Still safe to use?

[HeatherC]

Cleaning out my pantry today I found some old chicken broth I forgot to use before it expired. There is a can with a Nov 2011 date on it and 3 cardboard boxes with an Aug 2012 date on them. Those I think are still okay, it's only 3 months out, but I'm not sure about the can which is a year past the date.

I also found some little jars of turkey gravy with a Mar 2011 date on them. One year and 8 months past the date.

I'm not afraid to use things like canned veggies that are a year or so past their date, but I'm not sure about things that are meat-related like the chicken stock and the gravy. These have been stored in the kitchen, so normal room temp environment. Do you think they are still safe to use or should I chuck them?

TIA!

p.s.
I hate having to throw out food when it's getting so much more and more expensive these days! Let this be a reminder to pay attention to what you have that needs to be used up before it expires!

[arbilad]

Check carefully. A lot of the dates on cans don't say "Expiration date", they say "Best by:". The date on there is really a guess in most cases, and in most cases you are safe eating food past its' best by date. There are exceptions, of course.
Here is a reasonable article on those dates.

http://www.stilltasty.com/articles/view/5

[iggy]

Cleaning out my pantry today I found some old chicken broth I forgot to use before it expired. There is a can with a Nov 2011 date on it and 3 cardboard boxes with an Aug 2012 date on them. Those I think are still okay, it's only 3 months out, but I'm not sure about the can which is a year past the date.

I also found some little jars of turkey gravy with a Mar 2011 date on them. One year and 8 months past the date.

I'm not afraid to use things like canned veggies that are a year or so past their date, but I'm not sure about things that are meat-related like the chicken stock and the gravy. These have been stored in the kitchen, so normal room temp environment. Do you think they are still safe to use or should I chuck them?

TIA!
I would use the broth, as long as the can is not dented, puffed or when you first cut into it with the opener it doesn't make a loud HISS or spew the contents out all over you and the kitchen. The cardboard box is only 3 months past the date, so I would use that too.

I make a lot of soup, so I no longer buy the liquid broth - too costly. I buy the powdered.

As for the gravy - when you open it, if it smells and looks okay, then use it. Again, I quit using the jar/can of gravy's and went with envelope mixes. They last much, much longer, take less storage space and there is no glass or metal to recycle. This Thanksgiving, buy some of the envelope mixes as back up in case the jars are not good.

I have store canned Early Peas that have a Use by date of 2005 - Husband is the only one who eats these ( I absolutely detest canned peas of any size). Opened a can when his son & dil were visiting, and both he and son ate them. I tasted them, and they were okay. Still canned, still icky to my taste buds. I prefer frozen early, tiny peas or fresh out of the garden.

Now I did have a bottle of Clam Nectar that was 2 months shy of Use By Date that was bad. It had bubbles in it, the top of the liquid was a science project- I took that outside and aimed it away from me before I opened it. Whewie what a stink. Flushed it down the toilet, then recycled the glass and lid.

I also have 4 jars of Alfredo Sauce that have 2010 dates, used one the other night - still good. Oh, the sardines in oil -2009 were nasty! But the 2009 ones in mustard were good. Same for the canned smoked oysters -2009. Those were good - added them to the Wild rice, black rice and basmati rice mix (my creation).

One thing ~ Velveeta Shells and Cheese ~ when it hits the Use by Date, the cheese quite often is not good. I opened the cheese pack over a shallow dish - it was brownish and came out in one lump YUCK. I saved the shells from 10 packages after opening the foil packets of cheese looking for a good one. Had to go to the store and bought Kroger's version of Cheese Whiz. NOW that is all I use! Well, not just Kroger's, but any store brand.

Had to toss some pudding too. The kind you add milk to and cook. Those were dated 2001! And three boxes of Jiffy Muffin Mix. The shortening in them had transferred to the box. Smelled bad.

I have about 12 boxes of Betty Crocker cake mixes - think those will be okay, because you add oil to them, plus the dry mix is sealed in a plastic bag inside the box.


p.s.
I hate having to throw out food when it's getting so much more and more expensive these days! Let this be a reminder to pay attention to what you have that needs to be used up before it expires! AMEN to that!

[incorrigible]

I agree that it should be just fine. I used to work for community center that had a food pantry, among other services. We were sent an annual letter that explained that US sell by dates were set early on purpose to make sure plenty of food was cycled into programs like ours. We were given an alternate set of dates to use for each kind of product....like canned vegetables, add 3 years to the date or "non-preishable" dairy goods add 6 months...it was a huge list and covered just about everything that was ever donated. Some dry goods we were supposed to add 10+ years to the sell by dates.

With that knowledge, I generally ignore sell by dates and use my 5 senses to decide what's ok to eat. ;) I just wish I'd held onto a copy of one of those letters. They were supposed to be these super secrets that only the administrators of such programs could see, and we could lose funding if anyone else saw them...so we just kept the one copy on file and shredded each previous year's when the new one came.

[Earthling]

I thought food pantries tossed any food past the use by date. Since a lot of my non-perishable food is past that date I haven't wanted to donate it and have it tossed when I would gladly use it.

[HeatherC]

I always thought that too. I never wanted to donate expired cans because I thought they wouldn't be able to use them any more than I thought *I* would be able to use them. Now I guess I know better!

Thanks for all your help everyone, I knew this place would not disappoint!

:grouphug: <-- because there are so many fun smilies to choose from! hehe

[incorrigible]

It's quite possible that your local pantry doesn't use or accept expired items. Some organizations disregard those dates, and just use the ones on the items. Some don't receive government funding, so they wouldn't receive that letter either. The last time I saw one of those letters was 2009, though, and I imagine there would be a huge food shortage if that whole process had changed...considering the current economic climate. The program I worked with was in a low income neighborhood in the southern suburbs of Chicago. Outside city limits, so they didn't have access to almost any subsidies or support...but so close to the city that they were constantly looking for ways to expand their programs to include more truly needy families. They ignored expiration dates entirely, but the food was usually gone within a week of the monthly drop off.

[iggy]

Want your questions answered? Go here ~ https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/food-labeling/food-product-dating/food-product-dating

Click on: What Date-Labeling Phrases are Used?

But I recommend reading the entire article as well as all of the links.

I had dozens of cans of canned salmon - with absolutely no dates anywhere. So I went online to each company and found what their stamping on the lids meant. They were where they were packaged and the date they were packaged. From there it was disclosed that you add 10 years to the packaged date to get the Best By date. If you are past that 10 year date, the food is still good - as long as the can is NOT bulged or has leaked where there is a dent. So, my cans of Salmon were and are good. I now have one dozen cans left. All of them have the years 2020 -2022 on them [their best by date]. Not only do I love the salmon patties I make with them, so does Hubby AND the last 5 sets of Missionaries! note: 6 of the last cans I used had dates of 2012, and were good to eat, tasted good too.

It has been my experience that when food contains fat - it will not last beyond whatever date is stamped on it. We don't eat cakes. Husband doesn't like them and I won't waste freezer space with cooked & packaged by individual piece anymore. I can eat cake, as the amount of fat per serving is well below what I am allowed [damaged pancreas = low to no fat diet]. BUT I do store cake mixes so I can make them and take to church potlucks. BUT I store mixes that contain NO fat or eggs. Eggs and cheese are another thing that one must be careful with. Each egg yolk equals 5mg of fat. Cheese is fat also.

So, canned sauces containing cheese needs to be watched carefully. In glass jars it is easy - look at the top of the jar. It it looks like dried up pudding, be careful opening the jar ~ face it away from you and windows - and toss the insides either in the garbage, down the toilet or down the garbage disposal. DO NOT EAT IT, do not feed it to pets and do not add to compost. [yeah my uneducated in all matters of going *green* but thinks she knows all, did this. Lord Love A Duck what a horrible stench!]

I no longer buy cheese whiz of any brand in jars. I do buy a box of the Velveeta Cheese in foil packets. One packet is just the right size for Hubby to have with his steamed vegetables. One box is enough for my storage. Instead I buy the freeze dried/dehydrated/powdered cheese. Really like the powdered cheese-n-broccoli soup. Makes up a good tasting cheese sauce. This I buy in the large container then repackage into one sauce serving and vacuum seal.

[libertygranny]

we've eaten canned green beans that we bought in 2000! and they were still good.

[Earthling]

Thanks Granny! I have some cases of veggies that are about 18 years old and have been wondering what to do about them.

[iggy]

Earthling, those canned veggies will still be good - as long as they are not bulging. Listen to them carefully when you first pierce them at opening. If there is a pfitst sound, then continue opening and then toss out the contents. I would use them in soups, pot pies, stews or in the case of carrots - bring to a boil, drain, mash and add to mashed potatoes or yams.

They may have lost their *fresh* flavor - and some of their nutrients, but they are still good.

When I was a kid, Mom didn't buy store canned food, she canned all of her own. So nothing lasted more than 9 months to a year. She saved up her grocery money that was budget so that she could go to the road side fruit and vegetable stands set out by the individual fields to buy flats of produce. Out would come all of the cold pack canners, pressure cookers and both stoves would be in use. Dad would set up her Canning Stove out in the back yard in the old Army Mess Tent. When each of us kids were tall enough to stir a pot and not get burned, then that is exactly our job during the canning, preserving, jam/jelly and pickling seasons arrived. If it sprung from the ground Mom found a way to can it for us to eat. To me the only thing Crab Apples are good for is to be made into sweet pickles!

I am also saddened that watermelons are grown now with thinner skins. They just don't make into pickles at all. Thick skinned watermelon make wonderful cinnamon-clove-alspice sweet pickles.

[DMGNUT]

You're making me hungry... so now, don't go shopping when I'm hungry, and don't read Iggy's posts when I'm hungry. :001_smile:

[iggy]

You're making me hungry... so now, don't go shopping when I'm hungry, and don't read Iggy's posts when I'm hungry. :001_smile:

And that is why I eat lunch at my favorite restaurant BEFORE I go grocery shopping. I also shop at Walmart first - check their prices against the lists I have made for Fred Meyer and Safeway. By the time I have traversed ALL over creation and back, my feet are sore, my lower back hurts and I know that once I get home all the food has to be put away and still I have to COOK a meal for hubby. So I get less cook from scratch and more frozen single serve entree's.

I have been thinking of getting back to my roots. Meaning, cooking from scratch. Sewing what clothes I can. Especially bath mats (old worn out towels folded over and sewn through and through. I have more than enough pot holders, so no need to make them.

BUT all of that requires energy - standing on your feet for half the day - or cleaning up the crafting area, setting up the sewing machine and THEN making sure the dang thing works. Older Sister hadn't used it since 1970! She bought it during a January White Sale so she could sew my graduation dress come June, and I went and bought one without telling her. Bad Me. This Older Sister couldn't sew more than pot holders. And Mom had done enough for me my entire life, so I took what money I had saved up and bought my own dress, shoes and had plenty left over to have my hair styled.

Enough rambling ~

Ever reheat spaghetti sauce just to have it be too acidic? Add just a pinch of baking soda and it will mellow it out. Just a pinch and no more. Same for when you make home made cream of tomato soup using canned tomatoes. Before you add the milk/cream, add a pinch of soda. That will insure that the milk doesn't curdle.

[DMGNUT]

You always have the best cooking tips. :d0 (7):

[Earthling]

Iggy don't forget to start making quilts! It's a fun hobby!

Since we're sharing cooking tips - now my family is smaller we don't eat all the corn before it starts getting old that I grow so I've started freezing it. There's a handy gadget that pulls it off the cobs easily (see Amazon). I'm finding it makes delicious creamed corn and corn chowder. That chowder tastes like heaven in the winter! I had never tried homemade creamed corn until a few years ago when I made it for Thanksgiving . . . now everyone requests it. It is easy & delicious!

[iggy]

Making quilts brings to mind my Grandma cutting up old shirts, blouses, skirts and even some of my uncle's pants - you know those gross looking plaid ones into squares, then us girls (myself and my two older sisters) sorting them into color groups. Us girls took the clothes apart saving the buttons, zippers, hooks, etc. Ironing the fabric smooth, then Grandma & them cutting into squares. I got the scraps to make my doll clothes with.

Grandma and the older girls sewed the squares together, then my two other Aunts sewed the strips together. Then while all of us kids were at school and our dining room table was empty - the women folk put the quilts together. Not like the quilts I now have, or what they make at our Branch to give to the needy, or to the sisters who move away. There is the top quilted part, then the bottom with about two woolen army blankets in-between held together by tying it off all over. the backing was never sewn over and completely covering the insides. Once a year or every two years, the tying was taken out, the quilt disassembled and all pieces laundered.

I never helped the tying. My little hands just couldn't push the needle threaded with the crotchet thread through all those layers. If I happened to be home sick while all this was going on, I sat on the couch and embroidered flour sack dish towels, or aprons. My oldest sister made what she called Cheater Quilts. Using flat bed sheets and old blankets as batting or using new polyester batting. Put all of it together, tie it off, the fold the plain sheet backing over the printed sheet top and then sew it all closed up. Most of the sizes she made were twin or full. Easy to launder and the young cousins and nieces and nephews just loved them.

Also my first husband wouldn't tolerate any noise coming from me. Sewing on a machine makes noise. That interrupts his TV watching/listening. My embroidering was noiseless, as was my drawing/coloring. Later just a few years before I left him, when I got a computer - my typing on the keyboard in the guest bedroom with the door shut, was still too noisy for him!!!

After we had been here for a few years(1980) I bought a 2nd hand sewing machine, I set the machine up in our downstairs *living room* and made him dress shirts and me skirts and blouses. As long as he wasn't home, I could sew. It is still hard for me to get back into sewing on a machine. Been separated/divorced from Eejit since 1999 - 2nd Husband couldn't give a flip if my typing is noisy or if a sewing machine is noisy. Right now I am typing away and he is still sleeping like a log in his recliner w/his headset on listening to Coast to Coast. I know he is a asleep cause I just looked at him and he is.

I loved helping with the rag rugs. Sewing them together with waxed dental floss!! Even though I got scolded by Grandma for not wearing AND using my thimble. Hated that stupid thing. Still do - and yes I still get very sore finger tips.

[Earthling]

Well you certainly know about quilts! I inherited one from my mother-in-law that has an army blanket backing. Also another one made out of army coats and it is almost too heavy to lift. I put them away in a trunk since they aren't practical to use . . . but you never know when you'll be glad to have everything. I made some of those quilts out of sheets when I was first married - made blocks out of scrap material my mom had (lots of them from making my own dresses) and backed them with a pretty sheet. My kids loved them too and wore them out. I haven't had the heart to get rid of them though. Memories . . . Now I work on pretty ones with patterns, color coordinating, etc. Some of the ladies in my quilt group make some gorgeous enough they've been on display at museums.

My mom taught me to crochet too as she loved to make afghans. I've made a bunch of those. Now I like those soft minky throws you can get dirt cheap (especially at Costco & Sams Club). I embroidered flour sacks as a kid too! I still have them - never used. That was back in the day when my mom (who was from an older generation than most girls had) helped me make a "trousseau" to put in a cedar chest I got when I was 16. That's what they did in her day. I still like to do needlework and just finished a cross-stitch picture I took in to be framed. Cross-stitch is good when you are stressed - and I've had too much stress the last few years.

I'm sorry to hear you were married to an abusive husband - glad you have moved on. It takes time to heal. I know . . . unfortunately the hard way. My husband got addicted to porn - changed his personality and he became abusive. I thought he'd get better but I was in denial of the futility and how bad it had gotten for many years . . . sigh . . . life is very hard at times.

I always wanted to learn how to make rag rugs. . . but I did buy a nice blue toned one for in front of my kitchen sink. I hate thimbles too!

[mirkwood]

This past summer I threw out a case of French cut green beans from 1997. I opened several of them before I dumped them into the garbage. They looked and smelled fine. I needed the room for newer food so they were on the chopping block.

[iggy]

This past summer I threw out a case of French cut green beans from 1997. I opened several of them before I dumped them into the garbage. They looked and smelled fine. I needed the room for newer food so they were on the chopping block.


Bleh, French Cut - icky! Kitchen cut is the only way to go. I love wax beans too. Bought a few cans of Kitchen cut green and kitchen cut wax. Heated up one of each (mixed them) and Hubby liked them. Yeah! Love it when a planned experiment comes together.

Thursday we are feeding the sister Missionaries. Individual (8 oz) meatloaves - baked sans loaf pans on broiler pans, baked potatoes and baked spinach patties.
Use either one large can of spinach drained REALLY well. Or two 16oz bags of chopped frozen spinach, thawed and drained in the fridge. Squeeze as much liquid as you can out of them. Lightly beat two-three eggs, add to the drained spinach, add Mrs. Dash original and McCormick Salad Toppins. Mix well. You might want to add some crushed saltines if it is to sloppy w/egg. I also add a healthy dash of crystallized lemon. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, measure out 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the spinach onto the sheet, flatten and form into a large round. Indent the center with a soup spoon Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes, until the edges are dry. If you want you can raise the oven rack to the top position, put grated cheddar cheese in the indentation and broil until the cheese is melted and just barely crispy brown. Serve hot as a vegetable side dish. Refrigerate leftovers. They make delicious spinach patty sandwiches.

When I make meatloaf, I now use 96% fat free ground beef, one egg per pound of meat, envelope mix of meat loaf seasoning (it calls for 2 lb of ground beef), oatmeal, minced fresh celery, minced fresh onion, catsup & V8 juice. I weigh each loaf out, then shape and form into either a square or loaf. Squares seem to work best. Any fat that there is drains off the broiler pan as it bakes, and it doesn't take the 1+ hour to bake.

I am mixing up 3 pounds, because Hubby loves it and can easily eat 2.5 mini loaves. The three sets of Sister Missionaries loved them too. This is the first set I will be serving the baked spinach to. We shall see how well it goes over.