November 13, 1997

[mad jew]

When I was six, I drank a can of Coke that had expired ten years prior. The worrying part was that it was fine other than being slightly less sweet.


I'm pretty sure that's because they make a sweeter Coke these days anyway.

 

[watcher2001]

When I was six, I drank a can of Coke that had expired ten years prior. The worrying part was that it was fine other than being slightly less sweet.


I'm pretty sure that's because they make a sweeter Coke these days anyway.

Does coke even have an expiration date? Where is it??

 

[mad jew]

In Australia it has to by law. I forget where it is though.

 

[pknz]

The worst I can give was when I played cricket and had left my lunch in my cricket bag. If I remember correctly I had a left an orange there. My dad brough my drink bottle up from there and it was covered in this brown goo. At first I though somehow chocolate had melted all over my drink bottle, but it was apparently the rotted orange. My dad made me clean it, it was pretty awful.

Back at primary we did this month program where we would have to look after an egg (pretend it is child, Im sure you have done similar things with other easily damaged goods). I keep my egg in a cupboard for about a year after that and it stunk pretty bad. Had turned greenish

I left a sandwich in my lunchbox over the holidays and it had fungi over it and stunk was also in my cupboard.

 

[steebu]

November 13th is my birthday.

 

[GorillaPaws]

When I was a kid, I went to a baseball card shop and bought a wax-pack from like 10 years earlier. I ate the gum (not one of my brightest moves).

 

[mpw]

This thread has inspired me to clear out my cupboards.

I've found some packet sauces that were months out of date some year old taco shells, but the oldest stuff was stuff that my father gave me about three years ago as a gift.

I never checked at the time but it was already old then the cheap bastard!

1966 Port, 1991 Pol Roger and a case of Chateau d'Yquem from 1787!

Anyways thanks for the inspiration, I've dumped the lot.

 

[840quadra]

It was the expiration date of some lemon juice concentrate that we just threw out tonight (after, I must admit, my wife used it the other day in a recipe). We moved into our house in September of 1997, so it's highly likely that this particular bottle actually came with us during the move.

Yikes, I was just out of High School then!,

I hope you don't keep your Beef (mind out of gutter folks) that long!

One time, we had such old orange juice that it had like... congealed or SOMETHING! When I poured it out, it looked like egg yolks.

I think it was a year or two old.

eww

Are you sure it wasn't "Sunny Delight"?

That stuff always looks egg yolkishly yetchalicious!

This thread has inspired me to clear out my cupboards.

1966 Port, 1991 Pol Roger and a case of Chateau d'Yquem from 1787!

Wine? and why would you dump that?

I can't imagine wine from 1787 being any good, but the bottle!

 

[~Shard~]

When Potato Chips expire, they loose their "crunch" and become soggy and nasty!

I don't want to know how you know this... as if chips aren't bad enough for you as it is, I can only imagine how healthy expired chips would be...

 

[Les Kern]

I bought a 12-pack of Corona back in April 2003, for the BBQ we had on my son's 2nd birthday party. There are still 10 in the fridge. I'm not much for drinking.

Think they're still good to go? Maybe I need to buy another lime.

Nope, dump them. The skank sets in around a month. I am a beer expert.... please don't kill yourself. (Of course... Corona is not really a "beer" per se... give it a go)

I've had plenty of things like the above, but I'll relate something a bit different.
As a smoker, I used to use old Macdonalds coke cups (with a bit of liquid in it) as ashtrays. Sometimes they'd last for days.
A buddy came over one day with, you guessed it, a Coke from MacDonalds. Within a few minutes he had mistakenly picked up one of MY cups and took a long hard pull.
He threw up about 10 times.
He never forgave me. But hey, it was payback time. This is the same guy that was smoking in my basement apartment when (get ready) we were dividing up two shopping bags full of fireworks.
OF COURSE it all went off. All that was left was a few firecrackers and a half inch of shredded paper on every horizontal surface.
It was SPECTACULAR.

 

[dcv]

Does coke even have an expiration date? Where is it??

Yes.. it should be on the neck of the bottle or on the base of the can. I worked for Coca-Cola for a while so I could even tell you what the various components of the production code (the alphanumeric chars after the BBE date) mean... but don't worry, i won't


I've got a pot of Bicarbonate of Soda with a best before date of 04 Jun 2339 08:23

Now I know these things have pretty much unlimited shelf life, but that does make me giggle (yes i am sad) ... so it'll be fine until 8:23 AM in three hundred and thirty-odd years from now... but come 8:24 it'll be off?

How does anyone actually know something will still be fine in 300+ years? It's not like anyone's been around long enough to know! Guess I'm gonna have to add this item to my will for future generations...

 

[retasi]

I found some thing with an expiry date in 2037

 

[tpjunkie]

I also once bought a wax pack of cards, i believe they were a pack of 1987 Topps, (This was probably around 95, 96) and attempted to eat the gum. However it sort of crumbled apart and when i tried to chew it, it crunched so i spit it out.

But the oldest food item I threw away was last summer when I was cleaning out my grandmother's freezer, and came across a butcher's pack of chicken from...1995. A full ten years later, its internment in the freezer had turned the meat a strange brown color, and I didn't thaw it to see how bad it truly was.

 

[~Shard~]

I found some thing with an expiry date in 2037

That still doesn't top dietcokevanilla's!

I've got a pot of Bicarbonate of Soda with a best before date of 04 Jun 2339 08:23

See, something with an expiriy date like that just can't be good for the human body - I wouldn't want to be consuming that! The only natural substance which doesn't go bad is pure honey, so apart from that, I think I'll stay away from anything which doesn't expire (effectively or otherwise).

 

[rosalindavenue]

A guy in my office is remodeling his house and he found some newspapers inside a wall-- the September 15 and 16, 1969 editions. Talk about a time capsule.

 

[emw]

November 13th is my birthday.

Happy Birthday. Hopefully you've been around longer than my lemon juice...

hope you don't keep your Beef that long!

We freeze any meats that we're not going to use within a couple of days after purchase. We have one of those vacuum-sealer things, which really are nice. We got it after throwing out a bunch of freezer-burned steaks one day. In the vacuum-sealed bags it'll keep in the freezer for, I think, up to a year, although we've never gone that long.

 

[emw]

The only natural substance which doesn't go bad is pure honey, so apart from that, I think I'll stay away from anything which doesn't expire (effectively or otherwise).

Salt doesn't go bad either. (Neither does granulated sugar, though not purely natural in the sense that there aren't sugar trees, and it has to be processed from sugar cane, but it's pretty close.)

 

[MongoTheGeek]

Honey is famous for not going bad. They dug King Tut out and he had honey with him and it was still good.

I keep stuff well past its best by date. I used to have stuff say good in my fridge almost forever. Thats stopped and I am not sure why.

I once had milk separate. Not into cream and milk but into a block of soft cheese floating on top of whey. Still smelled like milk, but since I am not a fan of soft cheese out it went.

Things like Ketchup and Mustard I don't worry about. I've had some ketchup change color (it was in those little packets and sitting in my desk for 7(? I think) years. The color was troublesome but the taste was okay.

I've had potato chips go bad even before the best by date. The fats in them oxidize and taste funny.

As they say. Daß war mir nicht todt machen; mir starker machen.

 

[Applespider]

Since manufacturers know that most people ignore use by dates, there's quite a lot of leeway built into them usually; particularly for dry staples like sugar, flour (except watch out for weevils) etc

I tend to go by smell or taste for stuff I think might be borderline; if it fizzes on the tongue when you touch it, it's generally a bad sign!

Last time I cleared out my cupboard, I did find a pile of 'flavoured rice' packets from 1997; a friend who was a picky eater had come to visit and brought them with her in case she couldn't eat anything. Since she decided she could manage everything I made, they stayed in the cupboard. I'm not a big fan of pre-packaged food.

 

[dcv]

I tend to go by smell or taste for stuff I think might be borderline; if it fizzes on the tongue when you touch it, it's generally a bad sign!

You're very brave by touching borderline food with your tongue

Well I no longer pay attention to the expiry dates on pre-packed "fresh" filled pasta... not since the time my pumpkin & pinenut fiorelli grew furry mould on them 10 days *before* the BBE date. I complained to Waitrose by means of an email with an attached digital photo (entitled "mouldy_pasta.jpg" ) and they sent me their apologies along with a £10 voucher! Sometimes it does pay to complain about stuff

 

[Lacero]

I exclusively use my olfactory abilities to detect stale or spoiled food. No experimental tasting for me, thanks. And if I have doubts as to its freshness, I heed caution and throw it away.


My reasoning:
- Do I throw away a $6 piece of questionable meat or take my chances with the possibility of a hospital stay for food poisoning that could cost me several days sick leave and hospital bills amount to hundreds and thousands of dollars?

p.s. I feel sorry for those who unknowingly ingest expired food either by youthful innocence or utter stupidity.

Here's to the Crazy Ones ​

 

[pseudobrit]

I've got a few bottles of liquor in their twenties. Bought most of them when they were over 16, though.

Somehow I don't think that counts.

 

[Applespider]

You're very brave by touching borderline food with your tongue

Let's say that if it smells bad or has mould (and isn't a blue cheese), then it doesn't go near the tongue. It's more things like fresh orange where it still smells OK but if you touch your tongue to it, it fizzes.

Incidentally, I know several friends who used to cut the mouldy bit off cheese (non-blue) or bread and then use the rest. They're not dead so I guess it can't be that bad for you but I'm pretty sure that I learned the spores spread further than what was currently visible so it was safer to throw the lot!

 

[devilot]

Incidentally, I know several friends who used to cut the mouldy bit off cheese (non-blue) or bread and then use the rest. They're not dead so I guess it can't be that bad for you but I'm pretty sure that I learned the spores spread further than what was currently visible so it was safer to throw the lot!

Yup. My mom is like your friends ... but at least one bio teacher I had taught me what you said-- the bacteria and/or mold spores are present elsewhere in the food. Best to throw the whole thing out if a part of it has mold on it.

 

[pseudobrit]

Now if this thread was about wine, I would salivate at that 1960 date.

And you'd probably retch if you tried to drink it. Over 99% of wines will have peaked well before they're 45 years old.

mpw's million-dollar case of Chateau d'Yquem, for instance, will, if he's lucky, taste like rancid pickled yak piss filtered through a pile of rotting monkey corpses.