# 77 Surprising Expiration Dates



## Guest (Jan 12, 2011)

A handy keep-or-toss guide to 77 foods, beauty products, and household goods.

Article in Real Simple magazine: http://www.realsimple.com/home-orga...00676079/index.html?xid=weeklynews-01-12-2011 (keep clicking to go to the next page).

Personally, I think they are being overly cautious with some of the dates.


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## Guest (Jan 12, 2011)

_These dates are offered as a rough guideline. *The shelf lives of most products depend upon how you treat them.* Edibles, unless otherwise indicated, should be stored in a cool, dry place. (With any food, of course, use common sense.) Household cleaners also do best in a dry place with a stable temperature. After the dates shown, beauty and cleaning products are probably still safe but may be less effective. _

ANY list of "shelf lives" is at best a guess because there are so many variables that can affect how long a product will "keep." Change the conditions and/or the packaging and you change the shelf-life.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

Ladycat, while I appreciate the thought, those dates are pure junk. Seriously.

Beer Unopened: 4 months. - yeah, beer gets skunky. That is more or less right.

Chocolate (Hershey bar) 1 year from production date - In reasonable storage away from bugs and mice, pure chocolate stores for 5 years easy. OTOH, Reese Cups are bad after about 90 days. It all depends on the contents.

Coffee, canned ground Unopened: 2 years MUCH longer for me.

Diet soda (and soft drinks in plastic bottles) - Opened: Doesn't spoil, but taste is affected. Wrong. Plasticizers migrate, and sodas go skunky just like beer. We had to be careful to rotate the syrups in theatres. Diet sodas weren't as bad as the sugared ones, but they went bad.

Dried pasta 12 months - This is OBVIOUSLY nuts. Dried pasta is a forever food. 

Frozen vegetables Unopened: 18 to 24 months - Uhhh, YEARS, depending on how packed.

Juice, bottled (apple or cranberry) Unopened: 8 months from production date More or less right. 18 mo seems about tops for some brands.

Maple syrup, real or imitation: 1 year ABSOLUTELY NUTS. I worked in a canning operation as a kid. There was stock of canned maple syrup there that was three and four years old. The imitation stuff is amazing. Last month I just told DW to toss some from Winn Dixie. Not because it was bad, but because it weirded me out. It had to have been six years old.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

I think those dates are wwwwaaaaayyyyyyy low. I have some coffee in the original can that is two years old, and we are still using. It's fine. Pasta lasts forever. It's like a twinkey.


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

Are you guys serious? You are stockpiling canned and bottled soda pop?


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Yes, I stockpile soda. When it's on sale I buy a lot and don't buy any when it's not on sale. It's one of the few vices I have and yes I know how bad it is for me. It's not a long-term item but I have had some that was a year old that tasted fine. Glass bottles are best for long term storage, aluminum cans second. 

Reeses cups can be stored a lot longer than 90 days. They keep for years in the freezer. I stockpile Reeses cups too. My favorite is the white chocolate Reeses eggs that are sold only around Easter. I might eat about one a week so I buy enough to last a few years. 

Pasta doesn't always last forever. It does get buggy and can pick up an off flavor if not stored properly. 

Moist wipes can be rewetted, just a little water is all you need. I've done it many times. I also have nail polish I bought when dd was still sucking her thumb (many years ago) which is still good. I should toss it because I don't do my nails anymore.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

OK, if you are fine with the bloom that can happen on the chocolate, then yeah, you can store Reese Cups longer. Glad you pointed that out, as I was being harsh. I know that in a standard storeroom and concession display case, they were going bad on me at about 90 days.

Other things keep for long times as well. You don' wanna know how old some of my socks are...


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

It doesn't get bloom in the freezer, at least none of mine ever has. I keep my chocolate frozen even Snickers bars, but you have to let them thaw before eating. On the rare occasions when we get mice the chocolate is the first thing they go for, and the most expensive to replace so it is stored in the fridge or freezer always. Even m&m's are refridgerated or frozen. Chocolate will go bad quick in our hot humid summers.


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## Jakk (Aug 14, 2008)

Hmmm...Reeses Peanut butter cups and Snickers bars usually won't last 9 minutes in my possession, never mind 9 months


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

That's why they get hidden in the bottom of the freezer.

I'm that way with Heath bars, a bag of miniatures rarely makes it home.


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## Guest (Jan 13, 2011)

Danaus29 said:


> That's why they get hidden in the bottom of the freezer.
> 
> I'm that way with Heath bars, a bag of miniatures rarely makes it home.


Heath bars.... mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I almost never buy them even though every time I see them they call to me. They know my name.

I think I could eat a pound of them in one sitting.

Which is why I almost never buy them.

Almost.


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## Guest (Jan 13, 2011)

Well, sure, if you put the chocolate in the _freezer_ it's gonna keep a long time! If you can keep your cotton picking fingers off of it!

This is why I laid down the law to the girls in the Hagan family that daddy is the only one allowed to open those jars of vac-sealed chocolate!

Seriously though, change the storage conditions change the shelf-life. Even when stored at "room temperature" it can vary a lot if that temperature isn't stipulated. Some of you folks have room temperatures that we only attain here in Florida in the winter.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

So true Alan. Right now I can leave butter on the counter for nearly a month before it goes bad. In the summer I can't leave it out a week.


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## jlrbhjmnc (May 2, 2010)

Yes, chocolate's storage life is potentially very limited due to predation by the occupants of the residence .


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## Eyes Wide Open (Oct 14, 2010)

My husband insists on continuing to store a giant (and opened) jar of pickles in the fridge. It was opened around 2 years ago. Whenever I clean the fridge out I ask him if he's done with it - no, keep it, he says. I tell him I'm not even sure it's good anymore, but he says "they are PICKLED, that's the whole point." And then I say "well, even preserved food doesn't last FOREVER." But I shrug. And put the pickles back. I can't even remember the last time he actually ate a pickle from the jar. It's a nice, big glass jar. So I think about what I'll put in it once I part my man from his jar of pickles and run it through the dishwasher. I can wait.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

Eyes Wide Open said:


> My husband insists on continuing to store a giant (and opened) jar of pickles in the fridge. It was opened around 2 years ago.


They are probably fine. I have about a dozen of those gallon jars of pickles stored in the bottom of my pantry. They are probably three or four years old. And we have one in the fridge opened at all times. IT lasts 6mo or more in there until we use them all up.


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## Jokarva (Jan 17, 2010)

Found a lb of cheddar I had in the freezer, sell by date was 2003. Thawed it (it was crumbly) but it's been fine. Just using it in cooking though - the texture thing. 

Also found some veggie dumplings in there that are probably also about 7 yrs old, they look a bit freezer burned, but I cooked them in some broth and they were also fine. 

DH was on cl liquids prior to his colonoscopy on Tues, he pulled a can of chicken broth out for his dinner, I checked the can later cause I didn't remember buying any broth for a while. Sell by date was 2006, I asked him how it was - "fine". 

So, I pay little attention to sell by or use by dates (obviously), sense of smell and taste have kept us ok - so far.


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## Ciffer (Sep 13, 2010)

12 months on dry pasta? really? as long as the pasta stays dry I am not going to throw it out.

As long as a can is sealed I am not going to throw it out, unless the texture/taste of the contents has become a little too _off_.


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

12 months on dry pasta?
I have some 4 or 5 years old in cans


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## thereids (Nov 19, 2007)

I bought a foodsaver vacuum sealer 3 years ago and as a joke I vacuum sealed a chips ahoy cookie for my son to eat in a junk food emergency. I pinned the cookie to his bedroom wall. When my son left for college it was forgotten. Then the other day I was going to paint his room and as a joke I opened the cookie and had everyone take a bite. That cookie was as fine as the day it was sealed. I credit the constant house temp of 70 degrees year round. I love vacuum sealing almost everything.


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