Food expiration dates??

[Idaho45guy]

I try to keep at least 3 months worth of food on hand and then rotate the older stuff out to the local food bank before it expires.

Got behind this time and just went through my pantry and was surprised at how some stuff seems to have really early expiration dates for no reason.

For example, I love these Idahoan dried potatoes. My grandfather actually used to sell his crops to them, so I grew up always buying their products. They sell these packets of freeze-dried potato flakes for under a buck that when you add a cup of water or so and boil, makes a couple of quarts of delicious mashed potatoes. Super cheap and perfect for survival food.

I bought a box full of them a couple of years ago when Covid hit. According to the printing on them, they expired two years ago.

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How do freeze-dried potato flakes go bad in an air-tight package within a few months??

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I suspect the "best before" wording is a legal shenanigans ploy to get consumers to throw away perfectly good food.

I went through my little pantry and found 35 different cans or packages of food that had expired. Some said "best by" or "best before" and some said "use by".

No idea if any of them are good or bad. Hate to throw away so much food, but the local food bank won't accept it if it's expired.

Anyone done any experiments to see if food is any good past the printed dates?

[762 shooter]

Generally the taste starts to degrade.

[Half Dog]

I generally don’t go by their dates unless I’m shopping. Although, I’ve found the expiration dates on milk and bread are pretty accurate. Now my wife has a very different perspective, which has probably saved me many times throughout the years.

[Wayne Smith]

Canned, dried, and freeze dried foods degrade very slowly. Frozen foods degrade quicker. Frozen pork, for instance, begins to lose flavor after six months, beef after about 18 months. None of it is unsafe to eat. i have no idea if or how nutrition degrades, or if it does. Someone else will have to answer that.

Very slowly is exactly that. Seeds have been found in Egyptian tombs that are viable, thus if able to grow they are safe and nutritious to eat. The Gillean Palm tree was recovered from seeds stored at Masada during the Roman siege. Now, only a few of each were viable, but this gives you an idea of how slowly dried foods stay good in the right conditions. The international seed bank is stored in the artic, also a unique environment for long term storage.

[Thumbcocker]

There have been instances where canned food has been eaten decades after it was canned. (Metal cans). I routinely eat venison that we home canned in jars 5 years ago. Still tasty.

There is a YouTube channel called Simple Living Alaska. The couple that posts bought a remote cabin on a lake as is. There was Mountain House freeze dried food there that was decades old. Still good.

I don't see how freeze dried food kept in a controlled environment could go bad. If you are acquainted with any Mormans they would be the folks to talk to for food storage pointers.

As far as your freeze dried taters, I would have zero concerns eating them 10 years from now.

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[GhostHawk]

I'm with Thumbcocker.

I've had cans of fruit that passed their experation date that expanded, then leaked. Not edible obviously.

Anything freeze dried, vacumn sealed, frozen I pretty much ignore the dates. They are in effect meaningless.

Canned soups, corned beef hash, spam, those I watch.

[rancher1913]

freeze dried foods last for 30 years or better, if stored correctly. canned foods, if the can shows signs of pressure or has a gas release when you first open, pitch it because of botulism other wise use it. they have found canned food in mason jars in a sunken ship that tested as good 100 years after the ship sank, it was stored in optimal conditions.

[Thumbcocker]

https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2013...Food%2C%20Wait

[pworley1]

Unless commercially prepared food has an unusual color or order we usually eat it.

[Thumbcocker]

A little more Google foo found articles where food from the Shackleton expedition in 1910 was still edible and cans from a Civil War era ship were opened in 1974 and were safe but with less nutrients. Note that edible and tasty are a long way apart.

[No_1]

I give the packaging a quick once over before opening - any swelling of the package or leakage is reason to toss the item. Once opened I give it a sniff. If it does not smell odd I will eat it. What I don’t do anymore is place an opened metal can directly in a fire like I did 40+ years ago when I was a scout. I am sure someone will chime in but “modern” cans are coated on the inside to prevent the “metal” taste from transferring to the food.

[CastingFool]

I recently opened a can of sweetened condensed milk that the best before date went back to 2013. Did not taste bad, except it was very thick. I thoroughly enjoyed eating by the spoonful. It was sort of eating soft caramel

[elmacgyver0]

I started writing the purchase date with a sharpie on all food I buy anymore.
A lot more useful than "best by" dates.

[dverna]

We ignore the "best by" date on canned and freeze dried products. I am not sure there is a "best by" date on packs of beans and peas but if there is we would ignore it too.

Those kinds of food are a large part of our preps. No power is needed to maintain them during an emergency. Freezing is OK for short term food storage but we have thrown out a lot more frozen food.

IG45, I would not worry about those potatoes. BTW we use the same ones.

[Rickf1985]

I always wondered about MRE's. I know C-rats lasted a long time, well some of them. we had some dated from WWII in Vietnam. And they tasted like it. But the thing was that the newest ones tasted exactly the same! And the younger generation of soldiers complains about MRE's!!! I have a case of them but they are expired so I don't know whether they are good or not since they are not dried food.

[gwpercle]

It's a "Best By" date not a "you will drop dead " date .
Government started requiring a BBD ...food makers figured out ...the shorter the date , the more turnover at the store level and the more money they make .
Best By dates have never been tested and items like de-hydrated Potatoes will be edible fo Decades ... My Brother and Son both work in the food industry .. Best By doesn't mean a whole lot ... canned goods will last for several years .
Most foods have a 6 month to 1 year "Best By" date and that means best if consumed by that date .
I wonder if the Food Companies would be any help answering a "In an Emergency Situation " how long would canned / dehydrated item stay viable ...like it wouldn't hurt to eat it .
Might be good to know that info ...
I'm going to do a search and see if I can find any answers .
Gary

[gwpercle]

I recently opened a can of sweetened condensed milk that the best before date went back to 2013. Did not taste bad, except it was very thick. I thoroughly enjoyed eating by the spoonful. It was sort of eating soft caramel

LIKE !
I would have eaten it too ... my wife is allway's fussing at me for doing this !
Gary

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Like No_1 said, if the can isn't compromised--showing swelling, leakage, or rust, and it smells o.k. it's edible. But some things if outdated, like tomatoes and tomato products, need to be inspected very closely as they have an acid that eats away on the inside metal of the can. If canned tomato products are at all discolored don't eat them.

DG

[waksupi]

I noticed the mastodon in my freezer is starting to lose it's flavor.

[BJK]

We buy quite a substantial amount of food from a "food liquidation" store that has meats that are past the expiration dates. But the other part of the "use by" statement includes "or freeze by". These meats are all frozen. I've taken vaccuum packed meats out of the freezer that I forgot were in there and they were perfectly good and tasty.