Which off the shelf foods last the longest?

[Tibbs735]

I am somewhat hesitant on building up loads of tinned food, as you cannot reuse the tins. It falls too close to the idea of just buying at load of stuff instead of learning skills. I would rather get loads of used jars off Ebay, and learn to preserve my own produce, or transfer additional tinned goods to jars.
I'm thinking longterm, because jars will last for ages, can be reused, and by the time they break, agrarian lifestyle would mean produce is stored with other methods, like drying, or root cellars.