Does everything need an expiration date?

[meemee]

do dried beans need an expiration date? isnt drying the whole point of forever?

how about with oil too?

my friend was shocked that i ignored expiration dates on both. 

certain oils takes time to consume like sesame oil. and i just took over a friends coconut oil that she didnt use fast enough. 

am i wrong?

[eclipse]

Well, oil can go bad - but you can smell it if it's bad.(And you can really smell it! I had a bottle shoved way in the back of a cabinet for years, and it was clearly rancid when I opened it to check.) I wouldn't have a problem using most things past their expiration date as long as the looked normal and passed the smell test.

[AllisonR]

My mom was big on ignoring expiration dates, so my sister and I are both religious about it. I mean she would cut mould out of something asn serve the rest. Or have stuff in her cupboards that were 2 or 3 YEARS over date. NASTY.

FWIW, I have a stomach of lead, I've only been sick to my stomach 5 times in 44 years, so it takes a lot to get me ill. But 2 of those times were due to food poisoning - once duck, once chicken. The incidence with the duck, my husband was so violently poisoned that he fell unconscious from it, cracked his head and ended up in ER for 2 days. OK, so this is too much info, but my point is, even if you have a great stomach, when you get food poisoning, it can be VERY SERIOUS. 

So, no I don't eat after the expiration date. Minor exceptions is a day or two over, and it is cheese or something I can see and smell is obviously OK. Coconut oil can definitely go bad. So can beans. They last longer than fresh beens, but not forever, or even close to it. I think honey lasts a long time though, there was some still in one of the jars in nefertiti's tomb - or was that rumor?

I also think that a lot of times items have a very long expiration date because it is so over processed, full of chemicals. I'd rather buy a loaf of very fresh whole grain bread that expired in 7 days than another loaf that expires in 3 weeks, because of the amount of chemicals needed to keep the loaf "fresh" for 3 week can not be that good for me, imo. 

[meemee]

i was specifically talking about expiration dates on some things like rice, beans, millet, quinoa - so grains and oil.

and yes. i get the rancid part. if the oil is rancid then throw it out. but my coconut oil expired last fall and it was just opened. it is fresh as ever and perfectly all right. i remember once buying this huge thing of olive oil and it lasted me 5 years (not sure what the expiration on that was).

i can see when it was packaged being a date one would want to know. for instance oil in a plastic bottle - you'd want to know how long its been on the shelf. or for that matter anything. 

i had some split peas that were in the box from 8 years ago. they were perfectly ok though its expiration date had passed many years ago. i mean yes of course grains may not last forever depending on who got to them first - pests or you. i know local farmers still have seed from generations ago (that is if they werent affected by Monsanto). 

oh yeah tea too. stored properly it can last for ages cant it. 

what about ship wrecks?!!! those foods go on the market for absorbitant amounts - like wine, oils, i think some canned stuff too if i remember correctly. 

oh i am sorry Allison for your mom ignoring expiration dates. eww on some of the stuff. thankfully we rarely buy anything with an expiration date that matters - and the little that do matter that we buy are consumed pretty quickly. 

[HollyBearsMom]

I ignore most expiration dates but instead take a common sense approach. Smell, taste and touch! If any of these are "off" I might give it a second thought.

As a PP noted oil can become rancid.  However with proper storage it will last a long time-olive can last up to 2 years once opened.Years and years if sealed. If you find you don't use an oil often buy the smallest bottle you can and store in a cool dark place. Or transfer a small amount to pour bottle and store the balance. Never store above your oven, or on a window sill.

Beans can become infested with pantry moths and other larva. However promptly stored in a clean, air tight container (not left in bags you bought them in) can avoid this and will in turn last virtually forever.

Canned (not vacuum sealed) goods should be avoided if they appear to swollen/bulging or make a popping sound when opened.

Edited by HollyBearsMom - 3/22/11 at 3:17pm