Either because they already went bad due to non-use or because they’re still taking up space in your cupboard and you don’t plan on using them anytime soon?
At the start of the year I actually started stocking up on food-stuff well before panic-buying due to COVID since I could see the writing on the wall (it was a good three weeks before you actually started to get the news reports of panic-buying), and because of that I was able to buy a bunch of food before shortages happened. I tried buying foods that either would last for a year so even if COVID somehow went away I could still use them at my leisure, or foods I suspected would quickly become sold out. I bought a lot of soup and ramen noodles, and while I still have a lot they’re still listed as not expiring until well into 2021 and I’ve been eating enough that the end of my stockpile will probably end before any of them expire.
However there’s also a lot of food I bought that I recently had to go through my pantry and throw away. I bought 4 jars of JIF peanut butter that I wound up never using and regrettable had to throw away because they just expired (I assumed that fast food places in my area would be forced to close but they didn’t, I was going to eat the peanut butter on toast as a quick breakfast to go). I also bought several containers of multi-packet calorie-free flavored drink mixes, assuming that if I were locked down and had nothing to drink besides water I could always take tap water and make drink mixes but since I can still get an sugar-free iced tea from any fast food place I haven’t made any of them.
The expiration date isn’t a hard and fast rule. With a new, unused jar of peanut butter, you can tell just by the smell if it’s still fresh or not. If the oils start to turn rancid, you’ll smell it. I worked for a food manufacturer, and they have to be overly conservative on the dates. Also, it’s to their benefit if you toss it and go purchase new stuff.
I did okay on stocking up. My biggest problem is remembering I’m an empty nester now, and not buying like I’m feeding a family anymore.
Not really any regrets (which is not an interesting reply, sorry). There were 12 40oz. jars of JIF, but we (three people) will get through them fine, before they expire in 2022. I bought canned mackerel for the first time in 30 years, because it was starring at me from the shelf, but there has been no shortage of canned salmon ,so the mackeral languish. They will get eaten eventually – there are only a few cans.
We did have 10 or 12 bags of dried beans, but we’ve gone through 70% of them; made some nice bean soup yesterday with a bag of yellow eyes.
Probably the items that will hold out longest are the big cannisters of protein powder, but they’ll be gone within a year.
You might want to check whether your area has a little free food pantry – they are popping up all over the place (four or five in my little town of 25,000), and they’re a good place to drop off any nonperishable food you don’t need. Stuff that can be eaten on the spot without requiring significant food preparation is especially popular, but in my experience, anything dropped off will be picked up within a day or two by somebody who can use it.
Flour and baking powder. I guessed(somewhat wrongly) that bread would be very hard to come by. I guess I don’t really regret it per sé, it will get used eventually. For the rest, I only buy a weeks worth of groceries at a time and have to be very careful about what and how much I buy during the weeks Vaderling is with me to avoid waste.
Someone in our apartment building started an anonymous drop off box in the entrance where we can leave food for those who may need it. The first time I left some extras of what I had. And a couple of months ago, during my grocery shopping trip, I bought two of some of what I got for myself and left it there. I didn’t limit it to food items, but things like dishwashing detergent, sponges and scour pads. I plan to do it again when I have a little extra spending money.
Went to a mexican food store and bought a number of items, which I have/will use. Not sure what possessed me to buy a can of Huitlacoche. I’m fairly certain my husband will not eat it, and I’m a bit scared to open it.
Other than that, we are finally finishing the hand soap that we accidentally bought instead of the desired shower soap. Similar refill containers and stress meant we both made the same mistake.
And we still have toothpaste and toilet cleaner which I bought way too much of in March. But that won’t go bad.
Just have to figure what to do with the corn mold.
Can’t say I bought anything I regret. Between camping and disaster-planning over the years I’ve gotten pretty good at building a stash and only buy things I know I will actually eat.
I do, however, have six boxes of matzoh. I didn’t buy those. At one point I had nine. Seems one of the local stores didn’t sell as much Passover food as the typical year and donated a couple pallets of the stuff to the local Jewish center. It was so much they simply didn’t have room for it and a lot of people had no interest in it, so rather than throw it away they gave it to some of us who were known to use it. Of course, I don’t use it every day.
On the other hand, I’ve gotten really good at making matzoh ball soup. One ground up matzoh makes about six of the dumplings. In between that, using them as crackers, and as chips for dipping I might get through the stash in about 2 years.
Actually, I don’t regret that, either - they do last a long time, especially if you keep them sealed up.
I bought four cans of SPAM, ate one, and can’t work up the desire to eat the rest. The last time I ate SPAM before this year was over two decades ago now and it just doesn’t seem to taste good now like it did than. I guess my taste as changed.
We only bought things we actually eat, so nothing should go to waste. The thing that will probably take the longest is the huge bag of pinto beans. I do actually cook dried pinto beans in things, but canned beans are much easier. Bought the giant bag of dried ones because we could only buy 2 cans at a time and foresaw a bleak future of limited chili and burritos. Luckily, it has not come to pass.
I’ve just been buying canned beans because of the convenience and time-saving. It’s not that I’m unwilling to purchase dried beans and cook them, but I’m one of the folks still working full-time (and sometimes more) and I just don’t have tons and tons of time to devote to cooking. Maybe if I’d been one of the people mostly at home and alone this past year it would have been different.
My only mistake was something like this. I recently changed to Target’s emulation of Act flouride rinse because it tastes better than the newly formulated Act, but I accidentally got Target’s mouthwash instead since it’s the same color and shape. I wasn’t purchasing a lot to hoard, but I haven’t been able to get the real deal yet because I want to go to Target as little as possible. Right now I’m still only going into businesses 2 or 3 times a week total.
I can’t say it’s a waste at this point, but it’s going to take awhile to get through the ten or so jars of dried home-grown tomato and eggplant slices in the pantry.
I’m planning a moussaka side dish for Thanksgiving, so that should take care of some of the dried eggplant.
I also bought a huge 25 lb bag of dried beans, but I eat beans every day, so it won’t go to waste. I’m another one who works full-time, but it’s not a difficulty to cook a batch. I like the texture much better than canned. One trick is to cook a batch and freeze some. I’ve found no lack of quality in the defrosted beans. I don’t even usually use the pressure cooker unless I have a batch that’s too old and won’t soften up.
Well, OK - I’m baking my own bread and you’re cooking your own beans. Freezing might be an issue because my freezer is often full of bread products. To each their own.
Nothing’s over until January 20th. I’m still stocking up.
The only things I will have a little difficult time eating are the case of evaporated milk and a big bag of rice. We’ll use the milk up making mac and cheese for the kids. The rice I will use in soups. I use instant rice for most quick side dishes if it’s available.
The thing I’m most worried about is the post covid-“19”. Because I’m going to gain 19 lbs eating all the easy carbs in my pantry. I have 800 servings of dried hashbrowns!
When things got pretty bad as far as shortages, one thing that was in pretty good supply at Kroger was Gorton’s frozen fish fillets. They come in breaded or battered and were more expensive than the minced fish sticks that were all gone. Frozen French fries and tater tots were hard to find but I stumbled over some big bags and stocked up on those as well as the fish fillets. Cooked in my then new air fryer, fish and chips was a tasty meal. Then all of a sudden I just got sick of both and still have quite a supply in my freezer. They should be good for a while yet and I’ll probably finish them eventually.
Food, no. But I did buy an extra bottle of cough suppressant under the assumption that we’d all get COVID sooner than later. Still haven’t cracked that one, or even the one we already had in the cabinet.
