Foods Without Expiration Dates
By Pigglies
@Pigglies (9329)
United States
June 16, 2008 11:46pm CST
I've been going through our refrigerator and cupboards lately and have noticed there are several foods that do not have expiration dates on them. To make matters worse, a lot of these foods I have no idea how long they have been in our house.
For example, a jar of pickles... how long does that last? Indefinitely? I have some pickles that have been opened but might be 5 years old or so. I ate a few and they still tasted like pickles though and I'm still alive.
And soy ice cream... I had some that had obviously frosted over and might not be so good. But then another container didn't and I couldn't remember if I bought it last year or found some in a store sometime in the winter. So I ate a bowl and it tasted a bit less flavorful, but not deadly (I hope). No expiration date. But yet, soy milk has an expiration date and clearly expires. So why not soy ice cream?
And baking mixes. Some of those do not have dates either. I know they last a long time, but how long?
I know way back in the day, no foods had convenient dates on them. But now that most do, I am annoyed that some foods do not. What do you do with foods that have no expiration date? How do you know they've gone bad?
1 person likes this
2 responses
@nicholejade (2430)
• Canada
17 Jun 08
This is making me ponder now. I know pickles last quite along time. I am not too sure how long but they do last quite a long time. Baking mixes and that although they do last quite awhile will go bad over time. Not so much bad but stale. You can smell it as well as taste it. Some things however like frozen meats should not have over a year as it will start getting the freezer burn. There is nothing worse than having a nice juicy steak (or so you think) and it just really isn't all that appitizing.
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
17 Jun 08
No worries about frozen meat in this house, we don't have any. :)
Although, I did eat some expired veggie burgers the other day and they didn't taste as great as they normally do. I think I'm going to throw those out even though there are two boxes left.
@nicholejade (2430)
• Canada
17 Jun 08
I couldn't tell you anything about veggie burgers. Burgers too me are a nice slab of beef. I couldn't imagine what it would taste like.
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
18 Jun 08
I love veggie burgers, they taste delicious. I can tell you that I've had some friends that were eating turkey burgers for alleged "diet" reasons, and when they tried veggie burgers those were much better. But then again, I even remember the probably only turkey burger I ever ate, and wow that was the nastiest thing ever!
But veggie burgers are pretty good. I've even had veggie steak burgers, but I don't know how to make those, I get them at restaurants.
@angel_kaycee (1112)
• Philippines
17 Jun 08
i also experienced some food especially can and bottled goods which do not have expiration dates. isn't it dangerous to eat food without expiration date? my mom usually keep goods in the refrigerator for long time. coz she always forget eating them. if she happens to remember it and try eating it, i am afraid that she might get poisoned on it. whenever i have spare time i try to check on our refrigerator and throw some of those goods on garbage. sometimes i smell them if it doesn't smell good enough anymore i put them away.
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
17 Jun 08
It is dangerous to eat expired foods sometimes, depending on what happens to them. Usually the rule is that if it is very acidic, it's going to taste bad, but not hurt you. I wouldn't eat expired breads or something like that though.
I always smell things before I eat them if they don't have a date, or even if it is near the date if they do have one. And there have been a few occasions where I've just spit things out realizing immediately they'd gone bad. But by the time something smells or tastes bad, there is considerable bacterial growth. In the microbiology class I took we got to bring in spoiled food and food that hadn't spoiled yet and even the one that hadn't still had some growth in it.
