We are waiting out a cash flow crunch at the moment. It was a good time to triage the food stores. I discovered a package of canned tomato paste that was 14 months beyond the expiration date. I opened it with trepidation, but it was just fine, no oxidation of the can, no *off* flavor or smell or appearance.
A small can of Nestle Table Cream was just at the expiration and I was prepared to have to throw it out. It was just fine, as well and lasted 3 days in the fridge after being opened. We have forgotten venison in the freezer at times for over a year. As long as it was well wrapped, usually in a locker package, it was also just fine. If it got freezer burn for some reason, I cook it up for the dog. He is a picky eater and has never turned down slightly freezer burned meat.
I am also old enough to remember no expiration dates and that was a time when cans were not plastic lined and were just tinned steel. Even newly purchased canned vegetables could sometimes taste metallic and mushy canned veggies was the norm. Day old store-bought bread? That stuff is so full of preservatives, it takes months for anything to grow on it. Toast it or sprinkle on some water, tent it in foil and after 10 minutes in the oven, it tastes fresh.
The younger generations may need to go through hard times before they have enough experience to rely on their own senses. IMO, anyone complaining about a date when they are starving just isn’t hungry enough.
Gotta wonder how much good food is wasted annually by people afraid of the freshness date.
That said, gotta admit 14 months is dicey; you are brave. ;)
When I was a kid, once a year my parents would send me down to the basement and sort through every can. I checked the tops to see if the tin “clicked” when you pushed on it, or if it was bulged. Some of it was several years old. Every year there was at least one can that went bad. Sometimes there were a dozen. The really bad ones I would throw down really hard to the bottom of a garbage can to see if I could make it explode.
I think there are still a few brands out there with unlined cans. Seems like it wasn’t all that long ago I had some fruit medley in a galvanized can. Don’t drink the juice out of the can. It’s like chewing on tin foil when the foil hits a filling...or tastes like a charged 9 volt battery to the tongue.