Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

We keep about a dozen five-gallon cans of gas around because, well, if you’re smart thats what you do. And every so often that gas gets rotated out into a fresh tank of gas in the truck. The gas has PRI-G as a fuel stabilizer for storage but I like to rotate the stuff about once a year. Problem is, you have a dozen similar looking fuel cans, how do you tell which ones are have older fuel versus ones that have fresher fuel? Well, the obvious solution is to label them. Here’s where it gets tricky. The cans sit outside all year since keeping full gas cans indoors isnt something Im really keen on doing. A plastic or paper label will fade and deteriorate with the weather, becoming unreadable.

Solution?

Cut a piece of aluminum from a pop can, lanyard it with some paracord, and scrive the date into the metal. Impervious to the weather for the year I’ll need it, and easily replaced when the fuel is rotated out.