So today I was working on updating food storage containers and doing some vacuum pack on new stores. I cracked a case that was older and found some foods that were Best Buy Date anywhere from 2014 to 2017. Curious what folks take are on food expiration dates.... how long do you carry items. Obviously there are a lot of different food items to consider... so what are your rules on those various items?
I no expert , in anything. But, if it's in canning, I was taught that if the seal has not broken, still is vacuum sealed, that it should still be good. Same goes for vacuum bagged goods. I've even heard that frozen goods , even tho they may have freezer burn, they are still good, that it just may affect the taste a little. These are beliefs that I was taught, from my grandparents, and am willing to listen to someone that may have more experience with. But it's hard to not belive someone that came out of the depression era.
My own stuff is regularly rotated, but I am given a lot of expired food that I try and make good use of. Dented, bulged, rusty canned food all goes in the compost, any grains, dried beans, or pasta that have a rancid oil odor also get composted, but have eaten a lot of canned foods 5 years past expiration, and 10 years on some pasta, grains, and dried beans. It all depends and each item is scrutinized before use, how and where it was stored makes a difference. I can remember eating 1945 C-Rats in the early 60's and when they went from .03c to .05c a can at the Army - Navy my Dad stopped buying them because he said they were trying to rip him off. Beanie wenees were our favorite, and those C-Rat cans were much thicker and tougher than anything in the stores. Inflation!
Hard to express the situation better than Oltymer has! You just have to trust eyes, ears (listen for the vacume hiss) and nose! I'm fortunate in having a cool, very dry, basement store room. We do rotate and very rarely lose a can or the contents of a jar through leakage of vacume. BTW, I have noticed a couple of people mention that Ramen will "last forever." Not necessarily so, I store a lot of Ramen, it's a stomach filler and makes the foraged greens, rat, poodle and dried vegetables much more palatable. However, it's laced with palm oil and it will, at some point, turn rancid! I give it a good sniff test after 6 months and toss it after a year! It's cheap, throwing it out isn't a burden. If I have to use it after more than a year, so be it! Probably not going to kill us! I hope!
We store what we eat and eat what we store. We really don't store a whole lot. Like 90 days of rotation food and some LTS black beans and rice kind of things. If we lose the port or energy supplies, Anchorage is unlivable for more than a very tiny population. I won't be one of them. Still, for the run of the mill strikes, boycotts and other hazards of modern life, I figure things maybe won't be normal after 90 days, but should be at least livable....
The towns will be in big trouble if the Barge quits delivering supplies, for any length of time.... Those of us that live out in the bush, already have our Food Supplies... every October we have our Larders fully loaded, and that gives us 18 months, at our normal use rate. That does NOT include our Long Term Storage, which in a pince can be streched out to another 18 months. That gives us two growing seasons, and two Salmon Runs, plus two hunting seasons.... to supplement what we have available.... Plus our Pizzas on Wed lunch...
I usually rotate out expired canned goods (replaced with fresh) from the BOL to the house, some 275 miles away, where they're eaten. Just started this program a couple years ago. Ate some canned peas last night previously stored at the BOL that expired in December - no problem. Expired for a year or two doesn't seem to be an issue. But in the past I've run across some cans of soup that were out of date approaching seven to almost ten years. For the cost of a can of soup I figure it's not worth taking a chance as compared to the cost of medical expenses related to treating food poisoning, so the soup cans became .223 targets. It all boils down to economics.
HOme canned goods, if its still sealed its usually still good up to 4-5 years later (i dont recommend keeping canned goods this long but its possible, i know from personal experience having missed a couple of cans when i rotated) I regularly rotate my canned goods. I plan for 1 year of usage at a time. The other long term storage, i have never broken open. Some of it is 5 years old. I think Oltymeyer said it best. Trust your nose, eyes and ears and always boil before eating because if it froths when you boil it..... don't eat it .... it probably has botulism contamination. Home Canning and Botulism Botulism and Food Poisoning in Home Canning: What Causes It and How to Prevent It
