The Fallout 3 world is full of junk.  Piles and piles of junk.

Some of this you can pick up and sell for cash.  Food, for example, is worth 5 caps (retail).  I don’t eat anywhere near as much as I find, so I’ll occasionally pick it up and re-sell it when I get back to Megaton or Rivet City.

Some of the junk seems to be both useless and value-less, though.  I skipped over a lot of loot the first time around that I later found out could have been useful.

Let me save you the mistake.  Here’s the first installment of… Useful Junk of the Day!

Tin Cans: What Are They Good For?

They’re everywhere.  Tin cans.  What could they possibly be useful for?

Turns out you need them to make Nuka-Grenades.

These are one of several craft-able weapons in the game.  They are above and beyond the simple frag grenades you’ll find strewn about.  Nuka-Grenades take four components to build:

• Tin Can
• Abraxo Cleaner
• Turpentine
• Nuka-Cola Quantum

The limiting factor here is probably the Nuka-Cola Quantum.  However, you should always keep a stock of tin cans at your house just in case.

The first time I played through, I came across this recipe late.  I thought that Tin Cans were just useless junk… so I had none!  If I had a stash, I could have popped out a dozen or so uber-grenades.

So let that be a lesson learned.  Keep Tin Cans on hand.  I’d suggest about two dozen in your locker at Megaton (or Tenpenny Suites if you live there).