Near-Death Experiments in Food

[prepper7]

Product: Ralphs (store brand) Vitamin D milk
Sell-By Date: 8 Nov 2014
Consumed (last serving): 10 Dec 2014

Sensory Observations:
Normal appearance
No sensory defects in texture or taste texture.

Results:
Reviewer experienced no ill effects.

And . . . one-thousandth post! Woo-hoo!!!

[Apollo-11]

Product: MRE
Mfg Date: 1991
Consumed (last serving): 01/06/2015

Sensory Observations:

Normal appearance .
No sensory defects in texture or taste for most of the components. Crackers smelled a little rancid or chemical-y. They had a bit of an odd aftertaste.

Results:

I ate a 24 year old MRE for dinner tonight. I had a box of various bits and pieces. These did not all come from one meal. Based on the date codes and a little detective work, I am pretty confident that these were all made in 1991. The "best by" date (inspect/test date) would be 1994.

Escalloped Potatoes With Ham
Freeze Dried Pears
Crackers
Peanut Butter
Grape Jam
Chocolate Nut Cake
Oatmeal Cookie Bar

The main entree, Escalloped Potatoes With Ham, is one of my favorites. I nuked it up and sprinkled a little 24-year-old Tobasco sauce on it. It was as delicious as I remember.

The freeze dried pears, if you've ever seen them (sorry no pics), come in a vacuum sealed pouch and resemble a small white tile or brick. You can eat them dry or reconstitute in cold water. Dry, they smelled like an old shoe. I cautiously bit off a small corner and they still tasted normal. Sweet and crunchy. I then reconstituted them in a bowl of water and they came out tasting and smelling exactly like canned pears. I was surprised that the bad smell went away immediately.

The crackers had an odd smell and aftertaste, which is not unusual for very old MRE crackers. Better with MRE PB&J, both of which tasted and smelled perfectly new. Based on what I've seen, it is impossible to kill MRE peanut butter. You just have to knead the package if it separates. The jam was a bit runny, and I kneaded the package until it got a more normal appearance. It separates.

The MRE Chocolate Nut Cake tasted like the nuts were getting old and perhaps beginning to be a little bit rancid. The nuts were slightly rubbery and soft. Other than that, it tasted and smelled delicious. If they had left the nuts out of the recipe, this package would be good until the layers of the retort pouch separated from age. 30-50 years? But I am going to discard the rest of the Nut Cakes I have in storage just to be safe.

I've never had one of the oatmeal cookie bars before. They are vacuum sealed in a retort pouch. It turns out that these are identical to some that are used in pilot's survival kits in the air force, and they are engineered like the life raft rations for a very extended life. They tasted fine.

I would not hesitate to eat any of this stuff again.

[duodecima]

Store brand canola oil, 1 gallon
Best by 11/2012.
Opened approx 6/2014
Finished 12/23/2014

No issues, smelled and tasted fine the whole time. It had been stored in the traditional cool dark place until opened, then in a cabinet above the stove.

Read an article by a dietician praising canola oil for, among other things, having a hi smoke point, I'm not sure if this correlates to longer effective shelf life.

[Phoenix David]

I have 1, dark brown package unopened

Meal, Ready-To-Eat, Individual
Menu No 1
Pork with Rice in BBQ Sauce
Accessory packet B
SO-PAK-CO, Inc
Mullins, SC 29574

No dates on the package. Issued to me sometime in 1992

[roOism]

Store brand hummus.

1 week past use by date, smelled normal, looked normal, put a tiny bit on a cracker and just barely put a bit to my tongue. Instant overwhelming moldy flavor, horrible wretching and gagging follows. Had to use mouthwash for a few minutes to clear away the gagging.

[Barnabus]

I have 1, dark brown package unopened

Meal, Ready-To-Eat, Individual
Menu No 1
Pork with Rice in BBQ Sauce
Accessory packet B
SO-PAK-CO, Inc
Mullins, SC 29574

No dates on the package. Issued to me sometime in 1992

Eat it ! Eat it ! Eat it ! (film it and post on YouTube)

[azrancher]

Store brand hummus.
1 week past use by date, smelled normal, looked normal, put a tiny bit on a cracker and just barely put a bit to my tongue. Instant overwhelming moldy flavor, horrible wretching and gagging follows. Had to use mouthwash for a few minutes to clear away the gagging.

That's normal for hummus, it's an acquired taste.

Rancher

[Apollo-11]

I have 1, dark brown package unopened

Meal, Ready-To-Eat, Individual
Menu No 1
Pork with Rice in BBQ Sauce
Accessory packet B
SO-PAK-CO, Inc
Mullins, SC 29574

No dates on the package. Issued to me sometime in 1992

Based on the menus on mreinfo.com, this is what's in the pouch:

Pork w/Rice in BBQ Sauce
Applesauce
Jelly
Crackers
Cocoa
Beverage Base
Hot Sauce
Spoon
Accessory Packet B

It is very likely to all be good. The applesauce might have turned a dark brown if it was stored in a warm place. Give it a sniff test before you eat it. Post pics!

[Barnabus]

Campbell's Chicken and Stars soup, Exp Date Jan 2011 . I was looking for something in a desk at work, and found the above . I'm not afraid of exp dates on cans, as long as the can isn't dented or bulgy, so I had it for my lunch. Looked fine, tasted normal, no ill effects.

[duodecima]

I'd been slacking on rotation, do I've cleared out a lot of older stuff lately, I keep forgetting to log it, tho!

crisco canola oil
Best by 6/27/13
About a tablespoon left as of today, opened about 4 mo ago, stored in dark, 60-80 degree basement, then in dark kitchen cabinet since then. No issues.

[shrapnel]

I used tamarind paste on valentine's day that has been open, in the fridge, for about six months. The internet said it was probably OK, no sensory defects were noted, and nothing bad happened. Hurrah!

[Myana]

Product: S&W Premium Organic Tomato Sauce
Best By Date: 2/2013
Consumed: 2/19/2015

Sensory Observations:
Sauce looked and smelled fine.
Noticed a couple dark flecks on top.
Began to dither about whether fleck was mold or basil.
Ate fleck, to prove to self that it was basil. Fleck tasted fine. Dumped sauce into beans.
Read can label and discovered there was no basil in sauce.
Decided not to mention fleck to husband.

Results:
Everything tasted great. No one experienced any discomfort or bad symptoms.
I think the fleck was a small piece of red pepper (which this sauce does have) which had become discolored over time. If it wasn't... well, it didn't hurt me. I hope it had some nutritional value.

[prepper7]

<snip> Decided not to mention fleck to husband.

Literally LdOL

[duodecima]

Product : Nutella
Use by date : September 2013 ( failure of rotation...)
opened : 3/10/15

smelled fine but had smattering of small faint white spots on one side. Seal had been fine. After staring at it, decided the spots looked too much like the kind of colony pattern you see when you inoculate a petrie dish and let it grow for a day. Pitched it, I have lots of Nutella.

In a PAW, I'd've scooped out a big spoon around that area , and if the rest of the nutella looked good we'd've eaten it promptly.

[TacAir]

Product : Nutella
Use by date : September 2013 ( failure of rotation...)
opened : 3/10/15

smelled fine but had smattering of small faint white spots on one side. Seal had been fine. After staring at it, decided the spots looked too much like the kind of colony pattern you see when you inoculate a petrie dish and let it grow for a day. Pitched it, I have lots of Nutella.

In a PAW, I'd've scooped out a big spoon around that area , and if the rest of the nutella looked good we'd've eaten it promptly.

LOL
My wife freaks out when I cut big green spots off the cheese - before eating the remaining cheese....

bread - not so much anymore...

[duodecima]

Product : Nutella
Use by date : September 2013 ( failure of rotation...)
opened : 3/10/15

smelled fine but had smattering of small faint white spots on one side. Seal had been fine. After staring at it, decided the spots looked too much like the kind of colony pattern you see when you inoculate a petrie dish and let it grow for a day. Pitched it, I have lots of Nutella.

In a PAW, I'd've scooped out a big spoon around that area , and if the rest of the nutella looked good we'd've eaten it promptly.

LOL
My wife freaks out when I cut big green spots off the cheese - before eating the remaining cheese....

bread - not so much anymore...

Nah, the trimming and eating of quesionable food is usually my job around here. If I want to pitch it nobody here is going to disagree. And hard cheeses, yes, absolutely, I do the same.

Having run into the concept of aflatoxins (I think I spelled that right) but not had time to dig into that in detail, and since nutella is eaten almost exclusively by the kids, I decided to play it very safe, it ain't the PAW right now. (Pr'haps I'm the only person who didn't realize that cancer-causing aflatoxins are one of the big reasons not to eat mold. But I didn't know that until somewhat recently, and like I said, haven't had time look up a lot about them.)

My gallon of cooking oil that expired back in 2013 is doing just fine, tho, I've used up the first quart in the last month or so.

[sheddi]

Product : Nutella
Use by date : September 2013 ( failure of rotation...)
opened : 3/10/15

I started a new jar of generic Lidl chocolate-hazelnut spread in January. It had been lurking in the cupboard for a while; the date on the cap is 14.06.07.

I'm about a third of the way through it. If I finish it without issues I'll post back here to let you know

[Klaus Tritium]

Product: Canola Oil, Cub Foods brand, 1 gallon
Best by date: Dec 24, 2009
Appearance: Normal, with jug a bit dusty
Smell: Like canola oil

Used it last week to fry a bunch of french fries at a party. Tasted fine. Nobody noticed anything unusual.

This stuff lasts a lot longer than I would have expected, it must be low in flatulated splat.

[duodecima]

I read somewhere that canola oil did not oxidize easily or something (and have not been able to find that link since so I can't cite it. )

Product - Blue Diamond Natural Oven Roasted Almonts (mint dark chocolate)
date - best by 10/25/13
opened - last week
taste - just fine, I didn't even notice the date until just now when I had some with lunch.

They were stored on a basement shelf, I suspect heat would not be good for nuts or other oil containing foods.

[emilysometimes]

Ate Lipton Cup A Soup chicken noodle flavor about two years after the sell-by date. Looked fine, tasted fine, no ill effects. Same thing with some expired ramen. No noticeable difference between new ramen and "expired" ramen, no ill effects.

[Spazzy]

Gat part way through this thread and figured I could add one.

Product: Premier Protein High Protein Shake, Chocolate 12/11oz
Best By Date: 09/2014
Consumed: 2/2015

Sensory Observations:
Shook it up and when opened it smelled fine. Looked a tad off though, like a bit thinner. Plus I'd never seen clumps in one before. Tasted a tad off, but still chocolatey and the added bonus of chewy clumps!

Results:
About an hour or so after, projectile vomiting that would do a B grade hollywood movie proud.

[duodecima]

Product - Horizen Organic Low-Fat Chocolate Milk Boxes (8 oz boxes, case of 18)
Expired - 8/2014
Consumed - from about 4/24/15 - 5/10 by the junior members of the household.
Effects - children excited about chocolate milk boxes, otherwise all fine.

Seriously, I would not have done this except they'd gotten almost half way thru the case before I realized the dates were for last year not this year, and nothing had happened. Smelled fine, I thought there might have been a few clumps when I tested it after realizing the date issue, but the kids didn't notice any.

[shrapnel]

Product: Hunter Bacon
Best by date: sometime in the future, oddly, but that isn't the point. The point is that

Sensory Observations: some of the bacon was moldy. The rest was not slimy or bad smelling. We took a vote on whether to use it or not, and the consensus was two for, one abstaining. Now that I think of it, one of the for votes was from a man who took basically no convincing to eat a dollop of Frog Lube a few days ago, so maybe I shouldn't have counted his vote. Too late now! I cut off the mold and have used the remaining bacon in dinner. It got sauteed heavily, then braised, so it should cook anything bad off, right? Right.

Results: Will update when a few days have passed, or when food poisoning strikes the whole household, whichever comes first.

[Barnabus]

Results: Will update when a few days have passed, or when food poisoning strikes the whole household, whichever comes first.

Hello? you still alive?