Cheap Vs Wasteful Vs Fucking Stupid?

[insertNameHere]

Quick question, at what point should expired food items be thrown out, opened or unopened?

I ask this because my dad has a habit of saying something is perfectly good.... now I can see a week or two on canned goods. But we have some shit that expired in 09. Me and my mom cleaned the fridge last night, Highlight was a thing of fudge ice cream topping that we never use and had a use by of 2001..... Yes 10 fucking years it been expired. And guess what it still hasn't been used up. few other things like that.

[telecom_goddess]

Ok anything from 2001 would have to go. As far as the freezer and fridge....fridge stuff I would look at and smell if it was a day or a few days past the date, and judge from there. Freezer stuff can last for a long time, but probably not over a year at the most. Canned goods I don't really keep around long enough to expire...but yeah probably up to a year is ok on those too.

Oil is something that doesn't last forever, we just tossed out a bunch that was like 5 years old.

Now things like mustard on the other hand I think can last forever....I've had some for about 4 years or so and it's totally fine. It was one of those huge containers from Costco.

[Hyena Dandy]

Honey can still be good after quite a while.

[insertNameHere]

Ok, now that im back home we had things like Carmel apple dip, some weird cheese dip that my exs family brought over a year ago. Also had a thing of snow-cone syrup that we had before we moved out here 9years ago that I didn't bother looking for a date. Some chicken dish from like 1-2 weeks ago. had corn and green beans from a week before that. I mean really if we haven't ate the shit in weeks since it was put in.... is it even safe to eat? Also, If nobody is going to eat it, WHY waste the space. Had some opened bacon bits that been in there for a year.

The thing that really annoyed me was moldy pineapple slices..... I would have ate those long before they went bad if they didn't get shoved to the back blocked by a bunch of shit I don't care to eat..... And this is just the shit that was in the fridge. When my parents go out of town I plan on cleaning out the cupboards a bit. Have some cereal that been in their for about 2-5 years because my dad had a coupon for it and we opened or ate once box and it sucked so why eat another. We have so much food over here and things either didn't get rotated properly or we just didn't care to eat it and now it went bad. I think for some baking mixing a year isn't too horribly bad, doesn't taste as good, is edible.

[HYHYBT]

Expiration dates are a guess: "We know it will be OK this long; after that, who knows and you're on your own." For most canned or boxed stuff, it's a quality issue: eventually they won't taste as good, but they're still *safe* to eat. Refrigerated is a whole other matter.

But the thing is, you're obviously not GOING to eat it, barring major disaster that leaves you with nothing else and no way of getting more. And there's always *some* point where it really is bad. So just get rid of it, and quit buying more than you're going to eat.

I do know that diet Dr Pepper two years past its date is bad. As is Sprite Zero the same age. My dad, too, likes to "stock up." He also wouldn't let us throw out (very) expired, but unopened, stuff from the pantry: he's storing it in the garage, "just in case." Including stuff like A1 sauce. Honestly, now, if anything so bad happens that we're living on the milk jugs of water saved out there, what would we do with A1 sauce? Drink it straight? On the bright side, he's pointed out that the grease pit out there would make a great tornado shelter. And it would... except you'd never get *in* it in time, and if you did, nobody would know you were there to get the building off you.

[linguist]

like hyhybt said, expiration dates on food are pretty much arbitrarily assigned. they're there primarily to increase turnover in your fridge and pantry, so you'll throw the "expired" food out and buy more. use your senses. if it looks, smells, or feels bad, it probably is and should be tossed. if not, it's fine to eat. canned goods can last for years, provided their packaging is not compromised. same for most jarred goods. honey lasts practically forever. even if it crystallizes, dunk the jar in a bit of hot water and you're good to go. highly acidic foods like pickles also have extremely long lives, despite what the date on the jar may say. and it hurts my heart to see people throw out moldy cheese. unless it's a soft cheese, the mold only grows on the surface, and can be trimmed and the rest eaten with no problems. it's even worse when people throw out cheese they think is moldy but it's actually not. here's a hint: if it's not fuzzy, it's not mold. those hard little white nodules that people often mistake for mold on cheese are actually calcium lactate crystals, and they're a natural product of the lactic acid that forms as a cheese ages reacting with the calcium from the milk. they're edible, they're harmless, and they actually add an interesting texture to the cheese.

[insertNameHere]

The corn and green beans had been outside of the can for about 3 weeks. I had a jello nobake cheese cake that was a year or two old it tasted horrible, I doubt i would have gotten sick from eating it other than how stale the graham cracker crust tasted. I agree with the moldy block of cheese cutting the bad part off, as isn't all or most cheese a mold to begin with?

I agree there is a difference between a SEALED JAR or can and one that has been opened and exposed to the air for MONTHS OR YEARS. Like I said most of the shit we tossed was in the fridge and at some point had been opened, and im willing to bet was opened and put in there before it expired, I have a extremely good memory for random things, one of those is knowing that a particular jar i used growing up and we still have it (mainly because it was a horrible topping flavor, hence the being around for years and not being used)

Now you have the gf's family who at the end of the meal, scrapes everything into the trash, even if there is enough to toss in a container and make a meal out of. To me that is wasteful, growing up when my mom actually did cock occasionally when we had leftovers things got saved and ate later in the week or reused for some portion of another meal. Or if I go out to eat, I usually take leftovers home if the amount is justifyable

[linguist]

I agree with the moldy block of cheese cutting the bad part off, as isn't all or most cheese a mold to begin with?

cheese isn't mold, but the process of making cheese is a process of controlled spoilage. molds can be used to ripen cheese: brie and camembert use Penicillium candidum or P. camemberti, while blue cheeses typically use P. roqueforti or P. glaucum.

I agree there is a difference between a SEALED JAR or can and one that has been opened and exposed to the air for MONTHS OR YEARS.

eh, it depends on the food. as i said, very acidic foods such as pickles and saurkraut can stay safe for very long periods, as pathogenic food-borne bacteria can't reproduce well in acidic environments.

growing up when my mom actually did cock occasionally

nothing really to say here, other than this typo made the 12 year old in me giggle like a madman.

[Ginger Tea]

Ive got a Chicken readymeal that expired in april still in the fridge, once it goes too past the date I ignore it and see if the food theif wants a go, but as of late nothing has gone missing, when I got back from my brothers I noticed it was still there and picked it up, the thing had started to expand the plastic lid so I'm guessing part of it had really wanted to get out.

We have a 5 day cycle on the food we produce at work, even though it could and should last longer under correct temperature, but as it is all meant to be eaten on the 3rd day as the client ordered that ammount, I have no idea if any large ammount gets wasted.

[Racket_Man]

Honey can still be good after quite a while.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey

in the preservation section of the Wiki piece is says that honey can last for centuries. if it is sealed and protected from humitity it will last for a LONG time.

I remember seeing a program on Egypt where Royal tombs opened in the 19th and 20th century contained sealed jar of honey that was still viable and consumable after 2 or 3 thousand years

as for me one of the most important expiration dates I pay attention to is on milk. the date is usually fairly accurate

[Cazzi]

Expiration dates are a guess: "We know it will be OK this long; after that, who knows and you're on your own." For most canned or boxed stuff, it's a quality issue: eventually they won't taste as good, but they're still *safe* to eat. Refrigerated is a whole other matter.

In many cases they last for decades, the exception being if the can looks blown (bulging) or has obvious rust spots. Any left overs from a can however should be taken out & stored in the fridge in a covered container for 2-3 days, not in the can itself as oxidisation processes from the open can will taint the food.
Quality of stuff in packets & boxes will deteriorate more quickly as these aren't sealed like cans, and any pack that comes in contact with dampness needs to be binned asap.

Perishables, meat & fish I rarely touch more than 2 days past the expiration, or of it doesn't smell good. Yogurts are usually ok til the lid turns into a dome & i have had milk stay good a week past its use-by date. Of course, this all depends on being stored at the correct temp and not packed into an overfilled fridge, unlike freezers, fridges need room inbetween items for air to circulate.

Frozen stuff, for me as long as its been stored at the correct temperature, hasnt been partially defrosted or doesnt have masses of freezer burn, then its ok. After all, there have been reports of people who have eaten mammoth which had been frozen into an iceberg for 10,000+ years

Of course, all the above are my opinions, I was brought up by a parent who didn't have the luxury of useby & best before dates on food & had to reply on common sense... heck, they were only just starting to be commonly used when I was young.

I do have a little rant about these dates though, you know how people just don't read things? I think at times, those dates actually lead to instances of food poisoning rather than prevent it. They'll see a pack of ham with a useby of 2-3 weeks in the future, open it & eat a bit, completely ignore the bit about "once opened eat in 2 days", shove it back in the fridge, find it 2 weeks later, think, it must be ok, its still not quite the useby date, eat it & wonder why they spend the next few days feeling ill!

Unfortunately I've seen it happen more than once, one was a guy who bought a sausage roll from the supermaket marked for quick sale section, left it on his desk for 2 days in a hot office & wondered why it tasted odd & had mould growing in it when he was half way through eating it.
Another was a girl I know who was very ill after eating some corned beef that had "only been opened for 3 weeks and was only just hitting its useby date!"

Hmm better get off my now before I send you all to asleep

[protege]

We get some of that where I work. Some of my co-irkers are notorious for keeping food well past the sell-by date. So every now and then, the 'fridge gets a clean-out, usually on days when Sarah's not working. Why? Well, the last time the clean-out was going on, she threw a fit. Seems that she really wanted to eat the 2-year-old peanut butter that was in one of the cabinets. The stuff had *fur* on it, and she actually did eat it

[McDreidel09]

I use the expiration dates as a guideline rather than an absolute. When an expiration date passes, I just check before use. Milk can be used about a week after the expiration date. I've had bread that lasted a month because it was sealed properly. Very rarely do have a problem with going over expiration dates, but that is my philosophy.

[XCashier]

You might want to peruse the Keep It Or Toss It webpage to get an idea of when something's still edible or not. I've found it to be a very good guide.

[blas87]

I never go by my parents "Waste not, want not" policy on what's good and not still good.

They have meat (venison and cow beef and probably bear or some other form of game) that, kid you not, made the move in 2003 with the family. Hell, at one time, I saw meat from 2001 or 2002 in there (dad labels what hunting year it's from).

I got grounded for tossing nasty expired dairy and produce and meat like that. My parents came home, went through the garbage, and put a lot of that stuff BACK.