Food expiration dates??

[gbrown]

I had a can of black pepper I bought somewhere around 2008, maybe earlier. Lasted til 2018 or 2019. Never lost it's strength or flavor. I have home canned jellies and jams many years old. All taste fine. Think about it, manufacturers wanting turn over so you buy more. Government turns a blind eye as that leads to more tax revenues. Just my opinion. My belief is that God gave us 5 senses, use those, you'll do fine.

[bangerjim]

Wow, Only one reply about the MRE's!? Must not be many former military or survivalists here.

One will eat ANYTHING (!!) when starving!

[elmacgyver0]

Wow, Only one reply about the MRE's!? Must not be many former military or survivalists here.

I am not military but I do have a couple authentic MREs that one of my wife's clients gave to her. (She is a social worker)
Someday I need to try them out, they are older than the hills, but they just get better with age, right?

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Just watch your cooking oil, once it goes rancid it will make your food taste like excrement, won't kill you but it won't taste good.
The ol' snoz will tell you when its bad.

Helpful hint #917
If you are in a pinch and all you have is so old rancid cooking oil and you want to fry up some food. Fry some sacrificial potatoes in it, then fry the food you plan to eat. The Potatoes absorb most of the rancid flavor...yeah it won't remove it all, but it'll make it eatable.

An old timer told me that, when he gave me some very old (like two decades old) Bear grease that sat in the corner of his basement all that time. He gave it to me for muzzle loader use and it stunk real bad. He told me to fry up some tators, throw them away when done. I actually fried up 3 batches and I'll be danged, it worked quite well, That was in 1995 and I still have some of that bear grease in the freezer.

[Driver man]

I have some Himalayan mountain table salt that is claimed to be 250 million years old. Expiry date feb 2023

[BJK]

I am not military but I do have a couple authentic MREs that one of my wife's clients gave to her. (She is a social worker)
Someday I need to try them out, they are older than the hills, but they just get better with age, right?

I contacted someone in the know about MREs and was told they are checked to make sure they haven't "grown", if not they're good. I figure if I get hungry enough if it won't kill me I'll eat it. Heck, when I was in in '70-73 we were eating C-Rats from Korea, seriously. They tasted fine to me and filled the hollow in my belly.

[armoredman]

I have frozen meat in the big freezer and I was told beef is good for YEARS, while pork and chicken, might get freezer burned and/or lose flavor. Hopefully not too much - some has been in there for almost a year already, frozen since the day I bought it.
Canned stuff - the sis in law is a fanatic about not eating stuff past the "best by" date and will NOT listen to reason, coddled spoiled brat. We will still be eating good while she is starving.

[armoredman]

I contacted someone in the know about MREs and was told they are checked to make sure they haven't "grown", if not they're good. I figure if I get hungry enough if it won't kill me I'll eat it. Heck, when I was in in '70-73 we were eating C-Rats from Korea, seriously. They tasted fine to me and filled the hollow in my belly.

When I was in JROTC in the early 80s we had some Korean vintage C-Rats...and I got the ham and lima beans. yuck. Edible, but gah. The peanut butter would NOT mix back in, were used as skipping stones.

[fiberoptik]

Heat tab into pb can. Burns plenty long.


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[armoredman]

High school students - they didn't want us burning anything.

[Wild Bill 7]

When I was in the service mid 60’s overseas we ate WWII mre’s. They were good and even the candy and cigarettes were ok.

[Gator 45/70]

Pineapple snot, I walked into a remote oilfield location one morning only to discover pineapple snot all over the cub bard shelves.
Seems a can of crushed pineapples had exploded sometime during the night.
Rotate your crushed pineapples can's.

[gwpercle]

This should sum it up nicely this is salt.




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That's just not only Funny ... but Totally Asinine !!!
If it's 250 million years old without the package ... putting it in a package should get you another 250 million years ... some one do the math , what day will it expire on ...
Salt doesn't expire ... they are idiots !
Gary

[bangerjim]

It's called "LAWYERS". We would be much safer and happier without most of them.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

If it looks good and smells good, I eat it. Occasionally the leftovers don’t make it into the fridge until the next morning. I just heat them well before eating. Opened a 15ish year old MRE once. Ate the cookie, chicken and rice (heated well), and a few other things. The cookie as good, but the chicken and rice tasted a bit off. No sickness from it though. Watch Steve MRE on youtube for consumption of some OLD rations. I try to keep the meat in turned over, but I occasionally miss something. I think 5 years is the longest we have tried and it tastes just fine after trimming off any freezer burn. I would agree that pork doesn’t hold up quite as long in the freezer as the other red meats. The flavor of the fat starts to go off.

[MaryB]

Wow, Only one reply about the MRE's!? Must not be many former military or survivalists here.

Most of us don't consider MRE's to be food LOL filler to keep the belly from rumbling...

[MaryB]

For long term meat storage vacuum bag it. Air is the enemy in a freezer, no air no freezer burn!

[fiberoptik]

1 secret is put meat/chicken/fish in a cardboard 1/2 gallon milk jug, add water and freeze. Ice keeps air away....


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[Idaho45guy]

Opened up a couple of cans of spaghetti-Os with meatballs that expired a year ago. They taste like normal, which isn't good even when fresh, but edible. One can had a thin film across the top when opened and the other looked like new. Both seem fine. I guess I'll find out in an hour or so, lol.

[panhed65]

I started writing the purchase date with a sharpie on all food I buy anymore.
A lot more useful than "best by" dates.

I also do the thing with a sharpie when I bring things home from the store, works for me and better than the printed dates and such.
Barry