Best before dates make sense for milk and eggs, although I must confess I still use the “bad eggs sink” test and often use low-fat milk up to three weeks late (after passing the dreaded taste test). I have heard several pharmacists tell me best before medicine is not always bad. I have no use for best before dates on soda. Wondering what brave Dopers have bested my noble record?
I’ve eaten frozen meats that were over one year old.
I’ve eaten tortillas that had not been refrigerated and were in the bag for one month.
I ate some home made frozen lasagna that was over one and a half years old.
Zero ill effects from any of it. Not a single one.
When I was a student, “Best Before Dates” were just used as advance warning of when the supermarket would reduce the price.
Though I’d like to add that I’d rather eat most things “before your ass”.
In the mid-70s, I ate a can of C-rations that my father had left over from WWII, probably 30 years old. No ill effects, but then maybe canned goods don’t count.
I’ve used aspirin 4 years after the expiration date. No ill effects, and it still worked.
I once was ata barbeque hosted by a lady who skomes way too much pot. I noticed the cheese on the cheeseburgers tasted a little, well, funky and checked it out. This rather addled woman was using Kraft american cheese (individually wrapped) that was about 9 months out of date. It was a little hard around the edges but otherwise looked OK. Needless to say, I went hungry and just got drunk. But as far as I know nobody got sick.
ata = “at a”
skomes = “smokes”
Preview is my friend…
Looks like she is not the only one 
I think the experation date on aspirin isn’t for it making you sick, I think it starts to lose effectiveness after that date, kinda like batteries.
Actually, being more blunt, several drug company reps have told me that expiry dates on medicine generally are a crock. While it is true some molecules are volatile, most are quite stable and whether you take an aspirin now or five years after the date shouldn’t make a lick of difference. I have heard the same from a pharmacist. However, I am sure it does not apply to all meds. The battery analogy is only applicable if their is an internal chemical reaction inside the pill bottle, but I see what you’re saying.
I’ve had year old meat before too without probs.
My personality was like this before… I think.
Actually, being more blunt, several drug company reps have told me that expiry dates on medicine generally are a crock. While it is true some molecules are volatile, most are quite stable and whether you take an aspirin now or five years after the date shouldn’t make a lick of difference. I have heard the same from a pharmacist. However, I am sure it does not apply to all meds. The battery analogy is only applicable if their is an internal chemical reaction inside the pill bottle, but I see what you’re saying.
I’ve had year old meat before too without probs.
My personality was like this before… I think.
You people are insane! I throw out milk 2 days before the expiration date. I just can’t do it. Of course, usually it’s gone well before then, so it’s not much of a problem.
hummm…
as a former single guy, i can tell you that if it ain’t growing anything new, its okay to eat. (except for the pack of airline peanuts left on the dash of my pickup for 2 years in Vegas. that was a definate NO NO!)
POTENTIALLY DISGUSTING ALERT: i broke down along I-15 in early 1990. while waiting for a tow truck to haul the GM Junk to Barstow, i was wandering around the desert. being near a military base, i came across some piles of junk left behind from some training mission they must have had. in the pile was an unopened MRE (meal, ready-to-eat, much like we are raining on the Afgans). i chucked it in the trunk. Flash forward to 2001. it now resides in the Jeep, which i go off-roading in like a madman. givin the reliability of said vehicle, and the locations i take it, i can pretty much GUARENTEE i will be eating this MRE someday…
I’ve eaten chocolate that was a couple of years past the date; it was dark chocolate, so no milk products in there to spoil, just cocoa solids and sugar - it was fine, just a slight whitish bloom on the surface (just the fats separating out I think)
If you drink diet sodas with Nutrasweet in them, check the date on the bottom of the can. These sodas do lose their sweetness if they have been stored in a hot warehouse for a long period of time, say 2-3 months. I’ve had some diet Dr. Peppers that were only 1-2 days overdue, and the sweetness was gone.
…but one time we were cleaning out the cupboards in the kitchen, and found some stuff that was still unopened, 10 years after the expiry date. My mother had bought this… thing (I think it was some powdery stuff, or at least it was when we found it) 2 years before my younger brother was even born, and had not used it in all that time.
That was about the worst, but probably 1/5 of the things in that cupboard were more than a year past expiry. Don’t ask me how things got that way 
I don’t drink coffee, but my Mum likes it occasionally.
So I keep a jar for her visits.
Recently it passed its 8 year use-by date.
So I threw it out.
Chicken? Moi?
i found a findus frozen TV dinner at the bottom of my father’s super deep freezer and flung it in the oven without noting the best before date turned out it was 6 years past its expiry date , also i didn’t process a 35mm film for about 7 years , still came out ok
I’m with Flymaster on this one. I don’t touch anything after it’s sell by date. Sometimes I don’t even trust them before 
But then I’m a bit paranoid about food poisoning, so I’m not the best case study.
I’m not worried about poisoning, I just am really convinced that I can taste the difference.