Salt. What are the chances that my 2.5 billion year old salt will actually go bad in a few months?

I am using a chili sauce that’s about 2 years out of date.

I have some spices that are probably pushing 10+ years old that are fine tossed, they’re probably just less flavorful than fresh ones.

Yellow curry paste - About a year. I kept it well sealed. Never had issues.

Bread - my current loaf was “best. By 11/20.” There’s no mold and I’ve continued to have my slice with no issues. I store my bread in the fridge.

Chicken - I freeze chicken and will pull out a piece to defrost. I’ve pulled out some truly ancient chicken before. Still cooked up fine.

Furikake - I just ignore the expiration to be honest. I use it until I’m out, which can be months if not a year. But it’s just rice seasoning so I don’t think he could do much damage anyway.

Way back when, one convenience store had milk that was stored super cold and/or was super pasteurized, it would stay good 30+ days after the expiration date. I think the longest I went was in the low 40s days after expiration and it tasted completely normal.

the shop I work in lets staff take written off stuff just so it isn’t going to waste so I regularly eat food that’s past the expiry date, I think the oldest thing was a bottle of pepsi max lime that was a bit over a year out. It was still fizzy but idk if it tasted off or if I just didn’t like the flavour.

I had this pack of hamburger buns that were absolutely in perfect shape months after their expiry. The inside of that pack much have been perfectly sterile.

My brother ate an 8 year old Twinky we found when we were in boy scouts. We were cleaning out the troops chuck wagon (food and cooking trailer. Something got lost at the back of a deeper storage compartment, and being the little skinny kid, I volunteered to climb in to find it. I noticed the Twinky slipped into a crack and read the date with amazement. The thing was over half as old as I was, and must have been sitting in that trailer, outdoors, for at least most of that time! After pardeing it around demanding everyone “behold the ancient Twinky” someone dared me to eat it. I never liked Twinkies, but as I’d already confirmed it was still sealed, and my brother was hungry, he didn’t hesitate to claim that dare. We all watched in suspense for his reaction, and were disappointed when he just shrugged and said that it tasted a little dry, but otherwise no different than normal.

This can of pineapple slices has been found in the back of the food cabinet in December 2020. Its expiration date was in July 2017. I did not open it. I carefully removed the can outside right into the trash bin. I didi’t want to risk an explosion of this fruit bomb.

• Bottle of Coke (unopened, stored without exposition to light) --> one year after exp. date
• Can of noodle soup (unopened) --> one year after exp. date
• dried noodles (unopened; the ones you have to cook before they are edible) --> unknown - at least one year after exp. date
• soft candy (unopened, but exposed to higher temperatures) --> 6 months after exp. date
• chocolate (unopened) --> 6 months after exp. date
• yoghurt (unopened, uninterrupted cooling chain) --> 2 weeks after exp. date

all of these food items were perfectly edible. The candy was a little bit less soft, as it was exposed to higher temperatures once, but they tasted as good as freshly bought.

Most things that have not been opened and/or have not been exposed to light or temperature extremes can be eaten safely way after the expiration date exceeded. But with dairy one has to be more cautios. A week or two past the expiration date shouldn’t be a problem, considering it has never been opened before and the cooliing chain has not been interrupted.

I wouldn’t risk meat or fish, tho. Food poisoning can be a nasty ordeal. I’d rather dispose of it than taking any risks.

Curry paste, like maybe a year and a half past expiration date. It’s one of those things that if they are not moldy they are good, the taste just dies down. So I just made the curry with extra paste and it was yummy!

Very few food products have an expiration date printed on them. A lot of them have a “Sell by” date, which is not an expiration date. We have a local milk producer that prints a “Sell by” date on their bottles. The rule of thumb is that if it’s stored in proper refrigeration, unopened, it’ll keep for 2 more weeks. (Plus another week to use it up.) But it’s impossible to explain that people. The disgust reflex is strong, and you can almost watch it on their faces as it overrides people’s rational faculties. (Honestly, that experience helps me understand the recent election results.) As a result, the store that I worked in would as a rule of thumb take the milk off the shelf 3 days before the “Sell by” date, even though it’d be good for another 3 weeks. Milk that didn’t sell, we had to pour down the drain.

One time when I was working there, I had to deal with an irate customer who returned some fancy cheese hors d’oeuvres that she’d received as part of her pick-up order because the package had a “Sell by” date on it that was a couple days past. I refunded the cost of the item, and when I took it back to the cheese department, our cheese monger explained that the date was really only useful for the store to keep its stock rotated. The product didn’t spoil after that date; in fact, it got better for several months as the cheese aged. But, we agreed, it’s impossible to explain that to people.

So, to the question, also while working there, I made a delivery to an elderly woman whose son ordered groceries for her. She had a number of items that she didn’t use before the “Use by” date, and asked if I’d take them. One of them was a container of plain yogurt. I don’t use a lot of yogurt, mainly as a condiment for Indian dishes, so I didn’t even open it until about a month after the “Use by” date, and finally finished it probably 3 months after. (Just don’t let it warm up, open only briefly, and always use a clean utensil to scoop it out.) It still tasted fresh and enjoyable.

I still have butter in the refrigerator with a “Use by” date in 2023, because I bought a lot of it when it was cheap (on sale and employee discount), and put it in the freezer. I have eaten canned food several years after the “Best by” date. The heuristic is easy: It it smells good, it’s edible. If it smells off, toss it. But I know that there are plenty of people out there with a hair-trigger disgust response, who are convinced that the moment the clock ticks over to the date printed on the package, the contents turn to poison. This heuristic probably grosses them out. Oh well, people aren’t rational.

Yoghurt about two weeks past (it was unopened previously)

Milk six days past

Red meat four days past (never frozen)

I can’t remember much else atm

Pasta that was four years past its date. Some pieces were a bit brittle and I think it went a little softer faster than what was usual but overall I didn’t notice any difference and I enjoyed it! 😃 Definitely don’t do this with already cooked pasta though! The pasta I had was raw and in a sealed bag.

…i ate a fifteen-year-old bag of craisins sunday night; they were good!..

(my bowels disagreed monday morning, though)