Poll: Do you eat recently expired food?

[sulld1]

raw chicken thats turned is a BAD idea... i did it once, won't do it again. but on the other hand yer why the hell not, if it looks and smells good, eat it... if it crawls off our plate and slithers into a corner then i would probably leave it...

 

[Verp]

I regularly eat stuff that is years past the expiration date. Last month I finished off a can of mixed nuts that had a date of 2005 printed on it. They were totally fine.

Heh. My father ate some old nuts once -- had to be hospitalised. I think they had gone bad due to a storage failure though. I was so little I don't really remember much about it, but I vaguely remember that the doctors said that it was probably because the nuts had gotten damp and mouldy.

 

[00slash00]

depends what it is and how its kept. i have bread thats been in my fridge since last august, thats still good to eat

 

[MasTerHacK]

Look at it. Green or fuzzy? If yes, throw it away. If no, smell it. Smells weird? If yes, throw it away. If no, taste it. Tastes funny? If yes, throw it away. If no, eat.

Food companies are scared people will get sick and sue them, so they put the expiration date ridiculously early. Lots of food is still perfectly good after it's expired (within limits of course).

Some stores, where I live, put new dates on meat products, i.e. if some chicken wings had their expiration date 11-11-2010, they'd put 12-12-2010.

 

[Triangulon]

Look at it. Green or fuzzy? If yes, throw it away. If no, smell it. Smells weird? If yes, throw it away. If no, taste it. Tastes funny? If yes, throw it away. If no, eat.

Food companies are scared people will get sick and sue them, so they put the expiration date ridiculously early. Lots of food is still perfectly good after it's expired (within limits of course).

This. Furthermore in an emergency (i.e. hungry). If slightly mouldy bread (or bread-like product) or cheese: cut off mould. Eat.

 

[ender003]

I regularly eat stuff that is years past the expiration date. Last month I finished off a can of mixed nuts that had a date of 2005 printed on it. They were totally fine.

Heh. My father ate some old nuts once -- had to be hospitalised. I think they had gone bad due to a storage failure though. I was so little I don't really remember much about it, but I vaguely remember that the doctors said that it was probably because the nuts had gotten damp and mouldy.

Yeah, the nuts were totally sealed the whole time. If they were open for that long they probably would have gone rancid.

 

[Generic_Dave]

If it hasn't got stuff growing on it and it doesn't smell it's okay.

Best before dates are legal ass coverings, so are mostly a long time before the product will go off. Some like milk. chicken and eggs for example, you should be wary of. But a lot of products have no real shelf life. It is more of a "tastes best before" date than anything else. Things in this category include chocolate, beer, water, most tinned goods and properly stored dried goods.

Basically though, if you look at a date and it has gone past, but the food does not look funky, you are okay.


As an aside, bottled beverages best before date may relate to the bottle itself, in that the integrity of the bottle may be untrustworthy after a certain date.

 

[PurplePlatypus]

I don?t eat food past its use by date but I do if it?s past the best before date.
As far as bread goes I ask myself, do I see any green spots? If the answer is no I nom away or toast it if it?s getting a bit stale.

 

[morganpony2]

I just cant bring myself to eat i dunno bread that's over the expiration date even if its just a day.

Expiration dates are as early as possible in order to cover the food producers backs legally. I eat out of date food all the time. It's simply a case of knowing what out of date food looks and smells like.

With bread, unless there is mould, or its rock solid it's fine to eat. I microwave stale bread in order to soften it up, or use it to make eggy bread.

Things like milk and cream make it absolutely clear when it is out of date. So does meat and fish.
Don't waste good food.

 

[Owlslayer]

Quite often. Though it also depends on what the food is. A bag of chips? hell, i couldn't tell the difference f they were expired over a year ago!
If i don't see anything wrong with it and it tastes Ok, then I'll be trying it.

 

[Squiggles]

if its food from a can or has enough chemicals that the food could be eatable for OVER A YEAR, then yes i would eat it. but i don't take any chances with fresh meat or dairy products

 

[Sjakie]

i am actually eating some pudding now that expired on the 11th of this month.

still tastes good and ive got a pretty strong stomach anyway! the carton was closed until yesterday and it wasn't 'bloated' so it's still good.

Normally it depends on the product. I just dont force feed myself stuff that went over date. it al depends on if im hungry or not. If not: i throw it out.

 

[BENZOOKA]

Depends on the type of the food. Probably not if it's some kind of meat.

I always smell foods, no matter if it's even done 5 minutes ago. People still tend to point me that I do it.

 

[Isalan]

I love it when people get gnarly over stuff going in there bodies, and especially for those people here's a few stats I like to quote.

Each year you breath in (on average):-

5 grams of human skin
7 grams of faecal matter
4 grams of car tyre rubber
etc

Frankly fuzzy cheese sounds good by comparison.

EDIT: Also, 8 spiders a year. While your sleeping with your mouth open, they're looking for somewhere warm

 

[badpun]

No I don't got food poisoning once when i was little from expired food, never eaten it since.

 

[SimuLord]

Also, I have to ask:

Are you hungry for some 200-year-old Salisbury steak? Or are you hungry for some news? I'm guessin' news.

 

[tharglet]

I don't look at the dates, I look at the food. I have a decent sense of smell, so it's usually pretty obvious to me if something's up.
Earlier this week I ate some mince pies dated 30 Nov. Still fine.

Once my partner's dad tried to give us some over a year old milk chocolate (from ration packs). I said no to it, but my partner believed his dad it would be fine. Opened it up, and sure enough it stank massively.
Yes, chocolate DOES eventually go off, but usually I never get to find this out

 

[Mistermixmaster]

No. Want to know why? Because I buy food for 5 days at a time, thus planning when I'm eating what, and how much of it. Saves me a lot of money, food don't expire, and I make sure I get a varied and balanced diet.

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

I won't eat anything once it's hit the "expired/use by/sell by" date.

Depending on what it is, I might throw it away even sooner.

For instance, something like bread is only good for a week, and I'll probably eat it right up until the expiration date.

But if it's something like a canned product (Spaghettios, soup, etc.), which is supposedly good for a lot longer, I'll still chuck it well before the expiration date, because I'm just not that comfortable eating something that's been sitting on a shelf for several months.