When I buy canned foods, I get the cans from the back of the shelf at the store and check to see if its any different from the front of the shelf. A key to remember is to store what you eat, eat what you store. I'm a huge fan of organizing the pantry and I try to put all "like" items in one row, and every so often I will pick the can that is getting ready to expire. The "best by" is exactly that, "best", not "Bad by", and from what I have read, some of the food will be discolored (store new cans upside down to preven this and cause good "mixing" of the red/yellow dyes) and some food will be bland over time. Always remember though that it if smells bad, if it has any type of "crusty" formation around the inner lid or it just doesn't seem right, throw it out.
I know there are people that have each and every can of food logged, organized and label. But with jobs, kids, schedules this is almost impossible. I focus on my pantry foods for enough to get by for three months and my long term food storage is of course longer.
If there is any type of tool that I can create for you or anyone that will help you track or organize, please let me know. I am currently working on such projects as we speak. This is "prepperLOG" so I want to make it just that for members.