Examples of current inflation - add yours!

[skipro33]

For our Costco, the sell by date on the hamburger is the next day.
I asked about that short date, and the worker told me they take all the meats that are close to expire on the display and grind them up.

So it could be quality meat but it's old...

Old?! You pay extra at the restaurant for AGED beef. My best steaks are those I buy and let age in the fridge for 2 or 3 weeks. I once forgot and left one in for a full 28 days. Best one yet!

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Costco's ground beef is the best for homemade hamburgers. Don't care how they achieve it; it is still a great buy for us, $3.49 a pound the last time we bought it. Glad you folks are picky about it, all the more for the rest of us.

 

[Healthy Lifestyle]

Old?! You pay extra at the restaurant for AGED beef. My best steaks are those I buy and let age in the fridge for 2 or 3 weeks. I once forgot and left one in for a full 28 days. Best one yet!

Are you kidding or are you serious?

Do you trust supermarket food packaging or meat packaged from a butcher?
From a health standpoint, I believe the FDA would not recommend long dated food in fridge. ?

 

[Gumby]

I think many people are way too concerned about the "expiration date" of most things. I generally just use the smell test.

But differing opinions are what makes the world interesting.

 

[braumeister]

Are you kidding or are you serious?

Do you trust supermarket food packaging or meat packaged from a butcher?
From a health standpoint, I believe the FDA would not recommend long dated food in fridge. ?

I'm sure he's serious. There is a good reason high end steakhouses dry age their beef. The improvement in flavor is very noticeable.

 

[Healthy Lifestyle]

I'm sure he's serious. There is a good reason high end steakhouses dry age their beef. The improvement in flavor is very noticeable.

I agree but would hope high quality food would be under strict guidelines and inspections.

 

[Koolau]

I think many people are way too concerned about the "expiration date" of most things. I generally just use the smell test.

But differing opinions are what makes the world interesting.

Same with "medicine" expiry. Most meds are safe a year or more beyond expiry (at worst, some lose potency - not a major issue with meds. There ARE a few exceptions like ASA and tetracycline.)

I was looking at a bottle of rubbing alcohol the other day. Sure enough - it had an expiry in a couple of years past when I purchased. Say, what? What is isopropyl alcohol going to degrade to? And if it did (it doesn't) what would it affect since you don't ingest it? Sounds like a combo of CYA and good marketing.

 

[isisdave]

I found I had two old bottles of hydrogen peroxide, which of course degrades to -- water.

One had an expiration date of 2021 and it still had a little fizz when I poured some out. The other was dated 2013 -- two moves ago!! -- and it was quite flat.

The replacement bottle was only $1.09 for 16 oz, which I thought was remarkable cheap considering how everything has gone up, and its expiration date is 18 months from purchase.

 

[Winemaker]

I agree but would hope high quality food would be under strict guidelines and inspections.

I age my beef in fridge as well, sometimes. Most delicious. We buy our beef in bulk from same guy since 1992, either half, or whole. Black Angus, grass fed until 2 months of butchering, then fed corn and grain from his farm.

It won't be tofu that kills me!

 

[CaptTom]

My favorite is bottled water. It's been on this planet for 4.5 billion years. But it expires next month!

 

[Bigdawg]

My favorite is bottled water. It's been on this planet for 4.5 billion years. But it expires next month!

Just to be "safe", my DW throws out everything a month or 2 BEFORE the expiration date.

 

[Andre1969]

My favorite is bottled water. It's been on this planet for 4.5 billion years. But it expires next month!

The main thing I'd worry about with bottled water, is chemicals from the plastic leeching into the water over time. Supposedly, this happens pretty quick if they're exposed to sunlight as well. You'd think that wouldn't be common occurrence, but occasionally when being transported, the cases might pile up on a loading dock somewhere. Or, someone buys a case, but stores it in a spot, like out in a sunroom or enclosed porch, where a lot of sunlight hits it.

I used to have the habit of saving an empty water bottle and just filling it with tap water, and re-using it, but I've read you're not even supposed to do that. Apparently, the plastic they use in those bottles breaks down more quickly that the type of plastic they use in a milk jug, for example.

 

[audreyh1]

It was huge. Butcher asked if I wanted a 2” thick one. I said sure. It might have been 2 lbs.

Normally I don’t get one that big, but I just started a keto diet and wanted to start it off in style.

There you go then. That was really two ribeyes. $20 something a pound - that’s what I’ve been paying for grass fed.

 

[audreyh1]

Every year at Christmas time, all the major grocery chains sell prime rib for $5.99 a pound. I buy 3 or 4, total around 60 pounds. I then cut it up into boneless ribeye steaks and use my vacuum sealer and I have our year's supply of steak.

Smart! I hadn’t noticed that price drop.

 

[Ronstar]

I remember starting to buy my own clothes in 1974. Levi Jeans were $6.50 a pair back then. Twice my hourly pay rate.

Yesterday I paid $53 for a pair of Levi's.

 

[REWahoo]

I remember starting to buy my own clothes in 1974. Levi Jeans were $6.50 a pair back then. Twice my hourly pay rate.

Yesterday I paid $53 for a pair of Levi's.

Even more shocking when you consider your current hourly pay rate is $0.00.

 

[Winemaker]

Just to be "safe", my DW throws out everything a month or 2 BEFORE the expiration date.

There is no Federal law for expiration date except for baby formula and drugs. Period.

There are "best if used by" dates and "shelf" dates but no expiration or safety dates. They are there to tell you when you may begin to question quality especially if you do not know if it was properly stored.

 

[CaptTom]

...They are there to tell you when you may begin to question quality...

Trusting soul. They are there to increase revenue, plain and simple. Who do you think benefits when the customer throws away a perfectly good product and goes out and buys a replacement?

 

[Ronstar]

Even more shocking when you consider your current hourly pay rate is $0.00.

Exactly. Back in 1974, I never imagined paying $53 for a pair of jeans while unemployed.

 

[Turbo29]

Just to be "safe", my DW throws out everything a month or 2 BEFORE the expiration date.

An interesting article: Age Your Canned Goods Why I now think of best-by dates as maybe-getting-interesting-by dates.

This is just one of many videos where foods years past their quality dates (not expiration, as another poster points out, there is no such thing except for baby food) are sampled. Some other videos sample decades old food (most of those have no dates as that was not a routinely done back then).

 

[Bigdawg]

The main thing I'd worry about with bottled water, is chemicals from the plastic leeching into the water over time. Supposedly, this happens pretty quick if they're exposed to sunlight as well. You'd think that wouldn't be common occurrence, but occasionally when being transported, the cases might pile up on a loading dock somewhere. Or, someone buys a case, but stores it in a spot, like out in a sunroom or enclosed porch, where a lot of sunlight hits it.

I used to have the habit of saving an empty water bottle and just filling it with tap water, and re-using it, but I've read you're not even supposed to do that. Apparently, the plastic they use in those bottles breaks down more quickly that the type of plastic they use in a milk jug, for example.

Wait a darn minute. Are you telling me that in 2003 and again in 2007/2008 when I was standing around the burn pits in Iraq and there was a few pallets of bottled water simmering in the 128 degree heat for days that my biggest worry 20 years later would be the plastic breaking down and contaminating that drinking water? No way! Silly me. I thought my biggest worry was enemy bullets, IED's, the heat and later on the burn pits. Now plastic. Great. "Hello, Veterans Administration"

 

[Montecfo]

I think many people are way too concerned about the "expiration date" of most things. I generally just use the smell test.

But differing opinions are what makes the world interesting.

Yes. That is my go to as well.

 

[Fermion]

I don't worry about expiration dates either. Worst case it is free botox.

 

[Koolau]

I remember starting to buy my own clothes in 1974. Levi Jeans were $6.50 a pair back then. Twice my hourly pay rate.

Yesterday I paid $53 for a pair of Levi's.

Heh, heh, two words for you. Resale shops!

 

[Andre1969]

I remember buying a Guess denim jacket and matching jeans in 1992. I worked at a department store, and got a pretty good discount, but I remember the jacket was $90-something retail, and the pants were around $65. I was making $7.03/hr.

I actually still have the jacket, but haven't worn it in ages. It's in a closet down in the basement. I think the pants are long gone, though. I think they eventually got too tight for me, so I either gave them to someone, or donated them. They were sturdy, high-quality material though. Too bad I didn't keep them, because I've lost a bit of weight, and they'd probably fit me now!

I just checked the Guess website (surprised they're still around!). They have a lot more variety in jackets these days, but I'd estimate the closest equivalent would be around $120 these days. So that doesn't seem like too much of a jump in price, for nearly 32 years. But I'm sure they found ways to cheap out with the new one. And I think my old one was made in the USA.

The last time I bought a pair of jeans was at Gabe's (dunno how nationwide they are, but similar to Ross, TJ Maxx, Burlington, etc). They were under $20; I remember that much.