Expiration dates

[signseeker]

Do you guys really go by the expiration date? I mean, we are eating pork-n-beans and canned fruit that expired in '05-'06 and it tastes just fine. Obviously, if the can is bulging or it smells/looks weird, we won't eat it, expired or not.

DH and I were cleaning in his parents' store room last week and discovered some large (these were bigger than #10 cans even) cans of peaches that had EXPLODED. Yeah. That was a sight. It was all black and all over... His folks were kinda' sick later in life and packrats... not a good combo for easily sorting and keeping an eye on everything.

Anyhow, we also found lots of home-bottled fruit. The newest stuff is from 2000. I thought, Yikes! But then, I remembered on the movie Holes how they found those peaches and figured it's all good.

We even found some prunes that were from August 24.... guess how old! ....

19...





(wait for it)


















49!!!
I mean, we gotta' hang on to those cuz they're antiques now!

[mirkwood]

BYU did a study on canned goods. They came to the conclusion that 5 years is more accurate on expiration dates for canned goods. At that point the nutritional value, taste and texture begin to degrade. Common sense would apply at that point as to whether you eat it or not.

[Aldon]

It is like that line from Barbosa in the move Pirates of the Caribean.

They're more like guidelines! Argh!!!!

HAHAhHA

It is in my nature to push the envelope.

I will go past expirations dates barring bulging or funky smells.

[signseeker]

mirk- You better quit editing my posts! :sneaky2:

If it's a matter of life and death, I'm not too concerned about nutritional value, I guess.

[waif69]

mmmm, bbq..... thanks, now I am hungry again.

[mirkwood]

mirk- You better quit editing my posts! :sneaky2:

If it's a matter of life and death, I'm not too concerned about nutritional value, I guess.

:l0 (43):

[DMGNUT]

The local LDS paper (The Beehive, maybe it's up in Utah too, or everywhere, I don't know) anyway, they printed an article about 1 or 2 years ago saying (and I'm paraphrasing), that canned goods are pretty much good indefinitely, so far as sustaining life is concerned. The food does of course lose nutritional value and flavor, and should not be consumed if the can is bloated, rusted, smells bad when opened, etc.

[mirkwood]

I don't throw away old canned goods anymore. They are marked as old food in my storage and become part of my charity food supply.

[signseeker]

Ha- I can see the thugs coming for food and saying, "Hey! That guy in the pink homemade sweater gave us expired food! What the--!!"

[Earthling]

The thugs can't read the coded expiration dates. :l0 (46): Use fingernail polish remover to removed the sharpie dates you wrote on the can.

[signseeker]

Okay, so what about home-bottled stuff? As long as the seal is good and nothing is crawling around inside... what, can we say 10 yrs. is generally pretty safe?

I'd say at least 10, but I'm just a beginner...

We've got several bottles of stuff that is over 20 yrs. old... we still don't feel like eating it, though. I'm sure if we were pressed we would.

[Earthling]

Signseeker - I have a great recipe to use up a quart of old bottled fruit (any flavor) that is awesome - called Spoiled Fruit Cake. I made it for the kids last week - they couldn't remember it - thought it would be nasty. Ta da! It was awesome and they loved it. It is made in a loaf pan and has chocolate chips, nuts, raisins/craisins.