Clearing out your kitchen cupboards

[rustylady]

I'm with Organic on this one. Sellby dates are a con!! Only applies to fresh stuff, and you don't need a date stamped on it to know if it's off. However, I do need to sort my kitchen cupboard cos it's got a bit muddled.

[Alison]

My old neighbour always refused tea at our house...possibly because I admitted that as neither Andi nor I drink the stuff the teabags we had were from when we moved in four years previous!(do they go out of date????)
I've actually had cleaning out the cupboards on my little list in my head of things to do for quite some time,I shall let you know...although as we've only been here for two years,I would hope there's nothing too bad....other than the nettle tea which I think is 2003 but my mate's assured me if I keep it long enough the foul smellingness will dissipate,therefore make it a little more palatable!

Yes, tea does go off, won't do you any harm but will taste rank. This is true for nettle tea too, needs to be fresh.

[SlugLobber]

You lot should visit the chap from whom I used to rent half a house. A right eccentric, he took to 'stockpiling' non-perishables a LONG time ago and even kept large containers full of water, as he was convinced the water company were going to switch off the taps without warning, for weeks at a time.

I don't know when he started this behaviour, but he bought the house in the early 60s and the tins I found in his cupboards (and stacks of boxes in the dining room - and yes, I WAS being nosey!) had dates from the 70s on. I found some suspiciously 60s looking stuff, which didn't have dates on - I guess these were from BEFORE 'use by dates' were invented! Scary!

[allotmentlady]

cough cough typical of you to devise this thread bernie lol......okies here we go, a jar of marmite dated 2004 thrown last month and mustard binned yesterday 2001 ouch lol......off to clean cupboards, hanging head in shame

[piskieinboots]

I have a bottle of Schweppes Ginger Cordial which was bought from a shop called L (I'm guessing Liptons, but it only says L on label) for 31p - this is for a 750ml bottle. It pre-dates best before, it appears to even pre-date dating of any kind as there is nothing on it at all.

I didn't buy this bottle it was given to me by MiL when she was clearing out FiL's alcohol stores following his death in January of this year.

I'm thinking of asking Schweppes if they want it for their museum

[pdblake]

Anyone noticed that there's a use by date on salt?

Salt goes off?

[Nicos]

Some products over here are given a 'prepared' date- but no sell by date....quite sensible really if you're good at sniffing and poking to determine if it's fresh enough to use!

[piskieinboots]

no PDB - but the 'elf n safety do if they don't get to stamp something

[Rhona]

We stayed in France last year in a family member's place and found some mozzie repellant with a use by of 1994. We didn't mention it (replaced it discreetly)...but we sure didn't use it. Even I draw a line somewhere!

[Hilary B]

cough cough typical of you to devise this thread bernie lol......okies here we go, a jar of marmite dated 2004 thrown last month and mustard binned yesterday 2001 ouch lol......off to clean cupboards, hanging head in shame

Marmite does NOT go off! In a jar that has been opened it may get a bit dried-up, but otherwise it will probably keep forever!

[piskieinboots]

...In a jar that has been opened it may get a bit dried-up, .....

and if you live with students it will get all buttery around the top of the gorgeous blackness - thereby rendering it 'off' anyway

[Hilary B]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hilary B View Post
...In a jar that has been opened it may get a bit dried-up, .....
and if you live with students it will get all buttery around the top of the gorgeous blackness - thereby rendering it 'off' anyway
__________________

Ah, yes, 'foreign matter' CAN spoil marmite, but not being over the 'sell by' date.

[bramble]

Cleared out all my cupboards over the weekend to make way for the 24 pots of raspberry jam and 12 pots of bramble jelly I made last week.
Found a bottle of chili oil dated 2001.
Didn't think it was that long since I got into the back of the cupboards.

[janeyo]

I have just thrown away some of those disgusting packet of rice concoctions dated bb4 2003. Before I could cook! lol

I did open a tin of fruit last year about 5 years out of date and it was definitely off.

I also accidentally gave my uncle some out of date beer for his birthday by about a year and he said it was fine.

I had some chocolates given to me for xmas last year which were 6 months out of date when I got them (there is a previous thread somewhere on my then rantings lol) and they were off too.

[JanieB]

I worked for a food import & distribution company a few years ago. A lot (most) of the stock was kept in the warehouse for up to 2 years. No specific conditions except to keep rodents out.

When the products were packaged they had a "use by" date of three months no matter how old it was.

This company produced the same products in the same conditions for all the supermarkets in the UK bar Lidl and Aldi. Interesting when you know you are being charged a hell of a lot more in M&S than Tescos for the same stuff.