I used to follow expiry dates like gospel, figuring the sour cream would sweeten, the ice cream would melt, and the rice would crumble into dust the morning after after the the block-stamped date on the bottom of the package had passed. If the expiry date was closing in, I’d just cut my losses and chuck it. “Better safe than sorry,” I’d say, tossing a half-full carton of orange juice off the wall and into the garbage.
Then for the two years while I lived with Joey in Boston, I witnessed him first-hand casually disregard expiry dates with a wave of the hand and a slight laugh. “What’s going to happen?,” he’d ask sarcastically, putting together a salad with brown Romaine, rock-hard croutons, and Caesar dressing that poured out a film of oil before the dressing came out. “Am I going to die?”
And he had a point. While the nutritional content of last month’s blueberries may have slipped a notch, as long as they weren’t growing spores or starting to smell like a diaper, how bad could they be? I watched Joey carefully from a distance for a while, looking for signs that he was putting himself at risk. But no, nothing. He kept right on standing. No retching from his bedroom late at night, no disappearing rolls of toilet paper and clogged pipes, no sudden hospital visits after eating doggie-bag chicken wings from someone’s birthday party a month before. He was all right.
And so with newfound courage I slowly started testing the waters. Cans of soda seemed like easy first targets. I don’t even remember them having expiry dates when I was a kid, and so the terse finger-wagging printed on the bottom of the aluminum can seemed like a bit of a joke. Who throws away an unopened can of Diet Pepsi? I suppose Pepsi would love it if we just bought their stuff, stashed it for a while, and then threw it out. But I would no longer stand for that. So I conquered soda, then branched out into potato chips. They go stale when you don’t seal them, they stay fresh when you do, right? So the date probably applied if you left them sitting in a bowl on your coffee table, I eventually figured. I bought them, I’ll eat them, even if it takes me till Christmas.
It was tougher to be brave with bread and milk, but I convinced myself that worst-case scenario I was just eating penicillin and cheese. I pictured a cracker with a square of brie and a pink capsule squished right into it and I thought “That’s not that bad.”
And so it went. Buying groceries just for myself got easier, knowing that I had the newfound strength to down yellow orange juice or slice up onions that had grown roots and were searching desperately for soil under my kitchen sink. Plus, I saved a lot of money, and I like to think I helped give my immune system some tough new cases to crack, like sending it to the gym for some strength training and mental focusing so it’s ready for prime time. This way I’m ready in case I ever get shot with a poison dart or mistake a glass of paint thinner for water.
Now, I’m not advocating being stupid. The fuzzy lampchops should probably still be left alone. But come on, let’s hear it for pushing a little bit harder. Let’s here it for testing the waters. Let’s hear it for eating things past the expiry date.
AWESOME!
My wife won a Heineken beer keg at a teachers’ social. We put it away for a year, figuring to use it on our annual camping trip the following summer. When I checked it before using, I realized that it was now 18 months past the expiry date; which meant it was already 6 month overdue when she won it. Typical cheap teachers! Anyhow, it was definitely skunky when I opened it. Beer, in the keg at least, has a “best before” life.
I eat yogurt past the expiry date all the time. I swear it tastes better :)
Be careful with goats’ milk. That stuff rots on a pin drop. I had some rot before the date. Nothing is worse that a slug of it straight from the jug at 2 in the morning.
Eating past the expiration date isn’t bad, as long as it doesn’t taste off. I’ve drank milk a few days after the date, and it tasted the same. I’ve even recently ventured to try a piece of cheese cake that had accidentally been left on the counter for a day and a half. I’m still alive…wait…feeling…
i am asthematic… and during winter for co trolling asthematic symptoms i have been using expired inhaler for few days when suddenly one day i founf out it’s expired… :(
Eating stuff out of date and not dropping dead yet? Awesome!
I did this today with milk and it reminded me of the Seinfeld joke about smelling milk…what is milk actually meant to smell like?!
It’s not what it’s supposed to smell like; it’s what it’s NOT supposed to smell like…sour.
I think this is an awesome site! I was curious (if I was correct in my own thinking about the “expiry” date on Chobani yogurt, as I have thrown out Dannon yogurt two days after the date on the cup) to “see” if this yogurt would still be safe to eat. The date on the yogurt is 3/7/11. Today’s date is 3/22/11 (EARLY a.m.). What I thought is absolutely correct according to the information on this, and several other sites. I opened, sniffed and stirred the yogurt (as I usually do), then I tasted just a smidgen of it. While I was eating it, I actually found that it tasted a little bit better (a tad bit sweeter) than eating it the day I bring it home from Sam’s!!!
Thanks for this site ~ I will be “sharing” this!!!
Absolutely. I always smell and taste a little bit. Most are sell-by dates anyway. Also, this depends if the item has been opened or not. But I’ve eaten expired yogurt and been fine. I am careful with eggs though because the fresher the eggs, the better they are to bake with. Milk I’ll got about three days after the date until it starts to smell like raspberries.
Best Before, not Bad After.
Recite that over and over, and it will stick.
Well said.
MANY years ago, I worked in pharmeceuticals and when things expired all staff took “nearly” everything home FREE!
I don’t know if that would happen today or not with so many more rules and regs, and the “If in doubt don’t” rule, but seriously government general on this topic…we’re all alright with the extra ears, fur and fluffy tails.
Ok, I might be pushing the white jacket luck too far here-so, good night awesome-land and sweet dreams.
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More awesome is :- Eating something that was long forgotten, and while chewing you notice that today is the actual expiry day !
yes, unless it’s turned orangey brownish green and grey~ originally all white cottage cheese.
I agree with most of this, but after i read some of the comments I was shocked. It is NOT healthy to eat food that had mold on it already.
I read things like “Made a sandwich with bread with a touch of mould, just shaved that right off” and “Sour cream goes orange when it’s too old. I just carefully scoop the weird rusty orange color off the top and behold, there’s still some pure white sour cream in the middle!” or ” Cheese is the biggest one. My mother always trimmed the mould off.”
Even if you:
-wash it of
-cut it away
-remove it in any other way
There will still be Mycelium left.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycelium
Mycelium is the actual Mushroom in a Mushroom:
the stuff you see on top (the “Mushrooms” or the Mold) are actually only the Fruit of the Mushroom!
secondly:
the Mold on some kinds of cheese (Brie, Camenbert ect) is not the same mold that you see on food sometimes.
The Mold on your Food is POISONOUS, The Mold on the Cheese is Yummy.
Lastly. Most Cheese does NOT need mold to be produced.
so if you think you drink milk thats rotten, its not penicillin and brie, but DEATH AND DECAY!.
But most food is fine to eat for a few days after the “best by” date, but absolutely fucking NOT WHEN IT HAS MOLD ON IT.
Oh please. Can you imagine how much cheese we would waste if we tossed it the minute we saw blue? I’ve done this my whole life and I’ve NEVER been sick. I’ve also picked the occasional speck of green off a slice of bread…big whoop. Fuzzy coating on leftovers…that’s where I draw the line.
If anybody wants to find the shelf life of their food or more information about the “expiration date” or “use by date” or “eat by date” of any other kind of food or beverage EatBydate.com has a huge database
http://www.eatbydate.com
the thing I find funny is water has an expiry date :D
Once I opened a bag of chips and it smelled like pure canola oil. I grabbed one, and it was greasier than having grease all over your hand. I ate it and I almost barfed. Then I looked at the expiry date. Those chips had expired six years ago, and the bag had never been opened. So, Neil, chips can go bad without being opened. Just sayin.
I never wanna eat any thing after expiry…Nothing is more then health..
Dies ist ein super blog.I Liebe kommenden editieren, Inhalte ist groß.
Gracias por la info .you útiles son muy.
i’m a creative director for one of the student publications at my university, so I know nothing about writing, but this article is hilarious and has such a clever voice behind it. wish you were on my team. definitely now following.
I am the complete oppistie. I am picky on dairy productes and also enything that needs refridgarateon not pop tough
Cool article. Ironically I have a cartoon series I call Past Expiry !
The expiration date has never been a deadline. It is a challenge! How dare anyone suggest that I can’t eat my own food a day, a week, a month, or a YEAR later! I scoff at you!
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I ate old stuff and died.What do I do now?
I just noticed that the last stick of deoderant from the bulk pack I bought a while ago has an expiry date of 07/2008.
Either my friends aren’t saying anything or……AWESOME!
This post has become an old friend. I think I posted over a year ago, (something about orange sour cream) and still, every now and then another comment falls in my in-box. I’m a bit more cautious now since, yeah, I got food poisoning… but I have to agree with Chris, 3000 year old honey would be WAY BEYOND FREAKIN AWESOME!
My favourite comment ever (thanks to my big bro) was ‘Best before does not mean shitty after’. Classic!
This is obviously correct. I live in China and through stuff away just to make room in the fridge, never mind being old, never mind expiry dates. But each time I do, my maid goes digging through the trash and yelling at me for throwing away good food. Americans just need to get it together and stop believing everything they see.
I agree. If it doesn’t smell funny or starts to talk to you, you can eat it. I couldn’t care less about expiry dates. I believe in what my eyes and nose tell me, irregardless of whatever may be printed on the container.
this isn’t okay to me. I had botulism (C-diff toxin) for 3 weeks and almost DIED. If it’s expired on the date, it’s in the trash!
Help “? I just ate had a container of onion dip two mos expired. I just bought it at the store, so never expected it to be old ..until I began feeling queasy. Now I’m worried.
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Whenever I visit my parents, not only do they send me home with leftovers of the meal they made for me, but I also “grocery shop” right out of their fridge, knowing full well that my mother will throw away anything that’s past the expiry date or produce that doesn’t look as fresh as it once was. My rule is that if it smells fine and has no mold on it, it’s edible (even if there is mold, such as on a block of cheese, I just cut the mold off. I cut off the mushy parts on fruit and veggies, too). It’s tough being single, in my mid-20s, and leading an active social life in the city, so I will pinch pennies where I have to.
There is a woman at work who I caught tossing a full, unopened litre of coffee cream because it was the “best before” date THAT day. I couldn’t believe her. I asked her what she thought was wrong with it. I asked her what she thought people did before “best before” dates were stamped on food. They sniffed it! Milk is easy to judge by sniffing. I explained all about “best before” and “expiry”, but she stood her ground. I told her don’t ever toss perfectly good milk again please and thank you. But it’s truly amazing how many people toss perfectly good food because someone suckered them into thinking they’re going to get sick if they consume something past the “best before” date.
What is your point in doing that??? I just bought and ate half a container of onion dip before realizing that it expired two mos ago.. I have a migraine, diarrhea coming on and have already thrown up. Not sure if I should go to the Dr.,as I don’t feel like driving.?
after after the the ~ AWSOME!
Champagne from 1987. For 25 years my husband and I kept a bottle of champagne from our wedding. We moved it from state to state waiting for our 25th anniversary. I started finding red crude in the bottom of the refrigerator. I’d clean it up, and it would reappear. Turned out there was a microscopic leak in the cork of the champage bottle. I opened it and all carbonization was gone–we had just some red-looking liquid. So, champagne expires, but love lives on.