Expiration dates

[redkitty]

Help me my dear cooking friends!!!

I'm at my parents house and I can't believe the stuff they have in the fridge that is expired and they say its ok to eat!

Example:

Yogurt that expired in September 2007!!!
Cheese that expired in June 2007!!!!!!!
Olive oil in the cabinet that expired in 2006!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please...oh please...tell me this is BAD!? I made my Dad throw out the yogurt but my Step Mom refused to toss the olive oil! What can I tell them to make them understand it's not good to eat expired products?

I know that some things a week or two after the date are not going to make you sick, but I assume most things have an expiration date for a reason.

Thank you in advance for any and all info!!! This is driving me bananas!

 

[Alix]

The olive oil is likely not going to hurt you. If it smells rancid don't use it, but otherwise it should be fine. In the case of the olive oil, the date is more about the taste quality.

 

[TATTRAT]

Well, like most things, when they go bad you know it. Some stuff can hold up well past the printed sell by date, others go before the sell by date. A lot of this comes basically from how the product is stored and handled.

Oil, can go rancid, but if it is airtight, and OIL ONLY(no herbs/garlic/other organics) I see no reason to toss it. As for the yogurt, when in doubt toss it out.

Old habits are hard to break. If said folks are keen on keeping things past there prime, I am sure they have years of experience in knowing when something is really bad, or passable for them.


Here is some useful info that might help:

Expiration Dates

Expiration, Use-by, and Sell-by Date Information - Home Cooking

 

[Bilby]

I use expiration dates as a guide only. Things go bad before then and some things keep well after the date. If the yoghurt was unopened, I would open it and use it if it appeared to still be in good condition but would not store once open. If it was already opened, then it's a goner - but then you would be able to see it was dead anyway.

Cheese - subject to what it looks and smells like, I would taste it and see. Cheddar keeps well past the expiry date usually.

Oil keep until it is no good.

Expiration dates are guides in as much they are anticipated to last as long as stated - and should - given the correct storage conditions are maintained. My fridge is set to super cold so things will last longer. The expiration date does not mean that everything should be thrown out once that date is past. As to how long after the date a product will be reliable until will depend on the item concerned and its storage and handling conditions.

The expiration date is as much a protection factor for the producer as the consumer. In some cases, more so. Sight, smell, feel, taste, and in some cases, sound (when you hear something bubbling in your fridge, it is not good!!) are what you really need to depend on.

 

[YT2095]

cheese will "mature" so the taste will alter, but if it smells ok and there`s no visible signs of mold or drying out, put it on a Pizza
I buy the bags of mozzeralla that are in it`s own liquid, and often keep them for Months past its sell by data in the fridge, as long at there`s no excess pressure in the bag or leakage it`s perfectly fine!
it`s just a bit more crumbly when you grate it.
again with olive oil, smell Rules!
as for the yogurt well it`s likely on its way to becoming cheese now!
if the container/carton isn`t bloated then it`s all down to how you like it
personally I don`t like yogurt at the best of times so I would deep 6 it anyway

there`s also a Difference between a "Best before" date and a "Use By" date.

 

[auntdot]

If the cheese does not have mold on it, particularly if it is a hard cheese, it should be fine.

As for the oil, I just use it and would not worry about unless it doesn't look or smell bad. OK, the quality, as has been said, may deteriorate, but it should be safe.

We recently found a carton of sour cream that had somehow been ignored in our fridge that had expired three months ago. It had not been open and was fine. The yogurt might have been OK.

Sorry you are not getting much support here, but I think your parents are doing just fine.

 

[ChefJune]

If the cheese does not have mold on it, particularly if it is a hard cheese, it should be fine.

If it's a hard cheese, I'd just cut the mold off and serve it. If it's a processed cheese, I'd toss it. and if it's a really soft or creamy cheese, sometimes the mold means "toss," and sometimes it means "scrape off and eat." You just have to use your best judgment.

 

[GB]

The yogurt I would toss. If the cheese is a hard cheese then I would visually inspect it and then smell it. If it passes both those tests then I would have no problem tasting it. Soft cheeses I would not bother with. Those would go in the trash.

The oil is probably fine. Quality might not be what it once was, but it should not be bad. Well that is if it was not opened. If it was opened than taste a little bit. You will know if it went rancid.

Expiration dates on a lot of things are just a guide. They do a couple of things. One is that they give you an idea of when the quality will be at its best. They other thing they do is encourage you to replace an item that is expired so the company makes more $$$.

 

[redkitty]

Thanks everyone for the replies. It's not that I was looking to tell them they were wrong, I just didn't want to see them get sick from something.

All good info here!!

 

[YT2095]

They other thing they do is encourage you to replace an item that is expired so the company makes more $$$.

that`s a good point too, I never considered it from That angle.

 

[Billdolfski]

I use expiration dates as a guide only. Things go bad before then and some things keep well after the date. If the yoghurt was unopened, I would open it and use it if it appeared to still be in good condition but would not store once open. If it was already opened, then it's a goner - but then you would be able to see it was dead anyway.

Cheese - subject to what it looks and smells like, I would taste it and see. Cheddar keeps well past the expiry date usually.

Oil keep until it is no good.

Expiration dates are guides in as much they are anticipated to last as long as stated - and should - given the correct storage conditions are maintained. My fridge is set to super cold so things will last longer. The expiration date does not mean that everything should be thrown out once that date is past. As to how long after the date a product will be reliable until will depend on the item concerned and its storage and handling conditions.

The expiration date is as much a protection factor for the producer as the consumer. In some cases, more so. Sight, smell, feel, taste, and in some cases, sound (when you hear something bubbling in your fridge, it is not good!!) are what you really need to depend on.

I second this.

 

[Clienta]

Whenever I visit my parents or grandmother, I always clean out their fridge. They too have things that are way past the expiration date & spoiled. Personally, I'm very aware of expiration dates especially with dairy products. All it took was spoiled milk once on my cereal as a kid...yuck!

When we moved my grandmother (3 years ago, she was 81), we found chili powder from 1986, the price tag had the date (she bought it when she 63). As well as some salad dressing that's best by date was 2001. I can not imagine having a salad dressing in my fridge for 3 years or chili powder for 18 years! She thought we were wasteful in throwing out so much of her pantry. We ended up not even telling her most of the stuff we got rid of...I figured if she hadn't used it in years...she wasn't going to miss it!

 

[jabbur]

When we moved my dad after Mom died, we found the same thing. There was stuff that had been sitting in the cabinet for YEARS! and had turned color in the jar. We just got back from my in-laws who are in their early 80's. They almost have the opposite problem in that the cupboards were really bare. My BIL and his family was there (4 people) plus my family (4 people) and my niece and nephew who live in town stopped in. Came time for supper and there was next to no food. We found some hamburger and managed to make hamburger patties (no spices in the house besides salt and a small amount of pepper) and she had some frozen chili in old (1970's) cottage cheese tubs. She didn't know how many to pull out of the freezer since one 3/4 full small tub feeds the both of them for a meal. Needless to say we had to thaw a lot of them to feed that crowd of 5 yound men in their teens and twenties. Trying to find stuff to cook with was awful since the cupboards really were only about half full and with bizaar stuff. I counted no less than 6 bottles of imitation bacon bits!

 

[mozart]

When we moved my dad after Mom died, we found the same thing. There was stuff that had been sitting in the cabinet for YEARS! and had turned color in the jar. We just got back from my in-laws who are in their early 80's. They almost have the opposite problem in that the cupboards were really bare. My BIL and his family was there (4 people) plus my family (4 people) and my niece and nephew who live in town stopped in. Came time for supper and there was next to no food.

Just curious, jabbur, but why would anyone go to the house of an 80+ year old couple and expect to find enough food to produce a meal for 10 or more folks? Or be surprised when they couldn't?

When I visited my Mom in her 80's with my wife and daughter, I always stopped at the store on the way there.

 

[jabbur]

This is the first time they haven't been overflowing with food when we got there. Usually they go big guns with turkey, ham, 2 kinds of potatoes, veggies, big salads etc when they know the whole family will be there. In the past, I have gone shopping to buy food and cook at least one meal to take some of the burden off. I asked what was planned for dinner early in case I needed to go to the store. I guess they just cook when they get hungry and Mom is getting a bit addled these days. She seemed to have alot of trouble planning and remembering the plan. I went figuring I would have ot do some of the cooking but she always prided herself on providing for everone. I didn't want to disrespect her if she had things planned to just come in and say "this is what we're doing". Next time I won't have that problem since I know how forgetful she is now.

 

[BBQ Mikey]

Just have them freeze their foods and everything should be more or less fine. As for the yogurt and dairy product, I dont even trust ones that havent expired until they pass the smell test. Oil does go rancid after a while, diff. types of oil take diff. time.

 

[Caine]

Yogurt is already spoiled when you buy it. That is how it becomes yogurt! I only throw away yogurt if there is green stuff growing on top of it. Otherwise, I just pour off the runny liquid and go for it.

 

[BBQ Mikey]

Very true Caine.

The same could be said for cheese. Old mold = good. New mold = bad.

 

[miniman]

Best before & sell by dates are, I believe, compulsory on food items. Generally they are a best guess on quality standard grounds. It is the same for canned & preserved goods which are generally OK until you open them. There have been tins from early last century that have been opened and the goods are edible!

 

[YT2095]

yeah canned goods are pretty safe too, even Dented ones believe it or not!
it`s the Bloated cans that you have to look out for, in fact don`t even open it to smell it if you ever come across one!
the same applies to food in Jars, if the metal cap can be pushed in or is slightly dome shaped, Deep 6 the sucker!