The willingness to throw something out if you suspect it’s spoiled is key. Otherwise, chow down. Yesterday I ate some tuna with a date of December 2015, so far so good.
I have also heard that cats won’t eat spoiled food, so offering a bit to the cat might work for things like tuna (I didn’t bother). The trouble with that method is that cats don’t like a lot of foods even if they’re perfectly fresh.
A few years ago I started using a Sharpie to mark the month and year of pull dates directly on cans or packages before putting them on the shelf. Makes it lots easier to monitor and rotate pantry items.
I do that when dates are hard to see. It does make things easier.
I’ve taken to writing down the date I purchased stuff, too, to help rotate it.
I do that with stuff like laundry detergent, etc just so I can rotate it.
And for some foods, too, but usually, I just copy the best by or exp date in Sharpie so it’s easier to find and read.