We made the turn and heading into 3 years of our THS adventures!! Truly amazing people and pets we have met along the way.
Now the fun part- Expired Food Dates… we are grateful as most HO offer us the use of their food and pantry items during the sit. Mind you after 50+ sits we carry a small rolling cooler that has our favorite items, staple condiments, and food items we enjoy and minimize what we use during the stay.
So I wanted to see what was the oldest expired perishable food item you discovered during your stay? Can’t wait to hear…
Sounds fun but something I’ve never noticed on my sits. I do however, have expired items in my own pantry but usually use them within a couple of years and have never had a problem with using them I know some people would never dream of using expired items but tinned items are definitely fine after the expiry date.
I found yogurts that were a couple of years old, which given the nature of the food, is pretty disgusting. I wouldn’t want to open expired food, especially dairy products.
I rarely eat hosts’ food, even when invited to, though. I just move things to make room, if needed, for my own food.
Currently, I’m sitting for a friend in Rome and she kindly made room in her fridge and freezer, because she knows I love to order delivery and try new products, especially when abroad.
This reply is most probably going to be controversial but it comes from living in developing countries for years and seeing food insecurity and the need for zero waste.
Depending what the product is I would have no issue consuming it as I HATE wasting food and it infuriates me when I see our first world countries destroy perfectly good food because the product is nano seconds past its used by date.
I’m active on a number of cooking forums and see it all the time and this comes up again and again. I of course use common sense, my eyes and nose and to date (touch wood) haven’t had food poisoning once. (End rant…gets off soap box )
So out of interest what is the product? Edit: I realise 2013 is a tad more than nanoseconds
We once did a long sit in Spain where I discovered at least 50% of the larder content was out of date. I don’t remember the exact product any more but there was one jar of something that expired in 2007!!! (And we’d been warmly welcomed to use anything!!)
Hahaha, I love this! I’ll be interested to see how many others had similar experiences. I thought I might have a good contender but @Lokstar’s jar will be hard to beat.
I also encountered food-hoarders – lovely people but half the pantry was years expired. The winner of my kitchen archeological dig was a package of dried apricots in a non-food drawer that was 7 years old. They were black. Runners-up were 5-year-old salad dressing & biscuit mix.
The people were just lovely though
I just found an unopened spice packet in MY own pantry the other day that was 4 years past it’s best. Considering we gave all contents to our children before heading off to travel in 2024 & 2025 how could this be there now? I can only assume the one we purchased on return was already out of date. Won’t kill us, but likely won’t add the best flavour either.
I don’t want to be a spoilsport but still I would like to participate and mention a few points in regards to this topic:
it’s worth distinguishing between “best before” and “use by”
Everyone has different levels of comfort with optimal quality/ food waste.
It’s also worth distinguishing between fresh produce rotting and canned food past the best before date.
Regarding the competition, I can’t use examples from sits because I never go through hosts’ pantry. I buy my own stuff and place it in a separate space. I also wouldn’t feel comfortable making fun of the lovely hosts who have kindly offered me the use of their products. I wouldn’t like them to have to go through everything in their house before hosting me and adapt it to be ready for my inspection.
That said, I don’t want to be judgmental about this thread either. I know it’s a light hearted enjoyment and all posters have mentioned how lovely their hosts have been.
In that spirit, I would like to participate in the contest with an example of my own fridge. Yesterday, I ate a perfectly good plain yogurt labeled “best before 7th January”. I am hosting a friend who likes yogurt and I had forgotten to buy fresh ones. I told her all I could offer was an “expired” one. She said it would depend on how long it was past the date and when she saw, she said no, thanks. I then ate it myself and have bought fresh ones for her but I still have another old one, which I intend to eat.
I remember back in 2020 we found a box of brownie mix that expired in 2011. It looked and smelled fine, so we decided to make it. While they tasted a bit stale, overall it wasn’t bad.
In all my years of sitting, I find people having long-expired food, especially dry and canned goods in a pantry, is quite common.
I’ve found non perishables long past expiration dates (in my own home and host homes) and may or may not use it depending on the item. Like Maggie8K I rarely use hosts pantry or fridge items other than condiments and spices.
But I HAVE arrived to sits with things in the fridge that are clearly science experiments and entire villages of microorganisms living there of every color!
Not from a sit, but this made me remember a funny story from visiting / taking care of my grandmother about 15 years ago:
Had decided to winnow down her pantry a bit as she wasn’t doing much cooking back then, so started pulling things out to assess — but every time I’d get a shelf emptied she’d walk in & ask what I was doing & I’d have to say “nothing, just looking for (random something or other)!” and put it all back, because I knew she wouldn’t let me ‘waste’ anything by tossing it.
Eventually I did get everything sorted by type/dates. Included were 23 boxes of cake mix (oldest expirations from 1984!!! ), and 28 bags of dried apricots - all expired, some more than a decade before…
TBF, my grandmother loved dried apricots and sales in equal measure.
Being a single person whose years pass like weeks (whose don’t?), I use a Sharpie to write the date on stuff when I open it. Condiments ALWAYS get old; I’ve been tempted to start grabbing packets of mustard, catsup and taco sauce when I’m at restaurants! I’ll consume things past their “Best by” dates, but I try to use food in a timely manner.
When my partner’s dad died, we used the occasion to “help” his mom by going through an entire pantry bedroom. And yes, there were canned goods in the neighborhood of 10 years out of date. We probably tossed out more than necessary back then, but in general it was for the best. We got bitched at for tossing hardened marshmallows, because “those are good in cocoa!”
Leftovers are a different matter entirely. My dad would eat on stuff for weeks sometimes. To me, it’s never worth risking beyond a reasonable number of days, depending on what the leftovers are. Food poisoning is no joke – and if you’re already old or unhealthy, why would you risk it?
We live in “the ring of Fire” (perimeter of the Pacific Ocean) and are about 100 years overdue for the “the big one,” a 9. earthquake. We can go from “developed” world to undeveloped world in 4 minutes, if we survive. Our West Coast USA cities train us to have 2+ weeks food and water in storage. So… I was digging through our earthquake metal can, and found white beans and steel cut oats from 2014. Similar to some others, I’m not one to waste food, so I cooked some up. White beans were fine, but just 1 cup took overnight soaking and 1.5 hours cooking. Fuel is an issue post-earthquake, so I managed to make another meal with another cup of dry beans. Then felt like I’d done by duty and tossed the rest, since my partner’s digestion does not handle beans. The steel cut oats tasted old, and also took more cooking time. But good to examine our supplies. I should go shopping and put in the bin more long lasting stuff that I would want to eat!
My husband is a purger. He’s relentless about getting rid of food past expiration dates.
He’s also a prepper (for disasters). We live in earthquake territory. He orders prepper food — dehydrated stuff that’s meant to last for years. They’ll deliver such on a pallet, if you like.
He said I should consider what we might eat in an emergency. I told him that I always keep lots of whiskey on hand and have an Amazon subscription for potato chips. So he’d be consuming rehydrated beans and milk, and meanwhile I’ll be having whiskey and chips. I think I’ll be the happier one.
I remember a jar of Marmite at my parent’s old house, which was about four years out of date, but which I continued to use every time I went to stay there! If I’m honest, I think Marmite gets tastier the older it gets!
4600+ days
Go…
I know some people would never dream of using expired items but tinned items are definitely fine after the expiry date.
that also very scary…
)
(And we’d been warmly welcomed to use anything!!
To me, it’s never worth risking beyond a reasonable number of days, depending on what the leftovers are. Food poisoning is no joke – and if you’re already old or unhealthy, why would you risk it?