Guess My Expiration Date!

[Sofar]

I once ate a box of M&Ms from the Reagan administration, my Father's roommate's husband got them at visit to The White House in 1987, they expired not long thereafter. The little M&M dude was holding an American flag in the picture on the box, and they were red, white, and blue. Or as far as I can tell, the dye had almost completely degraded and the M&Ms were all white, yellowish, or gray. Some were cracked, and some weren't. The ones that were cracked were completely dried out and dusty-tasting, and ones that were intact tasted like new.

When I was helping my cousin close down his video store in 2001, we discovered a full jar of mayonnaise hidden up in the drop ceiling in the game room that had expired in either 1976 or 1973, I can't remember which.

I can imagine the fellows what put that up there thought it'd be found again in a few months by an angry co-worker, who among them knew that it would not be seen again but by the inhabitants of the futuristic wonderland of 2001.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

A little more checking of expiration dates was done last night, and we came up with even more expired stuff.

Sad thing is, most of it came from the backroom. That's right, product is expiring before it even gets to the salesfloor.

But of course, this wouldn't be because the buyer is an idiot who decided to almost double the size of the department and bring in all this stuff that doesn't sell...

[BookstoreEscapee]

When I was at work one time, I decided I wanted to try a Tab soda as no one ever seemed to by any. So, I got to the fridge, take one out, pop it open, and take a sip. That was so...freaking...nasty. I looked at the expiration date. It had expired a lil over two years ago.

Wow, I didn't know they still made Tab. When I was in 4th grade, my teacher sent me and my friend to the teachers' lounge (which housed the only soda machine in the school, believe it or not--but then, this was 1984) to get her a Tab, every single day.

My cafeteria at work (which is run by an outside company) went through a few weeks around Christmas where the little 1/2 pints of milk they had were VERY close to the expiration date. I bought one on the Wednesday the 27th that expired on the 29th. I keep milk in the fridge for tea and I planned to use it up by that Friday anyway, I used it Wed. and Thurs. and it was fine but on Friday I added it to my tea and it turned solid as soon as it hit the water. Then I sniffed it. There was no tea that day.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

As for your whipped cream, sometimes good heavy whipping cream will separate, but that doen's always mean it's bad. It just means it's got a lot of good milkfat in it.

The really good organic stuff I buy does that. It's AWESOME.

And spoiled milk really won't hurt you any. It's nasty and off-putting, but it probably won't make you sick. Grossed out, maybe, but not seriously ill.

[HYHYBT]

This is true. Mainly because milk gets nasty so much faster than it gets dangerous that no one could stand to drink enough bad milk to catch anything from it!

Anyone here know why so many companies go out of their way to keep their customers from knowing expiration dates? Sure, they give the *store* a cheat sheet, but how is someone supposed to know safely when to toss that stuff in the back of their pantry at home? I did figure out that anything without a URL on the back must be too old to eat....

[Primer]

Depending on for whom I'm cooking..... If the can isn't bulging and it doesn't "spit" when I open it, there's a good chance it's ok. Once, when I was making queso, the can of tomatoes looked ok, but it "spit" all over the wall when I pierced it with the can opener. No queso that evening! It wasn't even out of date!

[reformedwaitress]

And spoiled milk really won't hurt you any. It's nasty and off-putting, but it probably won't make you sick. Grossed out, maybe, but not seriously ill.

Never tell my ex-boyfriend that. He was in the hospital for 3 days because he drank milk that he didn't realize was expired. Puked up blood, all that good stuff. When his roommate came home she thought he had been murdered or something! She called 911 and the ambulance came and the doctors said it was a good thing she got there when she did.

So while it might not hurt you, it also could. I don't trust milk even a DAY past its experation date (though I only use milk for cooking. I HATE the stuff!)

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Anyone here know why so many companies go out of their way to keep their customers from knowing expiration dates? Sure, they give the *store* a cheat sheet, but how is someone supposed to know safely when to toss that stuff in the back of their pantry at home?

Probably to confound the people who will tear a shelf apart looking for the freshest product. If everybody did that, the companies would have to give more credits for expired merchandise because nobody would touch the stuff that wasn't the absolute freshest, but wasn't expired yet.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Anyone here know why so many companies go out of their way to keep their customers from knowing expiration dates?

I think they're in cahoots with the magazine people who don't want you to know when your subscription is up. Then they start sending you renewals months ahead of time and make you think you need to do it NOW...if you wait till it's about to expire they get desperate and give you really cheap offers.

Probably to confound the people who will tear a shelf apart looking for the freshest product.

Probably has something to do with it...of course if the store is stocking it the way they should, the stuff in the back will always be fresher....

[katie kaboom]

For some reason, drinks in aluminum cans tend to taste bad quicker than when they are in glass bottles. I have some Mikes hard lemonade coolers in my fridge, some are cans and some are bottles. Both are a few months old. The can ones taste... weird. But the bottled ones are fresh as the bottling day.

I have never in my life seen Miike's in a can. Just the thought boggles my mind

[Primer]

If the can isn't bulging and it doesn't "spit" when I open it, there's a good chance it's ok.

Speak of the Devil...I went to make apple cobbler yesterday...the second can of apples sounded funny, and when I got the lid off, it looked funny, too (haha). I didn't even chance it. It went into the trash, and I used a can of pineapple instead.

Two cans in two decades...I think I'm doing ok.

[staticradio]

I had a microwave calzone once that said plain as day: Exp. Jul. 2147. It may have meant July 21st, '47, but that's still a ways off.

I also buy a certain brand of fruit pie that lists its expiration date to the minute. Being as they're fruit pies they've a shelf life of five years or so, so that's quite a prognosis.

or a "0" for the "4" perhaps?

speaking of microwavable products, a work friend had a customer bring him something that expired in 2002...nothing like moldy burritos to make one's day...

"Yeah, you might not want to get that one, or that one, or...whoa!...that one..."