EXPIRED!!!

Do you pay attention to expiration dates? Are they important? Well some people don’t seem to think that they matter. Some people I might know well!

So, what’s the deal with food expiration dates?

Some are obvious and you can tell if your food has gone bad just by looking at it or smelling it, but others…….?

Take milk for example, milk is rarely bad on or right after the expiration date. However, you can’t keep milk for 2–3 weeks after the expiration date, but 5–7 days after the expiration date, you might be ok. But, one time at Christmas, we were at my grandpa’s house with my cousins. One of my cousins asked for a glass of milk to go with her cookies. He said, “Go help yourself, there is milk in the fridge!”

She thought nothing of it until she opened the milk and the smell was terrible, more like atrocious!!! This caused her to look at the expiration date on the milk. It wasn’t just a few days old, it was 4 months old! My grandpa was very defensive and said it was still good for baking with.

Let’s dive a little deeper. My grandpa once made a pumpkin loaf for Thanksgiving. Little did we know the canned pumpkin he used had expired 2 years before. It looked beautiful and most of the 18 guests had a slice or two. My sister’s boyfriend had seconds and thirds and never said anything about the taste other than he liked it. When we found out about the pumpkin loaf, it “loafed” inside the fridge for quite a while.

My grandpa will marinate meat in his refrigerator for an extended period of time.The general rule of thumb for marinating is 48 hours tops. He definitely exceeds the time frame set forth by FDA standards. I once saw a zip lock baggy with a hunk of meat in his frig that was solid black from soaking in soy sauce. I asked how long it had been marinating and he replied, “Don’t worry about it! It will be delicious.” Needless to say, I snuck out that night to grab some late night munchies.

My sister, brother, and I once decided to see what was exactly in his refrigerator with regards to expiration dates. We weren’t surprised to find more than 17 items that were past their expiration dates: milk, eggs, mayo,… expired, expired, expired…The most obvious item was a block of cheese. We didn’t need a date on the cheese, the looks of it, covered in mold, was enough to tell us that it needed to be thrown out. When we asked our grandpa about it he said, “What’s the big deal, cheese is mold anyway, just cut off the mold and eat it”.

Maybe my grandpa does know best. He is almost 84, active, full of great advice, and smart as his aged cheese. Anyone for spoiled milk, “aged” cheese and stale crackers?

EXPIRED!!!