Food question: Expiration date.

Obviously, they're going to go bad sometime. I'd say with something like pickles, +/- a few months probably is going to be fine. If it were May 25, 2008, I wouldn't eat them.

Side note, one time I found a can of Cream of Onion soup at my grandmother's house that expired in 1982. It was 1998 I believe when I found it.

edit- I take that back. It expired in 1984, and I found it in 2000.


Edited by Benjichang - 27 July 2009 at 2:26pm

Benjichang wrote:   If it were May 25, 2008, I wouldn't eat them.

Damn. I'll let you know if I die.

Benjichang wrote: Reb Cpl wrote: Benjichang wrote:   If it were May 25, 2008, I wouldn't eat them. Damn. I'll let you know if I die. Heh. As long as they don't feel, look, or smell funny, screw it.

And that's negotiable depending on how much alcohol you've had!

I don't like eating anything a week outside the date. Less if it is a dairy product. 

For the most part I ignore them if everything smells and looks good. Except dairy and fresh poultry.

Mack wrote: little devil wrote: What did you do before there was best before dates??     Have my ex try it and wait 24 hours.

I'm in the "ignore" crowd. Pickles? Even if it were May 2008, I'd still eat them. If they don't taste right, I made a bad choice. If they still taste fine, then everything's good.
For the most part, I'm amongst those that believe that expiration dates are largely a ploy to just get you to buy more.

I just went to my fridge to check the date on the oldest bottle of salad dressing I have. It's a Kens Lite Caesar, date on bottle: Feb 2006. Yes, SIX. I still use it. As you can tell, I don't eat salad very often... hence the bottle not being finished yet (still have half of it left). But I do still use this dressing, despite being 3.5 years old. It's fine. It'll probably take me another 3.5 years to finish it. I expect it to still be good in 2012-13 when that day comes.

Milk... date gets ignored. If it passes the sniff test, it's good. Sometime it spoils before the date, sometimes it lasts a few days past.

Canned soup with expiration dates a year past when they are sold off the shelves? Please. Has our canning industry gotten so bad that canned foods no longer last for years and years (or decades)? I think not.

My wife is of the "throw it out" crowd.
I'm too cheap. I paid something like $2.50 for that salad dressing back in '05! Damned if I toss it out before it's done!

I have some mayo in my fridge that expired September '08.
Smells/looks/tastes normal to me, so I'm still using it.
Haven't died yet.

Since pickling is a method of preservation, you should be perfectly fine eating them. An expiration date is more of a stores way of covering their own butt. Sometimes stuff goes bad before, usually it goes bad long after.


Edited by The Guy - 27 July 2009 at 10:26pm

I had a Coke one day at my grandmas, I figures it was normal. It had one of those non-wide mouth tops everything has.

It expired 9 years prior to me drinking some of it. It was one of the worst tasting things ever.

Yaks piss in toilets? Something new every day.

On to the preserved food thing, yeah, it should be good.

Generally you'll not eat things that are off, they will just smell to damn bad to be able to stomache them. The whole 30 000 years of evolution thing. If your body doesn't want it, it'll generally let you know. First step is not liking the aroma.

Expiry dates are *mostly* a way of protecting the company that sells it. Especially things like canned goods. Modern canning methods are way superior to older methods, including better pasturising and nitrogen flushing the cans.

As for pickles, well they are pickled. If they have been in the brine/vinegar the whole time and not exposed to the air, they should be good. I generally don't bother with the expiry dates on them. They last until they are gone.

Basically everything gets the sniff test. Open it up, smell it. If it makes me gag, it gets tossed

On a side note, if you are worried about Semonella, Origanum (sp? sp?) kills it. So just add some to anything you are cooking that you are worried about. Obviously does not work with eggs :)

Hell 2 months over for pickels is still "new".

Quite often I've made something and only checked the ingredients while tidying up. I found something, I can't recall what, Jelly powder maybe, that was 1998 :) it made great jelly.

Incidently, 37 year old pound cake in a can.


Edited by Kayback - 28 July 2009 at 4:32am