# Do you have food items that should've been thrown out? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 24, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-food-items-that-shouldve-been-thrown-out/163899 "2003-03-24T23:07:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BadBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@BadBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BadBaby)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-food-items-that-shouldve-been-thrown-out/163899/21 "2003-03-26T02:02:20Z")
My late, great canary Basilio is in the freezer, awaiting the day I have a backyard in which to bury him. Not a traditional food item, though my kitties always seemed to think he looked scrumptious. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-food-items-that-shouldve-been-thrown-out/163899/22 "2003-03-26T02:07:43Z")
I just moved. But one of the items I threw out in the move was a three-year-old frozen pizza. And there was the six-month-old unopened yogurt…and no, I did NOT open it. Ewwwwwww. ---
**Author:** ![Nightsong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nightsong/32/3083_2.png) [@Nightsong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightsong)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-food-items-that-shouldve-been-thrown-out/163899/23 "2003-03-26T02:29:05Z")
Let’s see… currently there’s a partially-full container of guava juice (generic Wal-Mart brand) that’s been sitting in the fridge since… er… sometime last year. I’m surprised the container hasn’t exploded. :eek: Then there’s the stuff in the freezer that’s been there so long, there’s no way to tell what it orginally was. Beef? Chicken? Pork? Fish? Pizza? Who knows! (And does anyone else now have ‘Livin’ In The Fridge’ stuck in their head?) * * * \<\< Computer programmers don’t byte, they nybble a bit. \>\> ---
**Author:** ![graceland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ec9cab/32.png) [@graceland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/graceland)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-food-items-that-shouldve-been-thrown-out/163899/24 "2003-03-26T02:50:18Z")
Marmite. I have a very dear friend in England and we decided to mail each other a box with five items. He sent me 4 really cool things plus the marmite. After swallowing a little bite of Marmite, I felt the need to smoke a cigarette to get the taste out of my mouth, then chase it with some Drano and Jack Daniels. (And I don’t smoke cigarettes.) My friend swears that Marmite is great, thinly spread on buttered toast. I’d rather lick the grill at the bottom of the fridge. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-food-items-that-shouldve-been-thrown-out/163899/25 "2003-03-26T02:51:44Z")
The back wall of the 'fridge is lined with condiments of unknown vintage. And Xmas gift food items of the sort I don’t eat often make it to the next Xmas. But the only things I can definitely date are some Ling and Kingfish I caught on an offshore fishing trip. I don’t cook fish very often, so as per instructions, when I froze them, I did so in solid blocks of ice. So, do you think they might still be good? I put them in there in the summer of '89. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-food-items-that-shouldve-been-thrown-out/163899/26 "2003-03-26T03:58:08Z")
Oh, I forgot about the unopened container of Cool Whip. I put it in the fridge to thaw before Christmas. When I threw it out last week, something in a pretty shade of teal was creeping out from under the lid. ---
**Author:** ![Ferris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ferris/32/11573_2.png) [@Ferris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferris)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-food-items-that-shouldve-been-thrown-out/163899/27 "2003-03-26T04:30:55Z")
[nitpick] Rabid\_Squirrel’s beer is actually called ‘Speights’ (Superior Piss Enjoyed In Good Hotels Throughout Southland) [/nitpick] Recently, I had to throw out a jar of tomato paste which contained white fluffy things which weren’t listed as an ingredient. To be honest though, it’s the far reaches of the cupboards that have recently yielded the most archaeologically interesting items. Tins of tea which have rusted shut, ‘once-were-crackers’ powder and other delightful finds. ---
**Author:** ![SojournerSamson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SojournerSamson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SojournerSamson)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-food-items-that-shouldve-been-thrown-out/163899/28 "2003-03-26T06:44:21Z")
Ding ding ding We have a winner! \*\*Ringo’s] 1989 frozen fish! I have ca.1995 Dundee orange marmalade and three year old Hickory Farms summer sausage holiday gift packs ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-food-items-that-shouldve-been-thrown-out/163899/29 "2003-03-26T09:29:24Z")
Yep! I just discovered a tub of superb chicken salad in my refrigerator. While I fried my cheeseburger, I spooned it down. It was less than a month old, so I scoffed it with glee. One of my best renditions. ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-food-items-that-shouldve-been-thrown-out/163899/30 "2003-03-26T11:00:10Z")
I have a few containers of loose tea that should probably go. I think I keep them because of the nice tins that house them. But I forgot when they were acquired. ---
**Author:** ![Daerlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Daerlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daerlyn)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-food-items-that-shouldve-been-thrown-out/163899/31 "2003-03-26T11:03:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kalhoun \* > \*\*Do you ever get the soft cucumber and the white, hairy tomatoes? I have to put baggies on my hands just to remove them from the bin. \*\* Urgh. Try the hairy cucumber and rapidly-dissolving tomato in my fridge. Don’t ever eat at my place, unless you watched me buy all the food within the last two days. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-food-items-that-shouldve-been-thrown-out/163899/32 "2003-03-26T11:09:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Daerlyn \* > **… the hairy cucumber …** I’d like to say that this would be a fine name for a rock band. Right up there with White Snake and Pearl Jam. ---
**Author:** ![ems](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@ems](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ems)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-food-items-that-shouldve-been-thrown-out/163899/33 "2003-03-26T11:49:32Z")
I am currently not working in my normal location so I am being put up in “company provided shared housing” - stinking cess pits would be a better description. Anyways I had to move to another house on Monday night first thing I see when I open the fridge to put in my in date yoghurts, milk, fresh veggies etc etc are 3 cartons of open milk with expiry dates of before the end of December 2002 :eek: - why you may ask did no one notice the strange aroma when they opened the fridge door when it stinks to high heaven!! I poured/spooned out the solid lumps down the sink keeping the tap running while dry heaving into the other sink. There was one in there that was unopened from mid December I didn’t even want to risk pouring that down the sink it was just picked up, put in bag with the others and carried outside to the rubbish bins at arms length. I am surprised they didn’t crawl out of there - ick. I couldn’t eat dinner after that the smell kept coming back to be. ---
**Author:** ![Daerlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Daerlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daerlyn)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-food-items-that-shouldve-been-thrown-out/163899/34 "2003-03-26T12:07:30Z")
**Zenster** : so glad to have made your day. 🙂 That’s probably the only fine thing to ever come out of my fridge. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-food-items-that-shouldve-been-thrown-out/163899/35 "2003-03-26T12:40:49Z")
I’m pretty tidy with the fridge, about the worst it ever gets is when I let red peppers go all wrinkly and flaccid but I do that on purpose because they tase so much better that way (in a sauce, not a salad) ---
**Author:** ![phraser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a88e4f/32.png) [@phraser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phraser)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-food-items-that-shouldve-been-thrown-out/163899/36 "2003-03-26T12:48:14Z")
I found a tin of something called “Ambrosia Creamed Rice, fresh from our devonshire creamery” in my pantry… I think I may have got it in a christmas hamper in about 1992. I looked on the can and it said “best before may 1995” I gave it to a friend, who was having a housewarming can drive, and he ate it with glee :-o he’s still alive, too. ---
**Author:** ![TJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@TJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJay)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-food-items-that-shouldve-been-thrown-out/163899/37 "2003-03-26T13:41:41Z")
I think I’m on to a winner here! Whilst sorting out my mother in law’s house when she was moving a while back, we discovered at the back of the cupboard a tin of asparagus - wait for it… best before date: August 1979! I knew she was a hoarder, but that was unbelievable. Who on earth buys tinned asparagus anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-food-items-that-shouldve-been-thrown-out/163899/38 "2003-03-26T13:53:43Z")
Drewbert said, “I got rid of several old things in the fridge this morning, actually. But I was too frightened of the tightly sealed bowl of instant mashed potatoes, which are going on about a month now.” My husband gets mad, but I throw away the tupperware if it’s too frightening. I just can’t bring myself to touch a container that holds the bowels of hell within it. Oh…and the instant mashed potatoes? They separate. You don’t wanna look. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-food-items-that-shouldve-been-thrown-out/163899/39 "2003-03-26T14:07:25Z")
I’ve got five or six carboys in my basement, filled with an assortment of mead & cider, that probably went bad a year or so ago when the airlocks dried out and airborn gunkiness was able to make its way in… I’m a little afraid of trying to bottle it and see if it’s drinkable. Might be great! Might be poison! Might be both! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-food-items-that-shouldve-been-thrown-out/163899.md?page=1)