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so, round at my elderly fathers house - his place is a tip as per usual old person style - decide to do some cleaning for him.

Find some lasagne sheets from 2009, a mustard from 2007, Ameretti biscuits that expired in 2001, a jam from 1999, a home made Apple wine from 1988 and a bottle of Rhubarb wine from 1986 !!!
there is also some booze that doesn't even have dates on, but I swear I remember those bottles from the booze cabinet from my childhood (am 42 now)

a few months on a can of beans or soup - who cares. Something with a natural preservative in like Jam or a vinegar, couple of years unopened - fine. but anything opened or >3 years out of date - fudge that.


old people

While my wife was in Oz seeing her latest niece I cleared our freezer of frozen plums, leftover lasagna, pureed apple, undiagnosable lumps of grey frozen meat, average age 3+ years. She didn't notice for 18 months then went into a massive huff.

Best before dates are for chicks.

Just consume it, if it tastes bad throw it away. If it makes you sick, save the corks for spray

I just finished a jar of vegemite that expired in 1996.* It was fine.

*It was quite a big jar.

Gwenno wrote:While my wife was in Oz seeing her latest niece I cleared our freezer of frozen plums, leftover lasagna, pureed apple, undiagnosable lumps of grey frozen meat, average age 3+ years. She didn't notice for 18 months then went into a massive huff.

No. I saw this from old people and will not perpetuate that.
Freezers are unpacked and cleaned out every six months, if not before. Cupboards every six to nine months. Preserves and tins every year out.

I do have a bottle of whisky, 17 years open, and a few bottles of other stuff even older.

At uni I kept an old unopened pint of milk for a year in the attic before reinserting the carton back into the fridge when the best before dates realigned (they had no year). That was funny watching my flatmate open that pint.....my god the smell.

I remember first year of Uni, I was at my Grandparents and Gran said I could take some alcohol from their stash upstairs woohoo. This was from duty free on their retirement travels that they bought home and dumped in the spare room wardrobe. Being the 90's I took the Baileys, don't judge me. It came out like cottage cheese. My Dad is terrible at getting rid of things, he swears now he's near retirement he's going to sort stuff out but he has plans, then he does something daft like put a shower in the bedroom, that never worked (in the bedroom not in an ensuite), so he has to undo the work he's done, or he doesn't maintain the work he's done and it needs doing all over again or getting rid of. I figure when he dies I'll just have to raze the house to the ground and build on or sell the land. If he ends up in care and the council want to sell the house to cover it they're in for a shock.

FYI Tins and jars last forever. No need to chuck them unless seal is compromised.

Boobs not Moobs wrote:I remember first year of Uni, I was at my Grandparents and Gran said I could take some alcohol from their stash upstairs woohoo. This was from duty free on their retirement travels that they bought home and dumped in the spare room wardrobe. Being the 90's I took the Baileys, don't judge me. It came out like cottage cheese. My Dad is terrible at getting rid of things, he swears now he's near retirement he's going to sort stuff out but he has plans, then he does something daft like put a shower in the bedroom, that never worked (in the bedroom not in an ensuite), so he has to undo the work he's done, or he doesn't maintain the work he's done and it needs doing all over again or getting rid of. I figure when he dies I'll just have to raze the house to the ground and build on or sell the land. If he ends up in care and the council want to sell the house to cover it they're in for a shock.

FYI Tins and jars last forever. No need to chuck them unless seal is compromised.

I know. But donkey years of struggling with frozen jar lids to unpack some indeterminate contents (usually a jam or preserve or something), or solid old cans with a dubious look (never had one bad, yet) made me extra suspicious.
Throw the bloody thing away and have peace of mind.

backrow wrote:so, round at my elderly fathers house - his place is a tip as per usual old person style - decide to do some cleaning for him.

Find some lasagne sheets from 2009, a mustard from 2007, Ameretti biscuits that expired in 2001, a jam from 1999, a home made Apple wine from 1988 and a bottle of Rhubarb wine from 1986 !!!
there is also some booze that doesn't even have dates on, but I swear I remember those bottles from the booze cabinet from my childhood (am 42 now)

a few months on a can of beans or soup - who cares. Something with a natural preservative in like Jam or a vinegar, couple of years unopened - fine. but anything opened or >3 years out of date - fudge that.


old people

Watchog proved a couple of weeks ago, that all of that is probably fine.




Not sure about the Rhubarb wine, but who would want that anyway.

When I have control, the freezer is generally for uncooked food, bought stuff, and very occasionally cooked deliberately to freeze. It is a waste of time for leftovers as they usually dry out, and if reheated are sniffed at. Leftovers are kept in the fridge until eaten or thrown when blue/ green. Otherwise it is just more hoarding.

danny_fitz wrote:At uni I kept an old unopened pint of milk for a year in the attic before reinserting the carton back into the fridge when the best before dates realigned (they had no year). That was funny watching my flatmate open that pint.....my god the smell.

Much respect to you playing the long game there

On the other extreme, the gf's mother throws away food the day before the expiry date printed on it.
She's convinced that milk suddenly goes bad just because some number on the outside of the carton says so. Although, she's not as bad as when I first met her.

I recon she wouldn't be quite so particular if they had less cash to spend on replacing unused food.

Nolanator wrote:On the other extreme, the gf's mother throws away food the day before the expiry date printed on it.
She's convinced that milk suddenly goes bad just because some number on the outside of the carton says so. Although, she's not as bad as when I first met her.

I recon she wouldn't be quite so particular if they had less cash to spend on replacing unused food.

GF does that in my house, it drives me insane. She threw a tub of butter in the bin a few weeks ago because she said it was gone off. And we aren't exactly overflowing in cash

EDIT: my brother is the worst for it, he won't eat anything "gone off", won't eat leftovers after a day or so, nothing that is the same as the numbers. But he's a spoiled little prick.

Bullettyme wrote:

Nolanator wrote:On the other extreme, the gf's mother throws away food the day before the expiry date printed on it.
She's convinced that milk suddenly goes bad just because some number on the outside of the carton says so. Although, she's not as bad as when I first met her.

I recon she wouldn't be quite so particular if they had less cash to spend on replacing unused food.

GF does that in my house, it drives me insane. She threw a tub of butter in the bin a few weeks ago because she said it was gone off. And we aren't exactly overflowing in cash

EDIT: my brother is the worst for it, he won't eat anything "gone off", won't eat leftovers after a day or so, nothing that is the same as the numbers. But he's a spoiled little prick.

Thankfully my missus doesn't get that from her mother, although she does occasionally convince herself that things "smell funny", when I'm fairly certain that she's confusing "smells funny" with "smells like milk smells", for example.
I eat everything in the fridge until there's no doubt that it's gone off.

Yeah, until something else visibly seems to be eating it, food in my fridge is fair game.

Gwenno wrote:While my wife was in Oz seeing her latest niece I cleared our freezer of frozen plums, leftover lasagna, pureed apple, undiagnosable lumps of grey frozen meat, average age 3+ years. She didn't notice for 18 months then went into a massive huff.

I dont' blame her if you said you threw it out.
On the other hand if you said it was lucky she was back because you lived out of the freezer and it is now empty she would have had no reason for the huff.

Leinster in London wrote:

Gwenno wrote:While my wife was in Oz seeing her latest niece I cleared our freezer of frozen plums, leftover lasagna, pureed apple, undiagnosable lumps of grey frozen meat, average age 3+ years. She didn't notice for 18 months then went into a massive huff.

I dont' blame her if you said you threw it out.
On the other hand if you said it was lucky she was back because you lived out of the freezer and it is now empty she would have had no reason for the huff.

It was to make room for meat.

When I came back from a sailing trip I chucked my logbook, a nice Arran cheese (or something) and some smoked salmon into a plastic bag. Bag went under bed "because it just has my logbook in it"

I didn't sail again for three years.

Let's just say the packet of salmon had inflated.

my mrs fills the fridge, and when it goes past use by, i throw most of it out as by then she's she's bought more of the same stuff. Ad infinitum. It keeps one of us happy.

message #2527204 wrote:my mrs fills the fridge, and when it goes past use by, i throw most of it out as by then she's she's bought more of the same stuff. Ad infinitum. It keeps one of us happy.

Tesco?

pjm1 wrote:

message #2527204 wrote:my mrs fills the fridge, and when it goes past use by, i throw most of it out as by then she's she's bought more of the same stuff. Ad infinitum. It keeps one of us happy.

Tesco?

Iceland

I'm still trying to convince my wife that "Best Before" is not the same as "Expiry". Most foods last longer than the date stated, even if it's an actual expiry. An expiry date often reflect how long they were willing to do a study for rather than a rigorous study to find out how long it will actually last. And are often done in worst case scenarios.

Sometimes having an expiry date at all is still a reflection of inflexible regulations. Your millions of years old Himalayan salt is not going to expire a year after it's been put in a jar for example.

Agreed. Soreen just doesn’t go off, likewise Stilton. Bread just needs a trim of the blue speckles and it can last plenty.

It’s probably only meat and fish where the line is truly drawn. Eggs can be sunk and milk sniffed.

Fine with food after a best before date. Generally don't eat things after a 'use by' date.

My mate’s Mum died in 2007 just down the road from me now in my little Buckinghamshire village.
When we defrosted her freezer in the garage before the house sold there was a two pack
Of steaks from Sainsbury’s best before about 1988.
We bbq’d them and ate them straight away and fine they were too.
Learn about food science too much and you’d shy away from eating most of it. A sniff and a look tells you a lot of what needs to be known.

Bit like women.
Badoom-tish

The only thing I'm leery of is Milk - But it's more to do with the heat here (Supply chain)

Pat the Ex Mat wrote:The only thing I'm leery of is Milk - But it's more to do with the heat here (Supply chain)

Yep, many products, milk included, obviously won't last until their best before / expiry if not stored correctly.

A long time ago in a former life I sometimes dealt with product complaints for milk. In almost all of the cases someone had done something brainless like leave the bottle out on the bench in the sun for a day, and then blamed us for it getting oxidized or going off.

Fat Old Git wrote:

Pat the Ex Mat wrote:The only thing I'm leery of is Milk - But it's more to do with the heat here (Supply chain)

Yep, many products, milk included, obviously won't last until their best before / expiry if not stored correctly.

A long time ago in a former life I sometimes dealt with product complaints for milk. In almost all of the cases someone had done something brainless like leave the bottle out on the bench in the sun for a day, and then blamed us for it getting oxidized or going off.

Oz does some weird thing with food.

For years, I was tested for Coeliac when it turns out I can't stomach the preservatives in the supermarket bread here.

Pfft, that's nothing compared to eating US Civil War hardtack ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga5JrN9DrVI

(... or the other old military rations that guy eats!)

I need new glasses... I read the subject as "finding old fool" and thought it was another thread about [insert older poster's name here who is subject to your windup]

Hong Kong wrote:I need new glasses... I read the subject as "finding old fool" and thought it was another thread about [insert older poster's name here who is subject to your windup]

I am here, I am here ... don't fret.

Poshprop wrote:

danny_fitz wrote:At uni I kept an old unopened pint of milk for a year in the attic before reinserting the carton back into the fridge when the best before dates realigned (they had no year). That was funny watching my flatmate open that pint.....my god the smell.

Much respect to you playing the long game there

I thought so

The one I hate is this:

Missus: Oh, we have this 3/4 full jar of pickled onions that is almost out of date.
Me: Throw them out, we never use them.
Her: No, that's a waste of money - I'll find something to make with them.
Me: It's like $1. Just chuck them out.
Her: No, this recipe looks good.

She goes shopping - returns with caviar, truffles, goose liver and saffron.

Her: try this. It's kind of OK.
Me: It's edible, but not that great.
Her: Yeah, but at least we didn't waste the pickled onions.
Me: but what are we going to do with the left over caviar, truffles, goose liver and saffron - we'll never use them.
Her: I'll find something to make with them... oooo this looks good.
Me: For fucks sake! *leaves*

Her: If you're going out can you pick up some pickled onions on your way back?