We've not gone food shopping in weeks. Luckily, we have friends and relatives who have brought an abundance of food (and really yummy treats) for us. This photo shows just a bit of it. I didn't take photos of the other things because it went straight into our tummies or refrigerator.
One particular cousin (you know who you are) brought over enough meals (with desserts) to last us at least 4 days!
However... I digress.
I was planning to write about expiration dates and got distracted.
I wrote earlier about how Art and I had inventoried everything in our fridge, freezer and cabinets. Ummm... I saw that my flour (which I keep in the freezer) had expired. Our eggs will expire in 9 days. Hmmmm...
Then Art saw an article that was quite important for these non-marketing days of COVID Stay-At-Home.
This article was in the Star Advertiser, but I found it on the New York Times website.
Apparently, you don't have to worry about vinegars, honey, vanilla, other extracts, sugar, salt, corn syrup and molasses. They can last almost forever.
Regular steel cut or rolled oats will last a year, but would you believe instants oats will last almost forever? What the heck!
The article goes on to say that flour can be used no matter how old it is, but whole grain or whole wheat flours will get a metallic or soapy odor after a few months. White rice will also last for a year, but not brown.
Nuts should be frozen or they'll go rancid.
Mustard lasts forever! Yahoo!
But the thing I found most interesting was eggs. This is what it said:
And look! 077! I think that must be it.
I guess that means the eggs were packed on March 17th.
I'm going to assume my eggs will be OK for a while.
The article says that the expiration dates are not actual expiration dates. They are the manufacturer's best guess for when the product is at its peak quality.
It's so good to know this as I contemplate how many days we can go with the food supply we have now. I can tell you one thing...
My yet untouched spam will probably last beyond the 2023 expiration date!
However... I digress.
I was planning to write about expiration dates and got distracted.
I wrote earlier about how Art and I had inventoried everything in our fridge, freezer and cabinets. Ummm... I saw that my flour (which I keep in the freezer) had expired. Our eggs will expire in 9 days. Hmmmm...
Then Art saw an article that was quite important for these non-marketing days of COVID Stay-At-Home.
Apparently, you don't have to worry about vinegars, honey, vanilla, other extracts, sugar, salt, corn syrup and molasses. They can last almost forever.
Regular steel cut or rolled oats will last a year, but would you believe instants oats will last almost forever? What the heck!
The article goes on to say that flour can be used no matter how old it is, but whole grain or whole wheat flours will get a metallic or soapy odor after a few months. White rice will also last for a year, but not brown.
Nuts should be frozen or they'll go rancid.
Mustard lasts forever! Yahoo!
But the thing I found most interesting was eggs. This is what it said:
"How long? The Julian date printed on each carton (that’s the three-digit number ranging from 001 for Jan. 1 to 365 for Dec. 31) represents the date the eggs were packed, which, in most parts of the country, can be up to 30 days after the egg was actually laid. The sell-by stamp can be another 30 days after the pack date.That’s 60 full days! But odds are good that they’ll still be palatable for several weeks longer than that. You’ll run out of hoarded toilet paper before those eggs go bad."
I guess that means the eggs were packed on March 17th.
I'm going to assume my eggs will be OK for a while.
The article says that the expiration dates are not actual expiration dates. They are the manufacturer's best guess for when the product is at its peak quality.
It's so good to know this as I contemplate how many days we can go with the food supply we have now. I can tell you one thing...
My yet untouched spam will probably last beyond the 2023 expiration date!
Good for you for attempting to delve into this, but it still kind of baffles me. I do understand, however, that expiry dates may not be expiry dates. It’s all very muddled to me. Of course, it doesn’t take much to muddle me.
ReplyDeleteI would think that instant anything is more processed and therefore likely to last longer than the more natural form.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you keep flour n the freezer?
I keep flour in the freezer so the weevils don't get into it.
DeleteThe bugs found in flour and other grains are called weevils. If you find these bugs in your flour (any brownish surface on top of your flour is the eggs), chances are the eggs were there before you purchased it because female weevils lay them inside the grain kernel, and they hatch between one and five months later.
DeleteJust got the above online. I didn’t know they were called weevils. Thank you, Delaine.
DeleteSo interesting about the eggs and expiry dates on everything, thank you.
ReplyDeleteBeing a single guy, I often wind up with stuff in my cupboards with old expiration dates.. the only time I had a problem was when I tried making a box of Stove Top Stuffing once that was 3 years old--when I poured the bag of bread cubes into the hot water, they instantly pulverized into dust!
ReplyDeleteBless your neighbors for keeping an eye on your needs. Thank you for the important expiration dates information.
ReplyDeleteI used go through my cupboards every six months and replace stuff and send the other stuff to the food bank while it still had months left on it. These days I'm just eating it and sending the food bank $.
ReplyDeleteI had heard that about exp dates being for flavor but are still edible. Wonder how much got thrown out before when we went only by the dates on the packs? This has all been a learning process.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post.
ReplyDeleteThere is also an article called 'Do Food Expiration Dates Really Matter?' that may be of interest, find it here
https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/do-food-expiration-dates-matter#1
All the best Jan
There's nothing like a one day old egg. The taste of such old eggs is revolting. They can get away with this because very few of us have enjoyed a one day old egg.
ReplyDeleteI know that you can't peal a hard boiled egg that is too fresh. Other than that, I don't think much about expiration dates on [packaged foods. I'm sure I have some things in my pantry that are past the pull date, but I'm sure they are still fine.
ReplyDeleteWe went two weeks between shopping trips, but we are out of salad greens and bananas and I have decided we're just going to go every week. My list for tomorrow is way too long.
Much older people often told me "use by" only meant peak freshness. Since I also assumed them much wiser, I have some pretty old use by's in my cupboard. The only thing that ever came back to bite me was baking soda. Some decent time after the use by, it really should go in the fridge to absorb bad odors.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, Kay! I keep my flour in the freezer too.
ReplyDeleteI haven't worried about expiration dates, but then again I don't usually have food that isn't prepared by my hubby, daily or weekly at most. Good information! :-)
ReplyDeleteWe just go by the smell test and the visual test ... no worms, good to eat! But honestly, we don't usually keep stuff around that long.
ReplyDeleteLOL. Just checked my SPAM: one expires in 2021, the other 2023. If I keep flour too long, it smells or tastes a bit stale. Maybe better than buggies. It IS so confusing if the "use by" date is really it's peak point of freshness. Red makes me want to go find a farm for fresh eggs. Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteamazing...info-we still go shopping at walmart once a week for groceries but do have several weeks full of food that lasts.
ReplyDelete