This site has the best explanation of what the various dates mean. It's a short article.
Ping.
Eggs are easy to tell if they are bad. The older they get the runnier they are. If the yolk breaks too easily and is flat, then I toss it. Otherwise, eggs, especially farm fresh ones, keep a LONG time.
I just ate a Slim Jim with an expiration date of February, 1973.
No problemo! :-)
It generally takes us that long to can a beef.
Beef that has been frozen should be used much more quickly.
I wrap meat (twice around) in Saran Wrap, and it stays fresh for years. I know this because I found a steak in the freezer I forgot to rotate, and it was fine.
A reminder that canned foods should be stored inside, if you keep them in a shed the temperature swings will shorten their shelf life and after a few years of really harsh temps they don’t taste very good.
Sheds, and garages, even the unairconditioned spare bedroom or back porch can shorten their shelf life to where you should use them within that suggested 2 year (avg) use by date they have stamped on them, stored in normal temps they last way beyond those dates.
I grew up in a household with parents who were born during the Great Depression. They taught me that canned items were safe to eat unless they were dented, rusty, or swollen. And slight dents were sometimes ok too, but needed to pass other tests as this article mentioned.
Those are good rules of thumb to follow, because I’ve seen items that still weren’t at their expired or best by dates, but were swollen.
Also, if a jar doesn’t pop when it’s opened, I wouldn’t trust it. It didn’t seal properly during the preservation process.
Now, will things past their use by date taste yummy? Sometimes yes, and sometimes no. I’ve eaten crackers that were past the date when I first opened it. Fine for the first time, but not usually very good a day or two later.
For people who buy canned food and pantry food from Amazon shipping, it is routine to get food almost at it’s use by date, and fairly common to get expired food, not to mention cans that are beat up and dented beyond anything you have seen in the supermarket, sometimes they have even burst open.
Old stock and ruined cans from Amazon make stocking up difficult, and rotating stock is impossible when you buy a product for rotation today and then 6 months from now buy its replacement and find the new one’s use by date predates what you already have on the shelf.
Amazon seems to be a dumping ground for old food.
I stopped taking these seriously when I saw salt, which is generally millions of years old unless harvested from the sea, with an expiration date.
I’ve learned that the expiration dates mean the date for UNOPENED products. If you open a carton of milk, it’s not going to last until the use-by date.
Ambient yeasts in the air see to that.
I recently found an expiration date on a bottle of Sta-Bil!!!
The gas preservative doesn’t preserve.
Candling eggs is a skill that is easy obtainable and identifies old eggs.
Freezer burned foods are unpalatable but can be consumed safely...that's why God made Louisiana Hot sauce...
Thanks for posting this.
Thanks. We float tested some egg this morning. 😁👍
Expiration dates are for the weak!!!!!!
Shopping tip: watch for sales on canned items that are about to expire. Store will run a sale to clear the shelf. Nothing wrong with them per se, just a lot of people won’t buy them otherwise.
I conducted experiments for nearly 15 years with various food items just to see what really lasted for survival purposes. Long story short, jasmine and most white rice lasted the duration with no problems, as well as dried beans. Brown rice went rancid surprisingly quickly. Flour and flour based products (e.g. noodles, cake mix, pancake mix, cereals) went bad very quickly. Sardines were fresh and fine for 4 to 5 years, started to be a little less fresh out to 8 years, which is as long as I kept them. Canned foods generally lasted the duration, notably canned salmon which was still nearly perfect after 12 years.
In Pennsylvania there are many salvage grocery stores. They sell overstock and out of date products.
I shop in them every chance I can. You learn, stay away from cereals and any product that has an oil that can go rancid. With grains like rice and oat meal, you learn to inspect for bugs as they can get in long before the expiration date.
I can, freeze, dehydrate and freeze dry a lot of food as I grew up poor on a farm and you always preserved the harvest.
I’m careful, using moisture absorbers, oxygen absorbers, nitrogen flushes, and put pasta, flour, and grain products in the freezer for a week after purchase to kill any insects or eggs. I vacuum seal it in smaller bags with oxygen absorbers, then place several of these bags in a sealed mylar bag for longer term storage.
The freeze dryer is amazing. It retains 98% of the nutrients and tastes great several years later. I have a Harvest Right XL with seven large trays that allows me to freeze dry a 40 lb box of bananas at a time. (The grandchildren love them for snacks). I often freeze dry food before the expiration date to preserve it for a longer term.
Freeze drying does not kill or remove food contaminates like bacteria. You are freeze drying the bacteria and it will reactivate when you hydrate the product. You can freeze dry yogurt and years later rehydrate it to start a new batch. The same is true for yeast starters for bread.
I go more by the appearance and smell than expiration dates. If it’s getting old, I’ll often reprocess it into something else. For example, I’m just now making crockpot applebutter to get rid of my old canned applesauce, as I’m making new from current season apples.
It’s all fun. If I didn’t enjoy it, I wouldn’t do it.
metmom :" This site has the best explanation of what the various dates mean.
It's a short article."
(From the article) :” Before you put a food item into your cart or basket at the grocery store, you likely look for a “best by” date
(or something of the like) to make sure you’ll be able to use it before it goes bad.
But did you know that an expiration date and other food date labels are not the same?"
"Here’s what you need to know — from what each label means to which foods to avoid after their expiration date.
Expiration date vs. date labels: What’s the difference?
According to the National Science Foundation (NSF), an expiration date is typically only found on infant formula,
which is regulated by the FDA.
The “use by” date on infant formula refers to the date the manufacturer can ensure both the quality and nutrient content of the formula is safe for your baby.
FDA regulations require this date to be clearly labeled on infant formula packaging
because once that date passes, the product should no longer be given to babies"
(More information is available Within the article ..)
I used to love the Budweiser ads that announced their “born on dates”. As they said, an expiration date is nothing more than a guarantee that you’ll survive the experience. It always gave me a chuckle.