My mother has excelled herself today.

[TwoSwansFromMyWindow]

Recently she moved home and gifted me two carrier bag loads of stuff from her kitchen cupboards that she didn't have space for in her new kitchen. It was mostly jars and packets, dry soup mixes, herbs and spices, various jars and bottles of condiments, the majority of which were unopened, but out of date by between 2 and 5 years. Needless to say I binned most of it.

This morning I realised I had completely run out of white pepper and DH is very partial to white pepper on his roast dinner so I asked my mum if she had any she could bring when we picked her up for lunch. She said she did and would bring it.

The jar was open and half full, with no proper lid, just the sprinkling cap with the little holes in it. She handed it to me and said 'I don't use white pepper often so it might be a bit old, but it looks fine.'

I narrowed my eyes and said 'how old? How old are we talking exactly mum?'

She looked sheepish and mumbled that she wasn't sure.

Guess. Just guess what the 'best before' date was on this jar of pepper.

It reminds me my gran gave myself and dad a tin of lager..the tin had scantily clad model on the back that tins had been done away with years before.
She also gave sister and me Blackpool rock her and grandad hadn't been there in an decade.

Does anyone understand the psychology of people who are like this? It’s not just going a bit batty in old age because my parents were the same when I was a child.

😂😂😂😂
Oops... I may be like her in the future! 😬

I love white pepper, use it all the time.
<helpful>

Hahaha this made me laugh, I knew it would be on the 30s as there was stuff in my home house that were the same age as me last year. Baking soda that was 34 years old besides my mother not baking in as many years.

I think it might be a generational thing, my mum will still wash out random jars and keep them because they may be useful in the future. Never to be used! I reckon it's so ingrained in her to waste nothing as they had very little growing up and repurposed so much, she finds it difficult to get rid of things sometimes. Understandable.

She's only now at a point where she understands it's not serving her, after some gentle chats, so next year will be a big clear out mission and she's looking forward to the help!

My in Laws are not too bad with the fridge (occasionally I have to sort theirs out and bin some of it)
But I did find some custard powder older than me & I'm nearly 60!
And as for herbs & spices, some had dates on from pre Band Aid and the freezer in the garage had Ice nearly 200mm thick, with stuff in the bottom probably over a decade old.
M-i-L is a good cook but her eyesight is fairly poor and I do worry when I or my S-i-L are not around what she might cook up for her & F-i-L.

Having worked in the food industry all my life I probably am a bit of a dictator over food safety?

We have a pepper mill with peppercorns in it that my husband refuses to throw out. The peppercorns are about 40 years old.😳

What makes me laugh the most is that when she was clearing out all her old herbs and spices that she never uses because she never cooks and she bagged up a load to palm off onto me rather than have to deal with all the jar emptying and recycling she must have looked at that 33 year old pepper and said to herself 'No, I still use that occasionally, I'll keep it.'

But honestly, how often can you use something if it's still half full after 33 years?

Buy some new ones that are of a similar blend and bin the old ones,
I doubt he'll ever know,

My grandpa died in 2002, whilst clearing his house out after he died we found half a packet of polos with the date 11/1963 on.

I actually have no idea why I didn't think to do that!🤣

What's the point? Clearly no-one is using them either way. The new ones are going to end up 40 years old as well. 😂

It probably was house dust !!

Weevil eggs and husks.

She probably thought, "I'd better keep that because who knows when I'll be able to buy herbs and spices under John Major again?"

I recently emptied my parents freezer as part of the final house clearance. There were things at the bottom nearly as old as me. I am 52. They have only been in the house 40 years, so they actively chose to move food that had already been frozen for nearly a decade and then never get round to using it.

I haven't done their larder yet, but I am pretty sure there are things in there that they brought from my gran's house. She died when I was 8 and there was food in her larder from the war years (no dates). I remember helping my mum move it. 🤦‍♀️

In the face of this, 35 year old pepper is a spring chicken!

I've cardamom pods about the same age. I went to Kerala in the early nineties and bought back packets of spices but for some reason more green cardamom than I've ever been able to use. It's all sealed in small packets and seems to be fine.

I used to live overseas and we'd get those all the time in flour and cereal foods. The dusty stuff that settles in the bottom of a bag of muesli or dog kibble was always interesting. And....er....lively. 😱

Hoarders. That tub of house dust, thrip casings and the odd scrap of pepper cost 38 pence from Sainsbury's, you know.

Oh gads

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Possibly but I doubt the poster was willing to use the old ones?

Hahaha- god that pepper has lived a life hasn’t it?! Here’s a game that you can play - things the pepper has lived through!

Well nine prime ministers, for a start.

Something like this isn't necessarily hoarding. Things like herbs or baking powder that might not get used very often can last a very long time; not replaced because they've not run out and they're barely ever used so they're not a priority and why spend money to replace something you barely use? Just one of those household things you have hanging around and don't like to get rid of because it IS occasionally useful, just not often enough to run down in any reasonable time or care about replacing.