03-20-2016, 10:03 AM
Generally speaking, the dates on food are put there to trick us into throwing good food out.
The Orchidland "General Store" (True Value) is notorious for selling expired food. You really need to be diligent. There are "Best Before", "Buy Before", "Expiration", "Expires" etc. However, generally, it is 100% legal and safe to sell well beyond the expiration date:
http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/Transparency...210073.htm "Did you know that a store can sell food past the expiration date?"
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/09...ste-goals/ "The U.S. Government Wants To Cut Food Waste In Half"
We buy nearly-expired food all the time because its a great way to cut grocery bill by 50%. Here are some things that we have learned from doing lots of research and also from personal experience:
Generally speaking, frozen and canned foods never go bad, so long as they remain frozen or the cans remained sealed. By "never go bad" I'm only talking about food safety. The quality, taste, and texture can certainly suffer. If your cans are getting rusty its time to consider eating the food- if there are dents and rust together, or the cans are bulging, throw them out.
Cheeses can be good months beyond the expiration date especially if it was unopened when it expired. Also cheese freezes well and lasts forever while frozen. Remember some cheeses are aged for years- buying it a few days after an expiration date isn't going to change anything. Cheese making is a form of preserving dairy protein. Blocks of cheese are better keep past expiration date than sliced cheese. Hard cheeses like Parmesan that are sealed in wax are essentially good forever if you can keep them at room temperature or below.
I remember reading that they recovered a vessel of honey from a tomb in Egypt that was thousands of years old and while they didn't comment on the flavor, they did determine that it was safe to eat. (I don't remember how the vessel was sealed).
Fish or poultry from the store should be eaten or frozen soon after you buy it. Beef and pork from the store should be eaten or frozen within a few days.
Chips like Doritos seem to taste fine a month after the date. Crackers like Triscuits really need to be consumed by the expiration date (they get stale, though are probably safe to eat for a very long time).
Our bodies instinctively hard-wired to detect and react to spoiled food. That is why we have a gag reflex when smelling, seeing, or tasting something vile. Listen to what your body is saying. If the macaroni salad looks gross, toss it. In theory the acetic acid in the vinegar in the mayonnaise makes the product safe to eat past its date (assuming is has been properly refrigerated) but when in doubt, throw it out.
And by "throw it out" I really mean, feed it to whatever species you are confident won't be harmed by a crusty macaroni top (dogs, chickens, etc) or compost the rest, if practical. For most of the world's population, the concept of discarding any type of food is something that can't be fathomed.
The Orchidland "General Store" (True Value) is notorious for selling expired food. You really need to be diligent. There are "Best Before", "Buy Before", "Expiration", "Expires" etc. However, generally, it is 100% legal and safe to sell well beyond the expiration date:
http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/Transparency...210073.htm "Did you know that a store can sell food past the expiration date?"
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/09...ste-goals/ "The U.S. Government Wants To Cut Food Waste In Half"
We buy nearly-expired food all the time because its a great way to cut grocery bill by 50%. Here are some things that we have learned from doing lots of research and also from personal experience:
Generally speaking, frozen and canned foods never go bad, so long as they remain frozen or the cans remained sealed. By "never go bad" I'm only talking about food safety. The quality, taste, and texture can certainly suffer. If your cans are getting rusty its time to consider eating the food- if there are dents and rust together, or the cans are bulging, throw them out.
Cheeses can be good months beyond the expiration date especially if it was unopened when it expired. Also cheese freezes well and lasts forever while frozen. Remember some cheeses are aged for years- buying it a few days after an expiration date isn't going to change anything. Cheese making is a form of preserving dairy protein. Blocks of cheese are better keep past expiration date than sliced cheese. Hard cheeses like Parmesan that are sealed in wax are essentially good forever if you can keep them at room temperature or below.
I remember reading that they recovered a vessel of honey from a tomb in Egypt that was thousands of years old and while they didn't comment on the flavor, they did determine that it was safe to eat. (I don't remember how the vessel was sealed).
Fish or poultry from the store should be eaten or frozen soon after you buy it. Beef and pork from the store should be eaten or frozen within a few days.
Chips like Doritos seem to taste fine a month after the date. Crackers like Triscuits really need to be consumed by the expiration date (they get stale, though are probably safe to eat for a very long time).
Our bodies instinctively hard-wired to detect and react to spoiled food. That is why we have a gag reflex when smelling, seeing, or tasting something vile. Listen to what your body is saying. If the macaroni salad looks gross, toss it. In theory the acetic acid in the vinegar in the mayonnaise makes the product safe to eat past its date (assuming is has been properly refrigerated) but when in doubt, throw it out.
And by "throw it out" I really mean, feed it to whatever species you are confident won't be harmed by a crusty macaroni top (dogs, chickens, etc) or compost the rest, if practical. For most of the world's population, the concept of discarding any type of food is something that can't be fathomed.