how long does food really last?

[Troy3267]

So I know what your gonna say, "check the expiration date" lol well that date is not when the food actually expires, but when it has to be taken off the shelves (the wal-mart whole fried chicken has an expiration date of 4 hours after but is safe to eat for days after if you put it in the fridge)

So I want to know if there is a website that can tell me how long my stored food will be safe to eat. Right now its just canned food, ramen, and rice (my long-haul food, not first week stuff)

 

[lftd&pwrstrok'n]

A few years ago I saw a documentary on canned foods and the canning process. According to this show, as long as the can does not have any seams that open or have any creases or holes in the can; canned food should never go bad. To prove this point, they showed a man eat a can of meat processed sometime in the late 1800s. A) I didn't know they canned meat in the 1800s and B) they did not go back a few days and talk to the man eating 100+ year old meat to show that he was still alive, but that is what the show "claimed". Not sure that I believe all this, but if times do get hard I guess we may all have to find out if it is true?

 

[Cruisers460]

Saw a website claim there canned meat was still good after 18 years.I don't know where to find it but there is a listing, a missionary to Mexico told me some years ago that they were supplied a manual that detailed all foods (fresh, canned, etc.). Be nice to see a copy of that. Perhaps some of the folks on the board could check around and see if thats an item supplied by their churches to missionary's.

 

[bid9394]

Hard to say, but I don't believe the "expiration dates" on most products (except those which require refrigeration), as long as it is properly stored and, as ccso139 says, there is no damage to the cans. While my wife says that she can taste the difference as to whether it tastes "fresh" or not, I have had to eat items that were beyond their "freshness" date and never suffered any ill effects.

I once worked (at least tangentially) with the phramaceutical industry. It is a similar story with drug expiration dates. Drug manufacturers are required by the FDA to ensure efficacy under certain conditions, which leads to the labeling of expiration dates. What is not known (and not revealed by the drug company, unless there is an investigation), is under what conditions were the drugs exposed, and then tested to ensure efficacy? For all we know, they sumberged them under boiling salt water for two weeks and then shipped them to Alaska for a month during winter. It is not in the pharmaceutical company's financial interest for us to know that, if properly stored (59-78 degrees F in a non-humid, dark place), that we can keep our pharms (tablet form) on the shelf for a few years or so.

 

[snake dr]

Last night I drank some buttermilk that expired 12-30-2010.
If it smells good and then it tastes good, then it must be ok.

 

[bid9394]

Last night I drank some buttermilk that expired 12-30-2010.
If it smells good and then it tastes good, then it must be ok.

ugh- never have liked the taste of buttermilk. Smells spoiled even when it's fresh! (just my opinion, nothing else)

 

[Troy3267]

Was it marked as buttermilk or did you guess that from taste and smell alone?

Chances are it was whole milk back in december hahaha

 

[B. Byrd]

I couldn't tell the difference in spoiled buttermilk and fresh butter milk. One of the few things I never learned to like.

 

[MMatt30]

I like Buttermilk biscuits.....lol.

 

[Bear44]

I remember eating c-rations when camping in the 70s with my folks. They stopped making c-rations in 1958.