Expiration Date
 

I was going through my canned goods yesterday and discovered I had several cans of peaches and pears that were outdated by 2 & 3 months. My first thought was to throw them out, but then I wasn't sure if they would still be good to eat. What would you do pitch or eat?

I probably shouldn't admit this - but I look at the bottom of the can and if it looks ok I eat it- if it looks rusty, corrided or nasty in any way out it goes

should be fine as long as the can isent damaged. expiry dates are just a guide line if it looks and smells ok it will be good to eat.
( i think expiry dates were invented to cover companys buts when people lose there comon sense.)

If the can isn't bulged, rusted or otherwise "injured" I would not be concerned about eating it.

I'd eat it if the can looked ok.

expiration dates are simply the last date the store should sell the item... food/goods have a shelf life after the sell-by date. i heard on the news that dark chocolate lasts 2 years if wrapped in foil. I'm sure it's easy enough to google others

As others have said, the expiration dates are a guide line. I have all kinds of expired food around here. I only toss it if it looks bad or is a couple years beyond the date.

ok i thought i had done a reply to this but i guess it didn't work. what are your thoughts on cake mixes. i have one that is out of date - august 2011. red velvet - one of my favorites!

Interesting that you posted this now - I was thinking of doing a similar thread just this morning.

It's not like food is fine and then on ONE DAY it suddenly turns bad. So IMO food might be okay if it's near its expiration date or even a few months after it, especially canned food, but it surely won't be as good as it was months ago or a year or so ago.

I'm thinking of things like Hostess cupcakes or Twinkies, which definitely taste old a week or two before their exp. date. Maybe for cake mix it's different. Certainly worth a try.

OTOH, I'd rather be cautious. I once moved into an apartment where the woman who was moving out offered to leave me her canned goods because she didn't feel like packing them. I didn't even think to check the exp. dates. I opened a can of soup, and it looked vile! Something had grown in there and the smell was awful. I'd never seen/smelled anything like that from a can. As I was throwing it out, I noticed that the exp. date was FOUR years earlier... now I know this is an extreme case, but my point is, the food does slowly go bad, even inside a can.

(I had to throw out some cans of tomato sauce, tomato paste, pineapple, coconut milk and soup today because they had expired. On the other hand, my cans of tuna, broth and green beans are still well within the period before they expire, so even though they were in storage for over a year, I'll give them a try.)

I have even used yogurt a week or more after the date..if it looks and smeels fine, I use it...years ago we volunteered at the food bank and it was then that I learned that these dates are just a guide and that in most cases foods are ok for a period of time beyond the date...