To feel cheesed off about out of date food

[HuckleberryBlackcurrant]

I am about to have a baby any day (39 weeks pregnant). My husband's aunt told us she was going to add some meals to our freezer. We were very thankful! I went to use one of the meals today (it was a ready meal) and noticed it was use/freeze by Oct 2020. I don't think we should use it which was disappointing as I had to use one of the meals I'd prepped for after the birth instead. But didn't want to risk it.

Now I'm feeling a little upset that it seems that she just cleared out her freezer and we got whatever she didn't want ....I checked the packages of the other things she brought and there is another chicken dish that expired back in 2020.

I'm not fussy about use by dates typically, and I know it would in theory be safe to eat if it's remained frozen, but I don't think it would be much good.

AIBU to be upset that she made out as if she had gone out and bought these things recently, when in fact she gave us meals that expired almost 3 years ago?

Yes thats vile. She should have made it clear that she was offering food that is years out of date before giving it to you. It maybe ok to eat but there are guidelines even for frozen that it should be discarded after certain time limits. Reminds me of a neighbour who dumped boxes of old childrens books on my doorstep when she found out I was pregnant. She wanted to clear her bookcase out!

I'd be annoyed, especially if she claimed she had bought new food cause she obviously hadn't.
I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be with eating it either, the food's taste and quality will deteriorate after being frozen that long but it will be safe to eat. I'd tell your husband the dates on the food and ask if he thinks it's safe to eat then hear his opinion. He should definitely notice that his aunt has just cleared out her freezer of unwanted food

I was all ready to be dismissive. Pfft use by? But 3 years OoD and you're pregnant?

That's actually close to unforgivable. If you hadn't checked...

I'm so mortified that someone would do this and disguise it as a "nice gesture". People are terrible. I'm sorry.

@Dearly89

She didn't exactly 'claim'. But it was implied because she went to the shop that day and one of the items was purchased that day. To be fair, of the 4 items she gave us, 2 are well within the use by date.

@Dearly89

He reminded me that not everyone keeps on top of their freezer as much as I do (I'm pretty fastidious about logging what I have and eating oldest food first). But I pointed out that surely she would have realized it had been there for quite some time. I think he's trying to see the best side of it.

To add to my annoyance, I had someone offer today to add some meals to my freezer and I declined, telling them I was all set after kind Aunt had helped us out 🙄

Thanks terrible!
You have no idea if the food was defrosted & refrozen either.
If she's scankey enough to give you old freezer food I'd not trust her ability to have ensured it was kept perfectly frozen all those years.

Nb. I would 100% eat (and do!) my own out of date freezer food, most of my freezer food lives in dormant peace for many years before I disturb its icey slumber but I would never never serve/give it to anyone else - especially not a pregnant woman!

@milkyway1

That's what I was thinking. If I knew it had been frozen the entire time I might have given it a go. But since she didn't realize/didn't mention the date, I decided it was best to chuck it.

If she had been up front about it and said, look, these items are really out of date but they have been frozen the whole time and I thought you might like to try them.....I would have at least given it some thought.

I was profusely thanking her as well! Surely she had to have realized they had been in there for ages?! Maybe she genuinely didn't realize? She has had a tough couple of years and perhaps it's warped her sense of time? I know the years can fly by! I've definitely been embarrassed to see the expiry dates on some items I have knocking about!

Food only keeps for 6 months in a freezer (roughly) at a good quality. Anything before that is not really okay.

i would be a bit horrified at what she did

@Hollyppp

I was thinking maybe I wasn't being grateful