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dry soup mixes, herbs and spices, various jars and bottles of condiments, the majority of which were unopened, but out of date by between 2 and 5 years.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.

I don't feel bad for using the out of date by 15 years paprika today now, I can carry on using it for the next 18 years 🤣

And the mummified corpses of house dust mites? Can't believe you ate some 🤮

Oh this made me chuckle more than I thought. Maybe she thinks it's like salt.

My mum is a prepper and once bought dozens of boxes of washing powder when they were on offer. The only place she had to store them was under her bed but she had to get rid of them eventually as she couldn't stand the smell.

I was round there the other day making a cup of tea and in the cupboards I noticed she has the same silver pepper pot from my childhood, 26 years ago.

The same age as a tub of breadcrumbs I found in the back of my cupboard a few months ago. I do clear my cupboards out periodically, but had obviously not checked the best before date last time I did so. I have thrown them away now.

Ok but I think spices can travel through the space-time continuum. There is no other explanation for my story. I emigrated to Australia in 2013, bringing no food at all. I have moved house three times since, clearing out the food cupboard each time. So how did a jar of cinnamon from 2002 with a uk price ticket end up in my spice rack?

Sibling who probably would be diagnosed as SEN now, informed us today that they eat Mullerrice when it's one month out of date. Oh and they don't keep it in the fridge.

I despair.

Given my earlier post I'm voting yanbu (personally I wouldn't give a shit)

You've beaten what I expected.
The oldest I've seen was herbs that expired in 1993 from when my grandfather died in 2008 and we cleared his house.
It had hatched flies in it!

DM has a tin of peaches in her cupboard that’s older than me. I’m 46. It went off before I was born, god knows when she actually bought it. She’s moved house with it at least 4 times. It’s a family heirloom now.

White pepper is compulsory in mashed potato. Lots of butter and three pounds of white pepper.

I found food colouring in MIL's baking supplies cupboard that expired in 1973. They had moved house 3 times 🤣.

Seeds can keep for many years, eg coriander, peppercorns, nutmeg. I inherited some very vintage herbs and spices from my late mother's kitchen. Binned the lot as they didn't even have colour left, let alone taste or smell. Dip your finger in and taste. You have done that and discovered that this white pepper is past it. Personally, I think ground white pepper smells like sick even when it is new.
I forgot, there was a question. I am saying 2005.

« Twice »
🤯🤣🤣🤣

33 years old! OMG you beat me. Many years ago when I was still married to my exH,we were at his DMs house,helping to prepare dinner for a family gathering. Now,his DM was not renowned for being the most diligent of housekeepers,but even I was surprised when I discovered a tin of Green Giant sweetcorn in her food cupboard that was so old that a) it didn't even have a sell-by/best before date on it and b) had a price sticker on it that was in shillings and pence. So I reckoned it must have been mid 1960s (this was in 1992). Just out of interest we opened it. It had turned completely to a sloppy mushy lump. Think it must have been about 27 years old.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

MIL moved to this country in 1980.
She moved house last year and I helped her pack up her kitchen, there were items she brought with her from Germany.

We just finished a christmas pud from 2020....it was fine.

My mother graciously presented me with an unopened box of Liquorice Allsorts one Christmas.
It wasn't til l got it home and tried one that l looked closer.
It was four years out of date and you could have fired them out of a gun, they were so hard.
When l told her she said "Well give them to the dogs."
I said l would if she was willing to pay the vet bill. They went in the bin.
She was most disgruntled about it. The word 'ungrateful' was used.
And not by me.

White pepper is amazing on eggs and mash fyi

Sorry quoted wrong poster

"Waste not, want not" has a lot to answer for.

This means they don't throw anything away. However, some things are too "special" to use up, so they are kept and used sparingly until well past their best. (The sunk cost fallacy).

It's basically a scarcity mindset.

Good god! I can’t believe this; pepper, like salt, keeps forever. I used a can of corned beef that was 20 years old!

It really doesn't. It can lose its kick or get infested by insects.

I asked my mother whether she had any instant coffee (neither of us drink coffee, I wanted a bit for a recipe). She had a tin with some sachets purloined from hotels over the years, and one was made in West Germany.

Sometimes it's a connection to rationing / war times; however, freezer fish from 20 years ago and 30 year old tins are not reasonable items to have against food scarcity.
The ideal storage is rolling stock; you buy some new items, put them at the end of the shelf and move forward the previous tins to be used up next.
That would be a useful storage against blackout / heavy snow / delivery chain disruptions / sudden illness / other reasons.

Keeping ancient stock and (presumably) meanwhile eating newer items doesn't make any sense at all. Then keep in mind, too, that old tin lining didn't have the same standards in the 1970s as nowadays, for example regarding BPA and how much metals are permitted to leach into the food.
If have an archeological freezer site, that means you've never defrosted said freezer, and the thicker the ice inside, the higher the electricity use (and costs), again, not a rational decision.

On the other hand, best before dates are a bit of a random thing as they refer to how long the manufacturer will guarantee its safety. Lots of food last longer, especially dried pulses, rice, dried pasta and similar. It is not necessary to throw everything out one day past the expiration date.

I can understand, too, that with spices you'd use very rarely you are willing to wait a bit longer to replace them.

But these 10-30 year old foods are really more about some irrational thoughts than actual prepping. Prepping would mean that you can use your stored items and these are not of use, unless you are willing to risk food poisoning. I concede that sometimes items might still be ok, but I presume these are anecdotes of sheer luck.

Another possible explanation is that some people have never really learned about how to store food properly, don't understand about bacteria and insect infestation and so on. I know some of them, too, and it drives me batty aswell (as I don't want them to get food poisoning, either).