Expiration Dates
 

Do you eat foods past the expiration date? If so, which ones and how long past the date? Also, have you ever unknowingly purchased something from the store that was past the expiration date?

The only product I regularly use past the expiration date is milk. I usually still drink it within a week past the expiration date, because it still tastes fine to me. But other than that, it's usually on a case by case basis. If it still looks fine, I'll taste it, and if it still taste fine, I just eat or drink it normally.

And from the store, my mom bought me a soda from a gas station that was three months past the expiration date. The thing is, I didn't realize this until I was already halfway done with it. But since I only realized it from the date, and not the taste, I still finished it.

I tend not to. Unless it is something like milk or deli meats, there isn't much to worry about. Most of the time an expiration date on things will be like "best eaten by 5/11/09"

I've used eggs months after the expiration date. I only use them in cooking, so they last a long time. If they were really bad, they'd start to smell, which has never happened to me, and I've yet to get sick, so it's all good.

I currently have some sour cream and onion chips on top of my frige that expired on February 23. They taste just fine (last I checked) and haven't caused any problems. Though I was paranoid at first about eating them, simply because I once almost ate a very old Doritios chip that was mostly blue from mold.

Not that I make a habit out of it or anything but if you can get something like a stick of butter or yogurt that's only say a week overdate at half the price or less, it won't do me any harm as those things generally keep very well.

I don't. In fact, when it comes to dairy products, I'm downright paranoid... but that might be traced back with a sour cream accident I had years ago. Still, it's not something I'd like to repeat.

Aside from that, I'm just really sensitive to the change in taste when it comes to a lot of foods going bad.

I do this with bread only because I leave it in the fridge or the freezer instead of out on the counter.

Hey! I do the same thing. I unintentionally purchased expired bread last week and didn't realize until I was half done with the bag. Oh well. At least I didn't see any funky mold-ish things growing on them.

No, never. I had some bad experience with expired chips, food, and especially milk. Oh god, I bought some milk, drank it, and then had a weird taste in my mouth. Then I looked at the expiration date and noticed it was 2 weeks expired. I had a very very bad stomach ache for the next 3 days. Some bad times with that milk. Ugh.

You guys should notice that food has a 'sell date' on it. Just means the stores have to sell it by them. It should be good for at least another week.

Soda doesn't really go bad, so don't worry about that.

The only stuff you really need to worry about is dairy products (or fresh meat, not canned).

Everything else I'll eat even if it's years past the date. I had a can of Budweiser the other day, expired Nov 2003. I opened it up, poured it, it was still really fizzy and tasted perfect.

If it's a sealed bag or can, I don't see a problem.

I note expiration dates before using some products as a factor in checking if I should use the product. Basically, this applies to milk (among other dairy products), bread, and meats for me.

I've eaten chips way past the sell by date, but there is one ginormous container of mixed party chips that I've had for almost 4 years now. Everything in it has pretty much lost its texture, and I should really throw it out. Oh well.

I generally don't mind eating expired chips or crackers, since I haven't had any bad experiences with that yet. ;) I don't really care for expiration dates on pop, though I hardly drink that stuff anyways. It could be years past its expiration date, and I wouldn't care less-- as long as it isn't a decade old or something! On the other hand, I won't even touch milk, cheese, or yogurt after the expiration date.

I always get confused with an expiration date and a sell by date. I'm never sure how long I'm can eat the sell by date by so a lot of food just sits in my fridge because by the time I'm ready to eat it, I'm freaked because it's been so long. Milk really bothers me with an expiration date. It expires so quickly but tastes ok weeks after, I think I still have some milk in my fridge that expired in January.

I had some iced tea today and the bottle was going to expire tomorrow. I still drank it but I felt a bit skeeved.

I usually try not to. With fresh things, like milk, cheese, produce, etc., I will definitely throw it out if past expiration date. Processed foods like soda, crackers, etc., I will still eat it. First I'll take a bite, and if it sucks, I'll chunk it. Otherwise it's still good to me.

And it didn't bother you?

Can't something go bad in the bag?

The only expiration dates I might pay any real attention to are the ones placed on commercially packaged beef products.

It turns out that a lot of meat packagers are injecting these packages with carbon monoxide; this has the effect of making the meat appear fresh and pink indefinitely. Visible inspection to tell if its spoiled becomes virtually impossible and the only way you'll really know is to either go by the date on package, or physically handle and smell the meat.

My flatmates and I don't share cooking or food, so I usually take some time to finish a loaf of bread. So long it's not grown mould or gone dry and hard I usually just chomp it down. Most dry packages foods taste fine to me even though their past they use by date. The only thing I usually don't touch after its expiration date is milk and yoghurt and meat....

Is there proof of this anywhere? Oh man, that's disgusting...

There is some effort to get the FDA to ban this process.

USA Today article
WA Post article
PR Newswire Article

I never drink milk on the printed expiration day. My stomach tends to be very sensitive, so I'd rather not take any chances with milk. The same can be said for all other foods.

What about medicinal drugs? We consume them as well, right? and they have expiration dates as well, right? I had this bottle of tylenol once. expired two months before. I still took two every eight hours and my headache went away. So i suppose that's okay? Maybe i'm just really ignorant but it was two in the morning, my head was throbbing and the pharmacy was closed. Oh well.

I used to work in a pharmacy, and the pharmacist told me medicine is good for a year after the expiration. Expiration dates on drugs assume that the drugs were stored in the worst possible conditions (too hot or cold). At least with over the counter pills, they don't go bad, they just lose their potency. We used to stock up on Tylenol and the like when they'd get marked down for being close to expiring.

I had to dump a whole heap of passionfruit yogurt down the toilet last night. It was two months past the 'this will probably kill you' date. It had fuzz and cool yellow stuff on it. But yeah. I don't really care about those little printed dates. Virtually everthing seems to keep a few days after it. "THIS MILK INSTANTLY GOES BAD IN FOUR MINUTES"

It's probably psychosomatic, but if I know something is past the expiration date, it always tastes funny to me, even if it seems completely okay. I should know better, though. Being an engineer, I'm familiar with the concept of "factor of safety" which is used to make absolutely sure nothing screws up. So that date is probably the expiration date under worse than the worst conceivable circumstances.

That's okay. Soda (non-diet) will last virtually forever provided the seal remains intact and it stays in a cool climate. Last year while visiting my grandmother, I cracked open a Sprite canned in 1995. Tasted just like it was made last week.

Hell, virtually all canned goods will last if their seal isn't broken. Just look at the dude that ate a 50 year old canned chicken.

What about chips? I know I've opened some over the years that were stale, just to find out they were past the expiration date. I guess technically they might still be safe to eat, but I don't see who would want to (especially when they are really stale).

With chips, it's tough. The bag is pretty thin, and I think it's somewhat permeable to air molecules. I think that if they were vacuum-sealed, chips would last longer.

Still, though. Cans? They last for a looooong time. Think of anything that people keep in bunkers for emergency situations.

AFAIK, bagged chip products are packaged with Nitrogen rather than air to extend their shelf life. The nitrogen is inert, but the chips will still get mushy and nasty if they sit for long enough.

Well, that's a relief. Then I can say it was originally six months over, not two, and still be in the safe zone.

I would think that with canned products, you have to watch out for signs of rusting of the can itself, especially if the food was poorly packaged (or packaged before the mid 90's). I always imagine all that crusty rust just falling into the canned-whatever while you open it and then eating it later on thinking it's part of the seasoning.
There's a can of eggplant dip in my cupboard from four years ago and it doesn't look too good on the outside. I'm afraid to see what the inside looks like.

Yeah, the same with dented cans, you shouldn't leave those too long in case the zinc gets into the food. Never had any problems there though.

I tend not to worry about things that have gone over the date by a few days, especially bread. Normally I just get reduced loaves that go bad the next day and eat those over the next 3-4 days and there's never any problems. If there's a bit of mould on a slice I'll just pick the mouldy bit off and eat the rest of the slice and it doesn't bother me. Milk's about the only thing I refuse to have past the date; sometimes I even don't like milk a couple of days before the date if it's been open for a while. If it smells different to normal I can't drink it.

The only thing i eat past the 'Best Before' date is sandwhich fillers likePrawn Mayonnaise, Egg Manyonnaise and Salami. Only because i don't think an extra few days will hurt me. It hasn't yet. I never eat them more than 3 daysover the Best Before though.

I'm kinda sensitive when it comes to food so I never eat anything expired. It's not that I'm afraid to eat it, I just become very sick after.

I tend not to eat anything after it's best before date but mainly because we tend not to buy so much food that it's sat around that long. I certainly wouldn't eat anything after a use by date though.

If it has expired I don't eat it. I just don't want to get sick or something being expired or even bother with trying to eat it. It's automatically dumped and trashed - no questions asked.

I often ignore expiration dates. The majority of the time, I can tell no difference a few days after than before the date. I try to keep milk in mind, because if I ignore that one too long, it gets really sour. Also, small powder donuts get too moist after a while, so I avoid those as well.

I am anal about expiration dates. Years ago, I once completely ignored the milk carton in the back of the fridge until I really needed a glass of milk.

I decided, without looking or sniffing (while talking to a friend while I was cooking dinner) to pour some into a glass for her.

She was too busy talking to me to notice the milk was bad. It wasn't like CHUNKY GROSS bad, but it was bad enough to make her throwup after swallowing the soured milk. ;_;

Ever since, I do NOT want a repeat offense. Though I'm not sure if mayo ever goes bad? Because I use the same jar all the time.

Mayonnaise appears to keep forever, it's quite strange stuff but then it does partly contain natural preservatives, so perhaps it's not so surprising. The same goes for anything excessively spicy or salty or (depending on what it is) sweet.