Do you wonder how long the items in your refrigerator and pantry last?

sometimes the expiration date has nothing to do with the fact that food is good or bad. Living in a humid part of the United states, I can tell you from experience that food can get buggy really fast when it is so damp. One must put food in an airtight container as soon as you get home from the market. I have acturally brought home flour that was alreay buggy when we purchased it. The humididity levele has alot to do with how long items like flour, pancake mix, cornmeal and even oats will stay good.

At times I've eaten things up to about a month old (meaning mostly yogurt) as long as it looks, smells and tastes okay, but I'm always trying to check the expiration dates on things. Some things literally go inedible, other things just lose some of their zip and flavor, like pops, because we had some soda around here that was very old that we'd forgotten about, and let me tell you it sure didn't taste all that great anymore. Usually I just throw old stuff anyway, but we keep a big stock of yogurt in the house since I eat one each day, and sometimes older ones get pushed to the back on accident and I end up finding one that's like two weeks old, and they hardly ever seem to have gone bad in any way. Anyway, I do wonder how accurate some of the expiration dates are. I sure know that milk won't last too long after the date, lol. Thanks for that link, too!

I live by the motto when it comes to food...When in doubt throw it out. Nothing is worth taking a chance and getting food poison. After a week in my fridge if its not eaten, in the trash it goes, unless its not opened. I have always been careful about food. I do check on the dates and sometimes they are not accurate. Thanks for the link, we all have questions about food storage tips.

That was a neat little article. I do use things and wonder how old they are, or rather have. Lately we have been doing rather well on throwing away things we just don't trust how long we've had them. lol

I use organic soy milk a lot, and one of my first lessons is that once you open it, you better use it within a week -- Another fallacy I was corrected on was that not everything keeps indefinitely in the freezer. I thought rice lasted forever, but one day I found an unusual amount of tiny moths flying in my dining room and kitchen. I thought the rice was in an airtight bag (it had the zip-lock kind of seal) but obviously not, because some of the grains were wiggling ... I wonder how much extra protein I got in the weeks I cooked some rice ....

I always check spices, cerals, condiments before using to make sure there still fresh.If I don't use a certain very often I try and buy the small container of it, just in case it goes bad and have to through it out...then I don't feel as if I wasted much money on it. Thanks for the link has Great tips.

Thanks for the good link to read at. I check expiration dates when I buy something as well as when I have something stored in my cupboards. Since it's harder to keep track of something once it's opened, I keep a magic marker in the kitchen and mark on the package (or bottle) the date I opened it.

This is some great information. Thank yoou for shareing it with us. I buy my spices ans herbs at the health food store in bulk because it is cheaper and I can get just what I think I will use up quickly. I also put bay leaves in any product that has flour to keep the weavels from hatching. I have book marked this artical so I can refer to it as needed. In fact I bookmarked it in two places.

The way I deal with this, is I put a date on everything that goes into the freezer and the refrigerator, once it is opened. I have been doing this for years. Even in the pantry, on things that didn't or did have dates, I would put a date on when purchased. This way if I duplicated, I would use the older cans or boxes first.

Thanks for the link, I'll check it out. I usually go by the nose approach (if it smells bad throw it away) and I won't touch any leftover cold meat or chicken that hasn't been used for about two days. I'm usually pretty careful about where I put things in the fridge too, checking that things aren't going to drip onto other things etc.

No I do not wonder how long the items in my refrigerator actually last or in my cupboards, some products seem to last ages, while other things of course we go through very quickly I always check on the expiry date of my foods that I am going to cook though. I do not keep products long in the cupboard though as we only buy a certain amount every week to make sure that they will never expire.

I have found that if I keep flour, cornmeal, and pancake mix in an airtight container in the refrigerator that it doesn't get the little wiggly bugs! I am also careful to 'rotate stock' on my canned goods..placing new ones in behind old ones so that the old ones are used first! Meat keeps longer if you rewrap it once you get it home. The wrap from the store was not meant to be what you store it in your freezer.

hey many item do remain safe for a long time in referigerators . hey some time it could be more than 4 days also.

I've always wondered about that myself.I have noticed that some things last a long time but others may only have a short life span. I have learned to always check the expiration date and if there is none ,to smell first.We just had and incident where I had taken spareribs out to thaw and forgot to check the date.A couple of days later,I went to put it in the pan and it had gone bad. I looked on the expiration date and i was outdated by two days!

I do especially when they start growing limbs they never have:) How are you?Please watch for a private message:) but not in your refrigerator..

Yes .. I regularly do that ! .. That serious .. I mean if they last too long .. they won't .. eh .. last .. they will become toxic .. Even in refrigerator .. they become unhygienic .. and unhealthy to eat .. I store food items only for 3-4 days normally .. and these vary according to the food item !

I am trying to be very careful about this. I got really sick from a tarter sauce that had been left in too long. Its a good idea to check those expiration dates.

I think it depends on the food you put in your refrigerator. Of course, if it has more preservatives, it will lasts longer. Otherwise, it will not. Dry foods are more likely not to spoil easily than wet foods.

Actually I always check the date before I use anything that comes out of my fridge, but also always try to remember the day that I open a bottle of juice or mayonnaise tube and things like that. What I always wondered about, is stuff that does not go in your fridge like a tube of face cream, or body lotion, sun cream, baby oil... how long do those last? I will check out the link you sent and check if they say anything about that. There is now a rule in europe that it should say on each cream, shampoo, lotion, how long they can stay open beofre it affects their content, but it is still difficult to find out but also hard to remember when you opened them...

i always list the things inside my pantry and ref so thati would know howlong itis inside the ref. for my children's safety.i always check the boxesand cans fortheir expiry date to avoid eating expired items.it is really dangerous to eat this ,might lead you to nausea,diarrhea and vomiting.if ever i open a can and here is still some left overs, i make it a point to put it in a pyrex, not put the can per se inside the ref.it all depends on the expiration date asto howlongyou can store items in your pantry.left over meals can be stored in the freezer and reheat it the other dayto preservefreshness. to avoid spoilage ,make it a habit to check your ref and pantry weekly so you are updated what is left and what do you lack.