Widely shared USDA guidance puts their best quality at about 12 to 18 months.
  • Low-acid foods, like beans, corn, peas, carrots, soup, tuna, chicken, and other canned meat. These keep longer, with best quality for about 2 to 5 years.

That's a big difference. A can of peaches and a can of black beans bought the same day won't be at their best for the same length of time. If you stock up on both, use the tomatoes and fruit first.

These are quality guidelines for store-bought cans in good condition, not a promise for every product. When the package says something different, follow the package. The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service has more detail on shelf-stable food.

Home-canned food is its own topic with its own rules. If you can at home, follow tested guidance from the USDA or your local extension office rather than these timelines.

Read the date the right way

Most cans carry a "best by" or "best if used by" date, and that date is about quality, not safety.

It's the maker's estimate of when the food tastes and looks its best. After that date, a can that's been stored well and isn't damaged may still be fine to eat, but the texture, color, and flavor can slowly fade. Soft green beans or slightly duller peaches are the usual result.

A few things that help:

  • Look for a printed date first. Some cans only have a code stamped on the lid or bottom. That's a packing code for the company, not a date you can read easily.
  • Write a date on cans that don't have one. A marker on the lid with the month and year you bought it is enough.
  • Don't panic about a passed date. Check the can itself (more on that below) and use your judgment.

For more on what each label means, see our guide to best by vs. use by.

Store cans somewhere cool and dry

Where you keep cans matters almost as much as what's in them.

Heat speeds up the loss of quality, and damp air invites rust. The best spot is a cool, dry cupboard or pantry shelf. A few places to avoid:

  • Above the stove or next to the oven, where it gets warm every time you cook
  • Under the sink, where pipes can drip and the air stays humid
  • A garage or shed that gets hot in summer or freezes in winter
  • Directly on a basement floor, where moisture can collect

If the garage is the only place with room for a bulk stash, put the cans on a shelf off the floor, in a bin with a lid, and check them more often. And if you keep a separate stash for storms or power outages, the same rules apply. Our emergency supply checklist covers how to rotate it so nothing sits there for years.

Check every can before you open it

A quick look at the can tells you more than the date does.

Before you open a can, take two seconds to look it over. Throw it out, without tasting, if you see any of these:

  • Bulging or swollen ends, or a lid that pops up and down when you press it
  • Leaks, stains, or sticky residue on the outside
  • Deep or sharp dents, especially on the seam along the side or the rim at the top or bottom
  • Rust that doesn't wipe off, or rust along the seams
  • Liquid that spurts out when you open it, or a bad smell, cloudy liquid, or mold inside

A small, shallow dent on the flat side of a can is usually less of a worry than a dent on a seam, but when in doubt, throw it out. It's not worth the risk to save a can of corn. FoodSafety.gov has more on spotting food that isn't safe to eat.

Once a can is open, the clock changes. Move any leftovers into a covered container, put them in the fridge, and use them within a few days. Check FoodSafety.gov's storage chart for the timing on specific foods.

Put the oldest cans up front

The easiest way to keep canned food from expiring is to use it in the right order.

When you get home from the store, put new cans behind the ones you already have. Oldest in front, newest in back. That one habit (often called first in, first out) means you always grab the can that's been waiting the longest.

A few more ways to keep things moving:

  • Group cans by type, so you can see you already have four cans of chickpeas before you buy two more.
  • Turn labels to face out, so dates are easy to spot.
  • Do a quick sweep every few months. Pull anything close to its date to the front, and plan a meal around it this week.
  • Don't overbuy on sale. A deal on 12 cans of soup only saves money if you'll eat 12 cans of soup before they fade.

If a can is getting close to its date and you won't use it soon, a food bank may take it while it's still well within date and in good condition. Check with them first, since each one has its own rules.

Doing it with Domesio

Keeping track of dates on a dozen cans in the back of a cupboard is exactly the kind of thing that slips. Domesio is a free home inventory and shopping list app that can hold that list for you.

Add your cans to a Pantry location with their quantities and expiration dates, then check what's expiring soon so you know which can to use first. On your phone, you can scan a can's barcode to look up its name instead of typing it. Use the plus and minus buttons as you use things up, and set a low-stock alert on the basics, like tomatoes or beans. When one runs low, it shows up on your Low Stock list, and you can add it to your shopping list in a tap.

Everyone in your home can share the same household, so whoever is cooking tonight can see what's on the shelf and what needs to be used first.