What's the worst 'past use by date' item you have found in your fridge/larder?

I remember about 15 years back coming home one day to discover that my housemate had gone through the cupboard/larder and chucked out all the stuff that was way past its use by date (which proved to be considerable!). All those odd jars of pickles or jam that I had bought on holiday and stuffed into the back of the cupboard, the weird sauces or ingredients that I needed for a recipe and never used again, and so on. It was a bit of a shock at the time, but rather cathartic in a funny sort of way.

Today; my wife declared that she wanted to make a quiche for dinner…and did we have any pastry? I looked in the deep freeze and yes, an unopened packet of savoury pastry beckoned. I pulled it out and looked at the use by date…July 2010 so a mere 7 years past its best…gulp! I have no idea how it managed to hide in there for so long?

What is your best ‘long lost’ story?

Does miso count? If so I have some miso in the fridge with a best by date of March 2006.

Does miso go bad if well sealed?

Wine Talk?

This happens all the time in my house. My wife does all of the shopping, and all of the cooking. Our pantry is fully stocked and practically overflowing. There are things we use a lot, and she often buys them on her weekly shopping trip, without checking to see if we actually need them. I try to help her put things away so I can rotate items to make sure the oldest are in the front which is where she will reach for them when she needs them. Otherwise the stuff in the back never gets used. In the past I have found things that were 6 or 7 years past. Now it is more rare, but I occasionally will find something a year or two past. Thankfully she does check dates when she cooks!

My bottle of 1997 Lang & Reed Cabernet Franc is probably way past its use by date. There are lots of single bottles that seem to hide in the cellar and then become too problematic to drink.

We eat “expired” stuff all the time, but usually not more than a year or so past the use by date.
More perishable items might be limited to a month or less after the date.

Found some hydrocortisone cream & cough meds a few months ago that had been in our meds bin. Both had BB dates in 2007. Does that count?

Fish sauce… 2009. So I opted to use the new one. We weren’t too certain if it was bad because as I poured it out it smelled like fish sauce.

Otto found some wine in his garage.

Wasn’t that Tom? Which reminds me, I still have a bottle or two of some mead I made back in 1991. It wasn’t very good then, I wonder if time has changed it for the better. I did once find some homebrew that I forgot about which did get better with time so there is some reason, albeit little, for hope.

Great topic!

I put an uncarved (unopened) pumpkin in our basement in San Francisco one year and ‘rediscovered’ it a year later and all was well.

We’ve been in our current place since 2011, so I am sure there are some 6 year old frozen stocks, chili, or spaghetti sauce lurking in the back of the Frigidaire.

I’ve moved around frequently, so I don’t have tremendous ‘long lost food’ tales.

Something like ten years ago I went through my parents meds. Some of it expired in the late 60s, I had no idea they had expiration dates back then.

I had a friend who died in the recent past who had an eye dropper bottle of his favorite original Owsley acid from the 60’s that he kept frozen and would occasionally defrost and take by placing drops in his eyes.

He said he had climbed a Mayan pyramid about ten years ago, did some drops, which he kept in his insulin cooler, and then spent the entire day not knowing how to get down. As the sun was setting, a very nice lady helped him down…and they got married about five years ago.

He was a pot farmer, so I am not sure regarding the veracity of his claims about his acid, but you never know.

The mayo that gave my food poisoning.

I was going through my mail stack and found a mail-in ballot for the 2016 US Presidential Election.

slightly off topic but all those condiments past poll date? dump them in a pot and simmer for a bit to kill off anything. Use as barbecue sauce.