Your Most Expired Food Item

[TromboneAl]

Just found a container of lemon juice in the fridge that expired in July 09. Can you do better?

 

[Animorph]

I just ate a can of soup last week that was dated 2007. Forget the exact date.

Chocolate "Waifa" bar in the fridge from a trip to London has a date of 12 Aug 87. Probably a few others like that but with date codes that would require deciphering.

 

[Midpack]

A few years ago, we participated in a 'Christmas in April' event where we cleaned out the packed basement of an elderly man's home, his wife had just passed away recently. Evidently she was a hoarder, and we found not one but a whole shelf of home canned (Mason jars) veggies marked 1956. Couldn't even tell what was in them, the contents were almost black though the seals may have been intact.

Sorry but true, that may end this thread...

 

[BOBOT]

A couple of months ago I discovered a jar of plum jam my MIL had put up, dated 1988. It was excellent.

 

[Lisa99]

A brisket in the bottom of the freezer dated Dec 2002. Found it when prepping to move.

 

[W2R]

The slightly "iffy" milk that made me sick a week or two ago, wasn't even expired. It was just enough off that I didn't want to drink it straight, so I put it on my oatmeal. Never again.

I have nothing that is expired, that I know of.

 

[Packman]

As a follow up question, I would like to know how it all tasted.

 

[Grainiac]

Just had a Dannon fat free yogurt with June 30th sell by date from our fridge (hmm - I hope it was this year). Tasted fine. I will let you know if any symptoms emerge...

 

[powerplay]

Found a can of pumpkin in the cupboard with a 2006 date on it. Don't know how it tasted because it went out with the trash this morning.

 

[Ally]

My mom was someone who could never through any food out. So I grew up paranoid that she had snuck rotten food into our meals.  I had molded bread for my school lunch sandwiches more than once. Once I saw that she was fixing egg salad with opened unrefrigerated mayo that had expired 2 years before.  I had to tell my kids not to eat it. For this reason, there is no way I keep expired food in my house.

 

[JOHNNIE36]

The slightly "iffy" milk that made me sick a week or two ago, wasn't even expired. It was just enough off that I didn't want to drink it straight, so I put it on my oatmeal. Never again.

I have nothing that is expired, that I know of.

That's the worse smell in the world, outdated milk. I love fat free milk and drink a big glass every night with my medications before bed. If I find the milk is starting to sour and the expiration date is still in the future, I take it back to the store and get a fresh gallon. At $4/gal, I'm not throwing it out. When I buy milk, I always look for the expiration date furthest in the future.

W2R, how did you stand that sour milk on your oatmeal? Yuk!

 

[W2R]

That's the worse smell in the world, outdated milk. I love fat free milk and drink a big glass every night with my medications before bed. If I find the milk is starting to sour and the expiration date is still in the future, I take it back to the store and get a fresh gallon. At $4/gal, I'm not throwing it out. When I buy milk, I always look for the expiration date furthest in the future.

W2R, how did you stand that sour milk on your cereal? Yuk!

It was only a little "iffy", not sour! I wouldn't drink sour milk.

 

[sinjin]

We moved out three weeks ago. In the process of going thru our cupboards we found MANY cans from the mid-nineties. Some of them with swollen tops. To the trash they went!

 

[Pajaro]

One time I took a can of refried beans to the house of my Italian in-laws (in Italy). I asked for a can opener, and they had to go digging in the basement to find one they had received as a gift. They have never purchased a can of food of any type in their lives. They jar their own tomatoes and freeze vegetables, so I'm sure they have some mystery veggies in the freezer from 1992. However, the fact that they lived without cans really sticks with me.

 

[FIREd]

I cleaned up my pantry last year and found a 7 year old can of green beans.

My grandmother was a hoarder and when we visited she would give us decade(s)-old candy bars. The milk chocolate was white and crystalline, but they still tasted OK.

 

[W2R]

Every year I replenish my canned goods, in preparation for hurricane season. Throughout the year, I rotate the older ones to the front as I use them. So, none of my canned goods are expired.

I just went through everything, and found that I DO have something that is expired - - my ketchup, which was to be used by May, 2010. I almost never use ketchup (not being Texan! ), so I will toss it and not buy another.

 

[TromboneAl]

It was only a little "iffy", not sour! I wouldn't drink sour milk.

Are you sure it was what caused the problems?

Once I drank a big glass of milk very fast, and didn't realize it was sour until I'd ingested a lot. To be safe, I took some syrup of ipecac. I took it and expected to throw up right away, but it took over 20 minutes IIRC.

Bottom line, I think the effects of the ipecac were worse than what the milk would have done. I probably overreacted -- I think I was curious about how ipecac worked.

 

[M Paquette]

I think I was curious about how ipecac worked.

Well, I bet you're glad you got that out of your system...

 

[W2R]

Well, I bet you're glad you got that out of your system...

Bet he was!

Are you sure it was what caused the problems?.

Not really. It could have been stomach flu, heat, or who knows what. I threw out the milk anyway, just to play it safe, and stayed home in the A/C and rested just in case it was something else. The reason I thought it was the milk, was that I got better so quickly.

 

[Dawg52]

I moved into my aunt's old house in 2003 and still haven't gone through her pantry. Maybe I will make it a nice even 10 years and do in 2013. I'll let you know what I find.

 

[W2R]

I moved into my aunt's old house in 2003 and still haven't gone through her pantry. Maybe I will make it a nice even 10 years and do in 2013. I'll let you know what I find.

It might be fun to get a large trash bag and do it this weekend. If you haven't eaten it during the past eight years, you probably never will so you could use that space for something else. Even though you don't seem to need it for food that you normally buy, you could probably use the space for Dawg52 type stuff, whatever that may be. Golf related items, doggie chews, or something.

 

[Sue J]

I got my first Foodsaver (vacuum packing machine) in 2004 and kept all kinds of things in the freezer. I remember finding some noodles and a pork chop in 2008, seal still intact, that even I wouldn't eat!

I have no sense of smell and am frugal to a degree that I don't want to throw something away if it can still be used. But I've had a few incidents of eating something past it's prime and regretting it so I have learned to be reasonable with expiration dates. Often I'll ask DH (or another victim) to smell something for me.

Right now I have some frozen ground beef from 2009. I have some cans in the back of the cupboard from 2005 but they are there to keep the stuff I really use from getting pushed so far back that I can't reach them. I wouldn't use the old canned food, it's just there to take up space.

 

[Nords]

A few years ago, we participated in a 'Christmas in April' event where we cleaned out the packed basement of an elderly man's home, his wife had just passed away recently. Evidently she was a hoarder, and we found not one but a whole shelf of home canned (Mason jars) veggies marked 1956. Couldn't even tell what was in them, the contents were almost black though the seals may have been intact.
Sorry but true, that may end this thread...

I didn't personally observe the label, but in the 1980s our submarine received beef that had been (as far as we could tell) frozen since the Korean War.

As a follow up question, I would like to know how it all tasted.

It didn't taste any different than the usual.

A couple years ago I finally tried a can of Campbells cream of celery soup that we'd either transferred through a lot of military moves or "inherited" from a military friend who was about to move. (Either one is possible.) The can was labeled "Proud Sponsor of the Sarajevo Olympics!"

It also tasted as good as cream of celery soup usually tastes...

 

[Keim]

My oldest expired item: the film I have frozen for an old camera. I bought it when managing a photoshop in 1994.

Oldest food item? 8 year old cheese. It is Cougar Gold. Some of the best cheddar in the world (IMO!). I am aging it. Will open it on my 20th anniversary. The cheese will be 10yrs old at that point.

They ship world wide.

Washington State University

 

[veremchuka]

I have a bottle of Badia brand Chili Pepper Sauce dated exp 4 Apr 2010. I bought it in the winter of 2008 or 2009. It's unopened and has been in the fridge since I bought it. It's 1st ingredient is Habaneros so I want to taste it so I won't toss it.