Poll: food: how expired is too expired?
- Thread starter lechat
- Start date
Recommended Videos
I didnt answer the poll because it changes massively.
If stuff is frozen, it's pretty much OK for eternity.
If it's canned, or something like biscuits where there isnt really anything in the to go off they're also good.
Bread you can just slice the bit of crust off if it gets a teensy bit of mould
Meat and Dairy is usually the dodgy ones, just give it a sniff when you take it out and if it's OK then it'll be fine.
If stuff is frozen, it's pretty much OK for eternity.
If it's canned, or something like biscuits where there isnt really anything in the to go off they're also good.
Bread you can just slice the bit of crust off if it gets a teensy bit of mould
Meat and Dairy is usually the dodgy ones, just give it a sniff when you take it out and if it's OK then it'll be fine.
Yeah, this is true. Food doesn't suddenly expire over night, but the date where food can no longer be considered safe to sell is set to give a warning when it's too old to sell.Hoplon said:
Now milk can last a few days, most frozen and tinned things are great for pretty much all eternity. I have tasted meat that was given away to my grandparents because it was expired which was then stored in the freezer for 2 years and it was actually really tasty.
When I have food that I'm not sure about I smell it. Sometimes food that hasn't reached its expiration date is near inedible, sometimes food months overdue is still as good.
Now some simple rules for milk and eggs that I feel like sharing. Pour some milk in your coffee, if it looks like it cracks and separates it's gone bad. Now you can use it and make waffles or replace some of the water in a bread recipe with the sour milk, it makes the dough firm and juicy.
As for eggs you can put them in a glass of water and see if it floats or not. If it floats then eat at own risk, if it sinks it's OK.
Depends on the food in question. Eggs, I'll throw out if they stayed more than a week after the "best before" date (although that would be probably about two weeks in, otherwise I'll just boil them and keep them if I notice), frozen stuff I probably won't ever, milk I keep until it starts to smell funny and is on the verge of turning chunky (it's the week after the expiry date), butter I haven't thrown out yet, for bread I just remove the mould and still eat it, meat I'll tolerate at most to slightly green-ish, canned food can go on for years and probably I won't throw out even way after the expiry date (though I haven't had any that lasted that myself), and so on and so forth
Canned food is pretty impressive. I mean, the technology and safety standards involved are incredible. I recently had a can of cream of mushroom soup. It was all I had. It was also almost exactly expired by one year. All I could think at the time was, "Huh, so Will Smith really would have been okay in I Am Legend."
i'll still eat it unless it smells funny or has mold on it. that was gonna be my entire 2 cents, but...
as i was typing, this guy above me forced me to relive my worst case of food poisoning. thanks guy. i had a cream of mushroom soup that had been expired for a little over 3 years. i didn't notice it tasted funny until i was half way done with it, but it was basically mold soup. i don't think those things last forever. >.>FizzyIzze said:
Fun fact: canned food was originally invented [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canning#History_and_development_of_canning] because Napoleon needed a way to preserve food for his armies.FizzyIzze said:
I've seen things expire before the date on the package (stored at ideal conditions) and things that have expired long after the date...guess it's really a gamble, but it would a week at most for me. That's for the things that aren't fortunate enough to have a multi-year expiry date and me not being desperate.
There are usually 2 types of date labelling. Use by and Best before. Some products have both dates
Best before=Quality is acceptable up until the printed date, after that quality(vitamin content, texture and such) is deemed unacceptable but still safe to consume. Usually printed on processed foods
Use by=food safety is compromised after printed date. Products cannot be legally sold when its past the useby because of potential health risks. Usually found on perishable foods.
Thats all assuming the product is stored correctly to manufacturers specs.
I once made mac and cheese with mouldy pasta sauce. Drank numerous dairy based products that were past their best before. Seafood and meat i am wary of. OP is didnt feel any bad effects because im assuming the meat was frozen with no temp fluctuations and cooked well. In theory you can eat meat past its use by provided you cook it such that core temp is at 121C or higher for more than 10 minutes.
Best before=Quality is acceptable up until the printed date, after that quality(vitamin content, texture and such) is deemed unacceptable but still safe to consume. Usually printed on processed foods
Use by=food safety is compromised after printed date. Products cannot be legally sold when its past the useby because of potential health risks. Usually found on perishable foods.
Thats all assuming the product is stored correctly to manufacturers specs.
I once made mac and cheese with mouldy pasta sauce. Drank numerous dairy based products that were past their best before. Seafood and meat i am wary of. OP is didnt feel any bad effects because im assuming the meat was frozen with no temp fluctuations and cooked well. In theory you can eat meat past its use by provided you cook it such that core temp is at 121C or higher for more than 10 minutes.
My uncle worked at a major meat packing firm. What most folks do not know is that "meat" beef/chicken/processed, is already kept for months at near freezing temps, 33-35, this provides two things, longevity and the monicker, "fresh, never frozen". Some beef can be kept for MONTHS under these conditions with a year being the terminal must sell/ship to processors and supermarkets that butcher/cut their own meat. Recently if anyone was watching the news there was an article about a handgun being found in a bulk package pallet of meat, in that article you will have noticed the date they mention for that pallet of meat was 1 year old....
Food for thought.
Food for thought.
If its a dairy product its done even up to a day before its expiration date, for me at least, I won't touch it. It expires too fast anyways I prefer almond milk and such over milk as it is.
Experation dates are just the dates the store can no longer sell the product. They don't mean the food has gone bad, just that it will be going bad soon. How soon? That depends largely on what it is. I would say most things would fall into the "1-2 week" catagory. So, there is my answer.
I've eaten many things that have expired well over a year ago. Tinned, dried, frozen, vacuum packed, salted and UHT products pretty much never go off.
The only problem is, things that manage to make it that long without being eaten are always disgusting to begin with.
I've a five year old tin of water chestnuts in my cupboard now... eugh.
The only problem is, things that manage to make it that long without being eaten are always disgusting to begin with.
I've a five year old tin of water chestnuts in my cupboard now... eugh.
Deepend on the food itself. Food like bread and banana don't like a couple of days while other food like a cabbage last for a week or so.