We practice first in, first out in our freezers which are mostly meats, some vegetables and fruits, and dry goods. Almost everything in our freezers is waiting to be canned - even the meats. Power loss is a real thing here in Arkansas . . . .
(There is also a magnetic toilet paper holder that has a large roll of 2"x4" labels on it, with an attached sharpie, stuck to the front of the freezer - everything gets visibly dated and id'd before entering a freezer.)
Glass jars of canned goods are visibly labeled also, are on the shelves in date order, and again, first in, first out. I can a lot of "meals in a jar" that get warmed on the wood stove as needed. Visible accurate labels are our friends. Even the winter squash on the floor and the sacks of root crops and smoked-cured meats hanging from the rafters have easy to see labels on them.
As for store bought cans of anything, we have purpose-built racks on the walls that new stuff goes in the top slot and the oldest stuff comes out the bottom slot . . . . One rack per whatever-it-may-be . . . . . This is stuff that we will share with neighbours at need as the use-by dates get closer, but will also support the two of us for a longer term zombie apocalypse supply chain failure situation.
We don't stock up foods for "just in case." Everything that we have is stuff we eat on the regular . . . We just have enough to last us for a bit - most of which we grow, hunt, harvest, and forage ourselves.
Hope some part of this informaton is useful . . . .
Annie
