Expiration dates

[Bilby]

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.

My brother and his wife do that when they visit my mum and it drives her batty!!!! Mum is a few days shy of 75 and always has a moan to me after they go that she has all this food in the house that she can't-use/didn't-want/already-had-but-now-has-more-of. Every so often, I'll get some of it but I often don't need the stuff either. And they won't take it with them cos they live nearly three hours away.

 

[ErikC]

I had to take a Food Safe course for a job I had years ago, and there is an aspect to this that may not be obvious.

Not everyone will have the same reaction to bad bacteria, especially if they have had years to develop a strengthened immunity to certain strains of bacteria. This is the reason tourists get sick from water in some vacation spots, whereas the locals do not.

So while your parents may not get sick from certain "expired" foods, their visitors might, including you. And that should be reason enough not to keep old food around.