You Only Need These 6 Canned Foods to Survive Hard Times (All Under $5 at Walmart)

"Get them while you can" does not mean anything is running out. It means while the month is good. A full despensa is not hoarding. It is a shock absorber between the house and the bad weeks, filled one can at a time. The 6, counting down (Walmart prices this week, yours may differ): 6. Los duraznos en almíbar: Great Value sliced peaches, $1.78. The can that keeps a hard week from tasting like one 5. El elote: Great Value whole kernel corn, 50 cents this week. Esquites for five dollars less than the park, and crema de elote 4. La leche evaporada: Great Value evaporated milk, $1. Milk that needs no refrigerator, for the week the lights go out 3. Los tomates: Great Value diced tomatoes, 96 cents. The can that turns ingredients into a meal 2. Las sardinas en tomate: the 15 oz oval can, about $2 to $3. Tostadas de sardina, if your house eats them 1. Los frijoles: Great Value pinto beans, 92 cents. Two cans and one pound of meat feed eight people One of each: about seven dollars. The four words that make six cans work: new behind, old in front. New cans go to the back of the shelf, and you cook from the front in your normal weeks, so the cupboard is never a museum. Safety, said plainly: keep cans cool and dry, not over the stove. A can that is bulging, leaking, deeply rusted or badly dented along the seam gets thrown away, unopened. Tomatoes and fruit are best within about a year and a half; beans and corn keep longer. This week, one thing: every time you go to the store, buy one can from this list that you did not need today, and put it at the back of the shelf. It is a guardadito you get to eat.