This is in the UK so it will probably be much harder to tell when something really goes bad.

wow, this guy kind of boldly went for it... meat 8 days past its date?

Twinkies don't have a shelf life; they have a half-life.

Do they not have freezers in England?

abb3w: Twinkies don't have a shelf life; they have a half-life

Twinkies 'Sell By Date' is around 3 weeks if I remember right.

Can I have your stuff?

My roommate currently has 3 packages of lunch meat in the fridge that expired in August 2007. He swears they're still good because they've never been opened.

Epsilon: My roommate currently has 3 packages of lunch meat in the fridge that expired in August 2007. He swears they're still good because they've never been opened.

Wow. Put it on youtube when he finally makes a sandwich.

About TFA, that guy is a bit ballsy, but he wasn't really taking his life in his hands so long as he was in okay health. Great story, Subby!.

That's £420 for every UK household.

lol 420.

At the monastery, we ate food past its date all the time. No ill effects. But: once, I was instructed to make cookies from a box mix that was 4 years past its use-by date. Not only that, but it contained fat (well, shortening of some sort), and had been stored in an un-air-conditioned kitchen pantry in Virginia, over 4 summers.

In the monastery, one does not argue these things. One obeys. I, on the other hand, will be damned - die and go to hell - before I do something I know will make others ill. The moment I added liquid, the aroma of rancid oil and imminent stomach cramps filled the kitchen. I threw it out.

Lucky for me, the Superior dropped through and noticed the smell from across the room. When she inquired, I showed her, and pointed out the date on the box, she simply rolled her eyes. Later, she quietly instructed the new kitchen steward to go through and throw out anything dangerously out of date.

If this man is not a Farker he should be.

I've eaten military rations that were made before I was born. Let's just say I was no longer hungry, but I wasn't sick. The chocolate bars had melted, and solidified about 20 times.

Epsilon: My roommate currently has 3 packages of lunch meat in the fridge that expired in August 2007. He swears they're still good because they've never been opened.

If they were in the freezer then they might still be okay albeit a bit tougher than normal, in the regular fridge... uh I would throw it out.

Kippers?

Epsilon: My roommate currently has 3 packages of lunch meat in the fridge that expired in August 2007. He swears they're still good because they've never been opened.

It's quite all right, he ran it under a cold tap.

I've eaten yogourt that's months past the best before date. It never seems to go bad.

whatshisname: I've eaten yogourt that's months past the best before date. It never seems to go bad.

Eventually it will argue with you about your intentions, however.

Oh jeez, use good judgment in the kitchen, If the food is questionable in smell, texture, color our touch, toss it! But this waste that is measured in tonnes is because hoarders stockpile more than they need through massive miscalculations of what they intend to use. Plus the Market throw-aways are added to consumer waste to make everyone look more greedy and less "GREEN"!

my stepson Felix, 16, who, like me, wants to eat it.
Of course he does. He is sixteen. That is how sixteen works.

I've got to admit, I was prepared to scoff, but when he ate the green bread ... that requires a certain amount of dedication to the experiment. I am impressed.

ThisIsNotSubtle: I've got to admit, I was prepared to scoff, but when he ate the green bread ... that requires a certain amount of dedication to the experiment. I am impressed.

okay, see, I'll use some things past date, with caution -- like eggs that are a week past, if they smell okay when I crack them, and I am cooking them? Whatever. But green bread? That's pretty absurd...

Even if he didn't suffer ill effects, I suspect a lot of people would, and he was just lucky.

serpent_sky: Even if he didn't suffer ill effects, I suspect a lot of people would, and he was just lucky.

I'm not so sure. The bread has invisible mold on it long before it is noticeable. We have immune systems, bread doesn't. Not to mention strong acid in our stomachs. Pretty much all of the food poisoning cases I've heard about were meat, which harbour much nastier bacteria than baked stuff.

Somebody with a weak immune system probably shouldn't risk it though.

ThisIsNotSubtle: I've got to admit, I was prepared to scoff, but when he ate the green bread ... that requires a certain amount of dedication to the experiment. I am impressed.

Funny, that's exactly when I did scoff.

This is Anton Fig's gimmick.

pnjunction: I'm not so sure. The bread has invisible mold on it long before it is noticeable. We have immune systems, bread doesn't. Not to mention strong acid in our stomachs. Pretty much all of the food poisoning cases I've heard about were meat, which harbour much nastier bacteria than baked stuff.

Actually, salads are also a major cause of food poisoning... I think the only time I actually called into work for food poisoning and wasn't hung over, it was because of an entirely vegeterian salad.

I've got an unopened half gallon of milk in my refrigerator that expired in July 2007. I'm afraid to move it because it looks like it's going to explode.

Also, in my pantry:



This loaf of bread started talking to me a few weeks ago... now I'm keeping it around just to see what happens.

xtex: This loaf of bread started talking to me a few weeks ago... now I'm keeping it around just to see what happens.

LOL I love the morbid curiosity that surrounds rotting food. The worst I can remember is a half-can of peaches (I don't even know how I got them I never buy them) that I put in a bowl and wrapped in cellophane because I though I'd finish them later.

I let those farkers go for months since it seemed contained and I was busy and not home to use the fridge much anyways.

Pretty exciting assortment of colors when I finally tossed it and boiled the bowl in a pot of water before I moved out of that place. The bright red was most vibrant.

Yikes, sorry for the run-on sentences above. It's late.

pnjunction: LOL I love the morbid curiosity that surrounds rotting food.

If I remember, I'll take some new pictures in the morning. It's late and I have no idea where my camera is..

And part of the reason I haven't thrown it out is because I'm sort of afraid to move it. The last time I did, a puff of black smoke/mold came off of it...

I really do need to get a maid.

"Peg, did you know that this says, 'Use before May 11, 1972?'"

"No, it says, 'Best if used before May 11, 1972.'"

xtex: This loaf of bread started talking to me a few weeks ago... now I'm keeping it around just to see what happens.

But I was breeding that mold. His name was "Albert." I was trying to get him two foot high.

/possibly obscure for Fark...

I used to be a yoghurt.

How can you tell when sour cream goes bad?

CruiserTwelve: How can you tell when sour cream goes bad?

When it starts tasting sweet, or staying out late and coming home smelling of booze and marijuana.

Seriously though, I've heard that it's good until you notice green mold growing on it. Sometimes I get creeped out when it separates but it's still good, just:


Stir it up; little darlin', stir it up. Come on, baby.
Come on and stir it up: little darlin', stir it up. O-oh!

It's been a long, long time, yeah!
(stir it, stir it, stir it together)
Since I got you on my mind. (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) Oh-oh!
Now you are here (stir it, stir it, stir it together), I said,
it's ok
To see what we could do, baby, (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Just me and you.

Come on and stir it up; ..., little darlin'!
Stir it up; come on, baby!
Come on and stir it up, yeah!
Little darlin', stir it up! O-oh!

I'll push the wood (stir it, stir it, stir it together),
then I blaze ya fire;
Then I'll satisfy your heart's desire. (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Said, I stir it every (stir it, stir it, stir it together),
every minute:
All you got to do, baby, (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Is keep it in, and

(Stir it up) Oh, little darlin',
Stir it up; ..., baby!
Come on and stir it up, oh-oh-oh!
Little darlin', stir it up! Wo-oh! Mm, now, now.

Quench me when I'm thirsty;
Come on and cool me down, baby, when I'm hot. (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Your recipe, - darlin' - is so tasty,
When you show and stir your pot. (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)

So: stir it up, oh!
Little darlin', stir it up; wo, now!
Come on and stir it up, oh-ah!
Little darlin', stir it up!
---
[Guitar solo]
---
Oh, little darlin', stir it up. Come on, come on, and
Sir it up, wo-o-a!
Little darlin', stir it up! , baby!
Come on, come on and stir it up, oh-oh!
Little darlin', stir it up.



Sorry, just had to share that since it came into my head.

Time to go to bed.

We do have a rule in my house about not wasting booze, however despite this, I routinely find half finished cans/bottles of beer in weird locations, usually behind a chair or in a cabinet, needless to say, after a few months of being there, most of it was "solid".

A healthy immune system and stomach flower will get you through many things.

What a way to find out you don't have a good flower and your immune system is weak.

Dating a nun is okay, as long as you don't get in the habit...

/here all week, etc.

HappyHarryHardOn: wow, this guy kind of boldly went for it... meat 8 days past its date?

They charge extra for that. It's called aged beef. Of course I wouldn't try chicken or pork or seafood...

So one day me and my brother decide to play "find the bomb". We got a potato and hid it in various parts of the house pretending it was a bomb. We each took turns hiding it from one another.
Possibly a month or two later my mother starts yelling for us to come to the hall closet. Her exact words were, "Which one of you took a shiat in here".
I leaned into the closet, back behind the vacuum and a few boxes was what looked and smelled like a pile of shiat.
I guess the "bomb" went off after all.

Sell-by and Best-before dates belong in the category of overuse of hand sanitizers and Febreeze. It's all so that the companies who produce the items don't lose money.

Common sense goes out the window more often than not with that stuff.

cretinbob: HappyHarryHardOn: wow, this guy kind of boldly went for it... meat 8 days past its date?

They charge extra for that. It's called aged beef. Of course I wouldn't try chicken or pork or seafood...

Remember, fans, this exciting moment is brought to you by Month Old Franks, the hotdogs with experience! Mmm-mmm!

cretinbob: HappyHarryHardOn: wow, this guy kind of boldly went for it... meat 8 days past its date?

They charge extra for that. It's called aged beef. Of course I wouldn't try chicken or pork or seafood...

Shogun. A Japanese guy gets beheaded for throwing away an aging duck. It stunk to him so he took it away. Anjin-san got mad about someone stealing his duck. The guy was beheaded immediately.

/Good thing Anjin-san didn't mention the dirty fork.

The bread has invisible mold on it long before it is noticeable.

Now, I don't know if I want to eat bread again.

What is stomach flower?

How can you tell when British food goes bad?

Penicillin is made from bread mold, so moldy bread must be health food.

See pic in article.
Caption:

No thanks! Wife Emily turns her nose up at Jonathan's aging titbits

I can't blame her. I bet his tidbits are nasty. I think hers might be kind of nice though.

his wife looks like an old coont, so he was probably already accustomed to eating rotten fish.

Control_this: How can you tell when British food goes bad?


When it starts carrying a knife and spitting at pensioners?

Braindeath: The bread has invisible mold on it long before it is noticeable.

Now, I don't know if I want to eat bread again.

What is stomach flower?

That's the wrong term evidently. I meant the bacteria in your digestive system that helps break down food. It's earl. :P Maybe it's bloom. I can't remember.

I had an unopened package of Norwegian Jarlsberg sitting in my fridge, about five weeks past its "best by" date.

I admit, seeing food that old tempted me to get rid of it, but then I thought "It's cheese. It's sealed. It hasn't gone off, it's gone better," and ate it on top of some crackers.

It was lovely.

Now, the month-past-its-date pot of cream that I also have, that is going in the bin. I am not spreading Mystery Cheese on my crackers.

From Schlock Mercenary (new window)

By a curious quirk of chemistry, 20th- and 21st-century MREs with a 10-year shelf-life at 285 Kelvin stop going bad after about seventy years, and very, very slowly start getting better. The 1987-issue Chicken Patty (the "boot heel" which was originally best eaten suddenly, in a surprise assault, or better yet, thrown at the enemy) is particularly exquisite, having turned into a sweet, fluffy pudding by A.D. 2430, and into an actual mousse by 2890.