Lots of foods are fine well past therir expiration dates, but if it's years old, it should probably get tossed. Even if the food doesn't rot, the plastic in the container (including linings of cans and cartons) breaks down and chemicals leach into the food, including pthallates, endocrine disruptors, and carcinogens. None of that will kill you outright, but you should avoid it if you can
These are rookie numbers.y grandparents died when my father was 16 and aunt 10. I found home made preserves in glass jars from 1959 in 1995. No one looked in the basement until my father was in his late 20' and this it was probably something my grandmother did just before she got cancer. She died in 1961. My father said he kept them for the curiosity, but I suspect nostalgia.
When my grandfather died in the 2000s, we found boxed macaroni and cheese that expired in 1988. When my grandmother on the other side of the family moved into a nursing home after a stroke (2012), we found 27 jars of salsa in her pantry, some that had expired in 1991-1993. Gran always bought the same things on her list every time, and apparently that included salsa.
I found things in my mother's kitchen that didn't even HAVE an expiration date. This means that the product was made before that was required by law. That's a long fucking time ago.
Old people be like that. In 2020 I needed some ketchup so I thought grandpa wouldn’t mind if I took some. I looked at the bottle in his fridge and thought “isn’t that the old design?”
It had expired in 2012. It was bought by my grandma who died in 2014. When I told him to throw it away he went “why? It’s probably still fine”.
I mean, it’s ketchup so it could very well have been but still.
some of those things are technically still quite fine. a lot of things dont have expiration dates, but guideline "best before" dates. everything needs a date, even if it literally does not expire (like salt) in order to prevent liability just in case something does happen somehow.
True, in Europe at least, there are two label types, Best Before and Use By - BB is a guide and the item is usually still fine after the date, once it's been stored well, or at worst might taste different, or have lost flavour, but Use By must be used on meat, seafood and dairy and should be considered fairly rigid. Also, once a BB item is opened, the date becomes irrelevant, and it should be consumed relatively quickly (usually mentioned on the label).
Salt is the one that gets me. It's a f'g ROCK. It was in the GROUND for MILLIONS of years, then dug up, ground up (heh), packaged, and a date put on it. I get that the date is necessary (I guess in high humidity areas?) but still.
Even products that don't spoil, like salt or freshwater, are in danger for their container. For example , the plastic inside your water bottle will give out before the water inside goes bad
We had a can of "Pepperidge farm canned lobster bisque" in a kitchen cabinet at my parents' house that became the joke can that could never be thrown out over the decades. Pretty sure that it was there when I was a wee child (and I remember Jimmy Carter as president).
Sadly, it started bulging somewhere around 2015 or so, and had to be disposed of for safety reasons.
I've eated canned goods up to five years passed the "Best By" date, as long as the can isn't dented, warped, or otherwise damaged. However, once something is opened, like the condements in the fridge, I may use for a month or three past the date, but I'll smell it first. I've got a great sense of smell and if it's even just a little off, I'll toss it.
When we emptied the pantry in the home where I grew up, I found canned lentils that expired in 1983. I still regret throwing it out, we found it in 2010 and the can still looked good
This stuff been on the stingray since I launched in 1967.... "hmm...Still tastes like creamed corn" "Yes, but its DEVILED HAM!!" "That would be a problem..."
Best before ≠ Poisonous after. Manufacturers (CAPITALISTS) are responsible for determining and putting that date on. I worked in a plant that recalled a million packets of McDonald's vinegar that didn't have expiration dates on them. VINEGAR, 5% acedic acid 95% distilled water, and then just ran the envelopes through the printer. Why? So any unused by day X would have to be disposed of and replaced with new stock... because it had a date on the packaging. VINEGAR!!
So, I will say SOME stuff is okay past the date depending if it's 'Best By' or 'Use By' but still, all this is nuts. 6 months past max, and that's for unopened shelf stable items. The only one I give a pass here is the 4 months past red sauce (if it's the same year). Spices also tend to last, but you'll need more for the same flavor as long as they're not clumpy.
I'm also giving a pass to the baking soda that's being used for cleaning. If you're not cooking with it, then the expiration date doesn't matter. It's still going to be a fine grit abrasive, and mild base, for scrubbing things with.
Baking soda shouldn't be changing color, no matter how old it is. If it's turning colors, then that's not because of age, that's because some other substance is making it's way in, and there are much bigger problems with your storage area.
If it's just age, baking soda might degrade into washing soda, but that's still food safe to be cleaning with.
really the problem is not that they keep things past the date, it's that they hold on to things they have no intention of using just because they can. I always end up doing a lot of improvisation when I'm home just to use up all the stuff they have in there.
Eventually I realized there were things I could dispose of without saying (freezer - ends of bread loafs) or things I could poke fun of (fridge - an aloe drink I remember from childhood that hadn't been touched since)
I was born during a 1989 depression. Mom (especially) saved everything
Exp. dates are mostly guesswork and legal faff so I basically ignore them. My senses do the work. If it's gone slimy, that's a bacterial thing. Mold varies: Depending on the surface, you can do some surgery. I operate a lot on peppers and hard cheese. The crackers are probably fine (won't taste great though) 'cause they'll have dehydrated. Spices last forever but they stale and lose flavor. Eventually, it's like seasoning with dus so either replace or use more.
I mean you're not gonna die from them but they've probably lost a lot of their potency by now. Try comparing them to newly bought spice. I remember using my parents' built up bay leaves forever until I realized new bay leaves actually taste completely different.
Some people are saying that some of its still fine but let me just say this, If its been in there THAT LONG you were never going to eat it in the first place
Its difficult to do that to people who grew up food insecure. They are insistent that they can still eat expired food, because sadly, they might have had nothing else. And that shit gets hard wired from a young age, food does not get wasted. But letting cheese grow mold is the same as throwing it out.
Them saying it's still good is revealing the self-delusion they'll use it like in some fantasy they had when they bought it. They need to be honest with themselves on what they really use.
Loss aversion and sunk cost fallacies are motherfuckers. But also most expiration dates are useless taken out of context. A product that has a shelf-life of 5 days is not the same as a metal can good for 5 years. Check the expiration date, but more importantly, check the production date, too. Use both reason and senses and consider most products are still safe about 30% of their shelf-life after the expiration date. https://www.toogoodtogo.com/en-gb/look-smell-taste
Exactly. Not only that, but some products are going to be more conservative than others. That unopened high end pasta sauce in a glass jar is going to be edible for _years_ longer than the best by date. It's acidic and salty in glass, and the makers are going to date it by taste, not safety. As long as the seal stays intact nothing is growing there.
I once saw a list of life lessons from someone's dad on the internet. One of them stuck with me; buy a plunger before you need a plunger. I had just moved out of my parents' house and was learning how to live on my own, and I thought that was really clever, so I told my dad while we were out for a drive as a way to fill the silence, expecting him to agree, maybe even be proud at my maturity and insight.
He just slowly shook his head without taking his eyes off the road. "Get what you need when-
- you need it. If your toilet never clogs, all you will have done is add another unopened box of junk for your kids to throw out when you die." I was confused. Surely keeping a plunger around is worth it, just in case the toilet clogs in the middle of the night?
He shook his head again. "No, because it doesn't stop at the plunger. You will end up living in a warehouse filled with trash you've never used, and never will. Your grandparents did it, your mother and I did it, and I wish we hadn't -
- because the pile keeps growing, until it eventually reaches a point where you can't do anything about it, where there's just too much to sort through, and the only solution is to take two weeks off work to dump all your worldly possessions onto the sidewalk and drive it all to the dump."
He parked the car and finally turned to look at me. With kind, tired eyes, he delivered the real life lesson: "Preparation is for emergencies you can't survive without it. You'll survive a clogged toilet."
I mean, most places sell the mixture of plunger and cleaning brush now. Its like a combo package. And you better fucking buy a toilet brush, try to keep something to clean with, otherwise you just live in filth with no objects.
Some packages have expiration dates because the packaging will contaminate the product or break down and not maintain a seal, not because the item itself expires.
I do bi-yearly purges in my house after my mother brought stuff that was years expired from hers thinking it would be eaten quicker here.
Pretty much all modern cans are lined with plastic. The plastic breaks down and chemicals leach into the food, including pthallates, endocrine disruptors, and carcinogens. None of that will kill you outright, but you should avoid it if you can
Is this like something that is from something? Why do they do this? My mom also refuses to throw stuff out thats expired. She has stuff in the kitchen from her previous house that she moved from 10 years ago. "Just eat around it, it's fine"
With elderly people it's often having lived through the great depression, for others it's having survived extreme hardship and food scarcity or picking up habits from parents that did. Sometimes it's laziness, but if they actively resist throwing it out it's usually because they've experienced going hungry.
I was gonna say its stuff like this. My husband experienced some food scarcity as a child and we keep some random stuff. I didnt, so I purge when he isnt home because he tries to keep a lot and feels guilt when anything gets thrown out. I think it is like this, it depends on life experiences.
There's some truth behind their wisdom. In most cases: if it looks fine and smells fine, it probably is fine. Believe it or not, the dates on your food products are not actual expiration dates. They often aren't event backed by a scientific average duration of stability. Often it's just a guess or date chosen by the company to ensure constant turnover/sales. Look up the video by "Climate Town" on YouTube. He's got a lot of great videos.
Also lettuce tomato, cucumber and specially rootveggies etc. They are good until you visibly see and can smell it is rotten. These are easy to spot if it is bad or not. Only problem is bacteria that can live on them. But that can be problem even on the fresh ones.
Yeah there is alot of stuff thats best before, not use by in Australia at least thats an important distinction. Best by dates can be happily ignored as long as it still tastes and smells fine. Though if you don't use something for multiple years you might as well get rid of it lol
Canned foods technically last indefinitely. But the seals (lid) is its weak point. Depending on storage and denting they could go bad. If it’s bulging it’s obviously bad (botulism) but other than that if there’s no noticeable damages to it and the insides look normal it’s probably fine
Yup. What's in your refrigerator (assuming it needs to be and you don't just store vinegar there 'cause it's handy) may be of concern. What's in your pantry, less so.
Absolutely, but for some of this food coming out of the fridge, enough is enough. It was clearly never going to be consumed, so why let it take up space?
Canned goods can and do go bad. It really depends both on what they are and how they were stored. A classic example is highly acidic foods like tomatoes and high fat content foods like meats and soups which will go rancid.
Canned goods DO NOT last indefinitely, they CAN last indefinitely if properly stored. So depending on what it is, and where it was, it can very much go bad. (There's some gnarly videos on yt of people opening 20 year old cans that have gone bad).
Not exactly. They won't contain any bacteria, but for most product quality can decrease. At work we opened up a 10 year old Beef Stew Can that someone had left in a locker unopened. One guy volunteered to try it. The beef had pretty much gelatinized itself so much it almost wasn't beef, and the guy didn't feel very well from the poor quality product.
Agreed, check for mold of condiments that sit for longer than a few weeks unused, but yeah a lot of things have these dates to force grocery stores to rotate stock.
But some things certainly should be chucked, like produce and fruits.
Expiration (safety) and best before (quality) are also very different things. A great rule of thumb is 30% of the time between production and expiration, and 50% of time between production and best before. A 7-day shelf-life product is still safe about 3-4 days past the best before and 2-3 days after expiration. When stored properly.
Omg yes! Salt taken from mines is 200-400 million years old! There was no understanding of bacteria back then. How would they know that your canister if Morton's is going to go bad next Tuesday?
The expirate/best by dates on salt aren't for the salt, they are for the additives to the salt. Yes table salt has things added and those things do break down, and moisture can cause quality issues over time as well. Table/common salt will get anti-caking agents added and things like iodine. Packages can breakdown allowing other things to intrude, or escape. If you are in the US it's required, most places have some requirement.
Expiration dates are often based on when the food is no longer 'of quality' that the company wants its products to have. That could be as simple as the water separating from your ketchup, or the food sticking to the package more than desired. It is still edible then, just not the perfect quality that the company wants. But that doesn't mean every product is like this. Check your food before eating it
flexstar
Did you know that tomato paste needs to be used in 7 - 10 days after it has been opened..?
yellowgage
Lots of foods are fine well past therir expiration dates, but if it's years old, it should probably get tossed. Even if the food doesn't rot, the plastic in the container (including linings of cans and cartons) breaks down and chemicals leach into the food, including pthallates, endocrine disruptors, and carcinogens. None of that will kill you outright, but you should avoid it if you can
Magnasplit
These are rookie numbers.y grandparents died when my father was 16 and aunt 10. I found home made preserves in glass jars from 1959 in 1995. No one looked in the basement until my father was in his late 20' and this it was probably something my grandmother did just before she got cancer. She died in 1961. My father said he kept them for the curiosity, but I suspect nostalgia.
VoidScreamer
When my grandfather died in the 2000s, we found boxed macaroni and cheese that expired in 1988. When my grandmother on the other side of the family moved into a nursing home after a stroke (2012), we found 27 jars of salsa in her pantry, some that had expired in 1991-1993. Gran always bought the same things on her list every time, and apparently that included salsa.
rezpawner
I found things in my mother's kitchen that didn't even HAVE an expiration date. This means that the product was made before that was required by law. That's a long fucking time ago.
rezpawner
(Pre 1977 in this country).
Yasashii93
Old people be like that. In 2020 I needed some ketchup so I thought grandpa wouldn’t mind if I took some. I looked at the bottle in his fridge and thought “isn’t that the old design?”
It had expired in 2012. It was bought by my grandma who died in 2014. When I told him to throw it away he went “why? It’s probably still fine”.
I mean, it’s ketchup so it could very well have been but still.
IWouldLickThat
You keep ketchup in the FRIDGE? Pfft.
Bregpop
some of those things are technically still quite fine. a lot of things dont have expiration dates, but guideline "best before" dates. everything needs a date, even if it literally does not expire (like salt) in order to prevent liability just in case something does happen somehow.
Grumposstuff
A number of years ago I showed my wife the date on a box of tea. It was 216 years in the future. Tea no longer has a date in Canada.
Type17
True, in Europe at least, there are two label types, Best Before and Use By - BB is a guide and the item is usually still fine after the date, once it's been stored well, or at worst might taste different, or have lost flavour, but Use By must be used on meat, seafood and dairy and should be considered fairly rigid. Also, once a BB item is opened, the date becomes irrelevant, and it should be consumed relatively quickly (usually mentioned on the label).
gobblinal
Salt is the one that gets me. It's a f'g ROCK. It was in the GROUND for MILLIONS of years, then dug up, ground up (heh), packaged, and a date put on it. I get that the date is necessary (I guess in high humidity areas?) but still.
WaffleProfessor2
It's the fucking packaging man. Depending on packaging, it can leach into the salt.
Einstein9073
Even products that don't spoil, like salt or freshwater, are in danger for their container. For example , the plastic inside your water bottle will give out before the water inside goes bad
Knifesmith
We had a can of "Pepperidge farm canned lobster bisque" in a kitchen cabinet at my parents' house that became the joke can that could never be thrown out over the decades. Pretty sure that it was there when I was a wee child (and I remember Jimmy Carter as president).
Sadly, it started bulging somewhere around 2015 or so, and had to be disposed of for safety reasons.
OrdinarilyBob
I've eated canned goods up to five years passed the "Best By" date, as long as the can isn't dented, warped, or otherwise damaged. However, once something is opened, like the condements in the fridge, I may use for a month or three past the date, but I'll smell it first. I've got a great sense of smell and if it's even just a little off, I'll toss it.
zufallszahlen
Welcome to the pantry where expiration is made up and the dates don't matter.
nitemayr
This is a difficult world now, food is so expensive, I hate wasting it.
lostinthoughts
When we emptied the pantry in the home where I grew up, I found canned lentils that expired in 1983. I still regret throwing it out, we found it in 2010 and the can still looked good
sirclesam
This stuff been on the stingray since I launched in 1967.... "hmm...Still tastes like creamed corn" "Yes, but its DEVILED HAM!!" "That would be a problem..."
LogicalLimes
Well I’m glad I’m not the only one who does this. lol Also, this is why I’m no longer welcome at my mom’s house.
Wapusk
Best before ≠ Poisonous after. Manufacturers (CAPITALISTS) are responsible for determining and putting that date on. I worked in a plant that recalled a million packets of McDonald's vinegar that didn't have expiration dates on them. VINEGAR, 5% acedic acid 95% distilled water, and then just ran the envelopes through the printer. Why? So any unused by day X would have to be disposed of and replaced with new stock... because it had a date on the packaging. VINEGAR!!
VulpineAxiom
So, I will say SOME stuff is okay past the date depending if it's 'Best By' or 'Use By' but still, all this is nuts. 6 months past max, and that's for unopened shelf stable items. The only one I give a pass here is the 4 months past red sauce (if it's the same year). Spices also tend to last, but you'll need more for the same flavor as long as they're not clumpy.
figmentPez
I'm also giving a pass to the baking soda that's being used for cleaning. If you're not cooking with it, then the expiration date doesn't matter. It's still going to be a fine grit abrasive, and mild base, for scrubbing things with.
VulpineAxiom
To a point. few months, okay, to the point it's not white and could be recontaminating food? no.
figmentPez
Baking soda shouldn't be changing color, no matter how old it is. If it's turning colors, then that's not because of age, that's because some other substance is making it's way in, and there are much bigger problems with your storage area.
If it's just age, baking soda might degrade into washing soda, but that's still food safe to be cleaning with.
VulpineAxiom
I've seen it look dirty because of moisture in the fridge from say humid weather.
FishieStardust
Haha, this is me with my parents fridge/pantry.
eetsumkaus
really the problem is not that they keep things past the date, it's that they hold on to things they have no intention of using just because they can. I always end up doing a lot of improvisation when I'm home just to use up all the stuff they have in there.
FishieStardust
Eventually I realized there were things I could dispose of without saying (freezer - ends of bread loafs) or things I could poke fun of (fridge - an aloe drink I remember from childhood that hadn't been touched since)
I was born during a 1989 depression. Mom (especially) saved everything
Cactus21
Oil in a plastic container goes rank/rancid and tastes of plastic after a time. I’m sure other foodstuffs are the same even if they look fine
Volpe42
Expired or past the best buy date?
VodkaReindeer
I had some hot chocolate powder that expired in 2022. Smelled fine!
ElbowDeepInAGoblin
Exp. dates are mostly guesswork and legal faff so I basically ignore them. My senses do the work. If it's gone slimy, that's a bacterial thing. Mold varies: Depending on the surface, you can do some surgery. I operate a lot on peppers and hard cheese. The crackers are probably fine (won't taste great though) 'cause they'll have dehydrated. Spices last forever but they stale and lose flavor. Eventually, it's like seasoning with dus so either replace or use more.
eetsumkaus
expired crackers would probably work great as breading for a meatloaf or something
Subtilico
So? I have spices with an ex. date 2018 I still use. Perfectly fine!
eetsumkaus
I mean you're not gonna die from them but they've probably lost a lot of their potency by now. Try comparing them to newly bought spice. I remember using my parents' built up bay leaves forever until I realized new bay leaves actually taste completely different.
lightfoot2
So? Food doesn't instantly go bad when the fresh by date hits. Oi.......
MoopsyLD
Some people are saying that some of its still fine but let me just say this, If its been in there THAT LONG you were never going to eat it in the first place
gobblinal
THAT is the hardest lesson to learn.
Zalm
Its difficult to do that to people who grew up food insecure. They are insistent that they can still eat expired food, because sadly, they might have had nothing else. And that shit gets hard wired from a young age, food does not get wasted. But letting cheese grow mold is the same as throwing it out.
jbrightmans
Them saying it's still good is revealing the self-delusion they'll use it like in some fantasy they had when they bought it. They need to be honest with themselves on what they really use.
picselator
Loss aversion and sunk cost fallacies are motherfuckers. But also most expiration dates are useless taken out of context. A product that has a shelf-life of 5 days is not the same as a metal can good for 5 years. Check the expiration date, but more importantly, check the production date, too. Use both reason and senses and consider most products are still safe about 30% of their shelf-life after the expiration date. https://www.toogoodtogo.com/en-gb/look-smell-taste
figmentPez
Exactly. Not only that, but some products are going to be more conservative than others. That unopened high end pasta sauce in a glass jar is going to be edible for _years_ longer than the best by date. It's acidic and salty in glass, and the makers are going to date it by taste, not safety. As long as the seal stays intact nothing is growing there.
locksmith9
Counterpoint: I found cake mixes that expired in 2013. Started making (cup)cakes just because. Ample opportunity before, but only did it now.
Darkwell
They smell okay after that long? I find if you have grains sit for more than a few years they get a real "off" odor, even if they might not hurt you.
ReRoBo
Cake and pancake mixes actually CAN go bad and hurt you, be careful.
locksmith9
Fortunately, the only "bad" result was that they didn't rise as much as they should. Very short, dense cupcakes.
astrangehop
I just finished a sack of wasabi powder I bought at 14. I'm 41. It was getting a little mealy.
LamarTrillington
I don't know whether to downvote this comment or schedule a wellness check.
astrangehop
Hey, I was at an Asian market and got 2 lbs for 5 bucks. How was I to know I'd be making sushi at most 5 times a year in the coming decades?
2Ghoul4School
I once saw a list of life lessons from someone's dad on the internet. One of them stuck with me; buy a plunger before you need a plunger. I had just moved out of my parents' house and was learning how to live on my own, and I thought that was really clever, so I told my dad while we were out for a drive as a way to fill the silence, expecting him to agree, maybe even be proud at my maturity and insight.
He just slowly shook his head without taking his eyes off the road. "Get what you need when-
2Ghoul4School
- you need it. If your toilet never clogs, all you will have done is add another unopened box of junk for your kids to throw out when you die." I was confused. Surely keeping a plunger around is worth it, just in case the toilet clogs in the middle of the night?
He shook his head again. "No, because it doesn't stop at the plunger. You will end up living in a warehouse filled with trash you've never used, and never will. Your grandparents did it, your mother and I did it, and I wish we hadn't -
2Ghoul4School
- because the pile keeps growing, until it eventually reaches a point where you can't do anything about it, where there's just too much to sort through, and the only solution is to take two weeks off work to dump all your worldly possessions onto the sidewalk and drive it all to the dump."
He parked the car and finally turned to look at me. With kind, tired eyes, he delivered the real life lesson: "Preparation is for emergencies you can't survive without it. You'll survive a clogged toilet."
Zalm
I mean, most places sell the mixture of plunger and cleaning brush now. Its like a combo package. And you better fucking buy a toilet brush, try to keep something to clean with, otherwise you just live in filth with no objects.
WorkerLurker
Some packages have expiration dates because the packaging will contaminate the product or break down and not maintain a seal, not because the item itself expires.
I do bi-yearly purges in my house after my mother brought stuff that was years expired from hers thinking it would be eaten quicker here.
Fapnoids
It makes me twitch a little that they aren't composting some of this stuff...
OutboardOverlord
I ate canned ham from 2003 just this week. Nothing wrong with it, and I'm still here. To manys dismay.
youlooklikehalfabuttpuppet
Aunt Bev told us she and her friend ate so much canned ham for so long that they got botulism.
tallyhoho
Suicide by canned ham - you do like to live dangerously
Volpe42
Now I'm picturing being beaned with the can
ButtscratchMcPherson
I swiped some curry paste from my parents pantry with a sell by date of 2007 last month, used it, was fine.
thebonesofmyancestors
Yeah, curry paste has a lot of salt in it. That shit will outlast just about everyone.
rezpawner
"nice hiss..."
hufflesnuff
yellowgage
Pretty much all modern cans are lined with plastic. The plastic breaks down and chemicals leach into the food, including pthallates, endocrine disruptors, and carcinogens. None of that will kill you outright, but you should avoid it if you can
leviaton
2003 isn't exactly modern
lazybuthappy
If you find a can that says "Surströmming" from 1985 it's safe, you can open it.
fartytowels
Even opening it underwater like many folks do probably wouldn’t be safe. I’m imagining a very smelly tsunami would eventuate.
Cactus21
No - do not open it - let it burn up when the sun explodes. You know what, it may not be safe even then…
Jamerperson
Is this like something that is from something? Why do they do this? My mom also refuses to throw stuff out thats expired. She has stuff in the kitchen from her previous house that she moved from 10 years ago. "Just eat around it, it's fine"
SoGrosslyIncandescent
With elderly people it's often having lived through the great depression, for others it's having survived extreme hardship and food scarcity or picking up habits from parents that did. Sometimes it's laziness, but if they actively resist throwing it out it's usually because they've experienced going hungry.
normalizebeingalone
I was gonna say its stuff like this. My husband experienced some food scarcity as a child and we keep some random stuff. I didnt, so I purge when he isnt home because he tries to keep a lot and feels guilt when anything gets thrown out. I think it is like this, it depends on life experiences.
Leaps
The Great Depression was 90 years ago, basically no one remembers living through it.
KellyCrazyCatLadyinTraining
My grandmother remembered going through it, but she died not too long ago. She was a hoarder and the dementia only made it worse.
fruitybootyhole
There's some truth behind their wisdom. In most cases: if it looks fine and smells fine, it probably is fine. Believe it or not, the dates on your food products are not actual expiration dates. They often aren't event backed by a scientific average duration of stability. Often it's just a guess or date chosen by the company to ensure constant turnover/sales. Look up the video by "Climate Town" on YouTube. He's got a lot of great videos.
MrFancyPanzer
Some of that is still good, canned goods last indefinitely, and stuff like ketchup has enough salt and vinegar to last ages.
ArchaeoEejit
Think of the shareholders.
SergeyPrkl
Also lettuce tomato, cucumber and specially rootveggies etc. They are good until you visibly see and can smell it is rotten. These are easy to spot if it is bad or not. Only problem is bacteria that can live on them. But that can be problem even on the fresh ones.
minipancho94
Even oil that has gone rancid is technically food safe, just incredibly unpleasant to consume.
braddCommentSmuggler
Yeah there is alot of stuff thats best before, not use by in Australia at least thats an important distinction. Best by dates can be happily ignored as long as it still tastes and smells fine. Though if you don't use something for multiple years you might as well get rid of it lol
buttcreambandit
Canned foods technically last indefinitely. But the seals (lid) is its weak point. Depending on storage and denting they could go bad. If it’s bulging it’s obviously bad (botulism) but other than that if there’s no noticeable damages to it and the insides look normal it’s probably fine
Californiajackson
Yup. What's in your refrigerator (assuming it needs to be and you don't just store vinegar there 'cause it's handy) may be of concern. What's in your pantry, less so.
itdweeb
Absolutely, but for some of this food coming out of the fridge, enough is enough. It was clearly never going to be consumed, so why let it take up space?
WaffleProfessor2
Canned foods can last indefinitely IF the seal is unbroken.
onepinksheep
Not really. There are a lot of factors that go into the preservation of food, and canned goods absolutely can expire even if the seal is intact.
kahlas
Canned goods can and do go bad. It really depends both on what they are and how they were stored. A classic example is highly acidic foods like tomatoes and high fat content foods like meats and soups which will go rancid.
theskepticinme
True. Ketchup also has a lot of sugar and can undergo lactofermentation (which is not necessarily bad) and host mold.
Volpe42
Unless bloated or the can is rusted
ShitIstoleFrom4chan
Canned goods DO NOT last indefinitely, they CAN last indefinitely if properly stored. So depending on what it is, and where it was, it can very much go bad. (There's some gnarly videos on yt of people opening 20 year old cans that have gone bad).
edasm
Prepared.
makesense
Not exactly. They won't contain any bacteria, but for most product quality can decrease. At work we opened up a 10 year old Beef Stew Can that someone had left in a locker unopened. One guy volunteered to try it. The beef had pretty much gelatinized itself so much it almost wasn't beef, and the guy didn't feel very well from the poor quality product.
GreyKnightTemplar666
Agreed, check for mold of condiments that sit for longer than a few weeks unused, but yeah a lot of things have these dates to force grocery stores to rotate stock.
But some things certainly should be chucked, like produce and fruits.
FishieStardust
Not avocados, lettuce, or home canned pears though. Those can stay.
yetanotherdoug
Right. Avocados aren’t bad until you need one.
LogicalLimes
lol and as soon as you slice into it, it has a shelf life of like 5 seconds. 😆
androgenoide
Expiration dates aren't absolute and they are sometimes meaningless. Consider the dates you find on salt, for example.
picselator
Expiration (safety) and best before (quality) are also very different things.
A great rule of thumb is 30% of the time between production and expiration, and 50% of time between production and best before. A 7-day shelf-life product is still safe about 3-4 days past the best before and 2-3 days after expiration. When stored properly.
Evi1Gav
There are expiration dates on sterile bandages.
WaffleProfessor2
Depends on the container!
cattlegrazer82
Omg yes! Salt taken from mines is 200-400 million years old! There was no understanding of bacteria back then. How would they know that your canister if Morton's is going to go bad next Tuesday?
APuffOfAirTicklingYourNose
The expirate/best by dates on salt aren't for the salt, they are for the additives to the salt. Yes table salt has things added and those things do break down, and moisture can cause quality issues over time as well. Table/common salt will get anti-caking agents added and things like iodine. Packages can breakdown allowing other things to intrude, or escape. If you are in the US it's required, most places have some requirement.
mindstorm8191
Expiration dates are often based on when the food is no longer 'of quality' that the company wants its products to have.
That could be as simple as the water separating from your ketchup, or the food sticking to the package more than desired. It is still edible then, just not the perfect quality that the company wants.
But that doesn't mean every product is like this. Check your food before eating it
redtruck
That’s a ‘Best Before’ description, and a good one I may add, not ‘Expiration Date’
They are different.