I was tempted to try one, but one of my greatest fears is dying in such a way that people will laugh. “She got food poisoning from what?” 
This occurred to me the other day. If I foolishly park my car, with a bag of groceries, in the sun on a hot day, that food is not garbage. It is cooked! Okay, well, some of it is garbage, but those crab legs would have been about right.
If you looked closely the expiration date on the package reads: You should live so long
Heh. Yep. Heck, I’ve seen pickles go bad, and they’re sitting in vinegar. But those smokies . . . maybe I should stock up for the apocalypse.
Sure! And it’s the Apocalypse so who the hell cares about fat and cholesterol at that point?
My worst “bad food” experience was the package of steaks that fell out of the bag and slipped under the seat during the hottest week of that summer. Jesus – that was nasty!
I have two contributions:
If you buy a bag of frozen cheese tortellini, and can’t find it in the freezer when you go to look for it AND the back of the station wagon is beginning to smell like stinky feet AND it’s summertime in Georgia…there is probably a connection. Do not just blame your son’s tennis shoes for the odor.
Frozen French toast (homemade, by the way) will create an odor inside a Tupperware container if left on the basement floor for weeks…in the summer, in Georgia…as well as a quantity of explosive fumes. The odor will take at least three years to dissipate from the expensive Tupperware, and only after thorough cleaning at various times with ammonia, charcoal, newspapers, vinegar, leaving it stand in the sunshine, bleach, and finally using it to store catfood. After three years, finally no smell. Getting the smell to leave the basement was a bit quicker, and only needed an entire can of Lysol.
Last summer my dad and step-mother went on vacation. I only live a few miles away so they asked me to stop in and check on the house/feed the dog (he’s an outdoor dog) while they were gone. The first day everything was fine. The second time I noticed it was starting to smell in there. By the end, I was searching for where the horrible, putrid stink was coming from. I never did find it. My step-mom called and asked if I’d smelled anything funny while I was there. I explained that yes, I had, and I had tried unsuccessfully to find the source. It was the broccoli she’d left in the microwave. Which was of course the only place I hadn’t checked.
The thing I hate to find most in my frig is a bag of liquefied lettuce.
Potatoes are pretty damn bad. I forgot a couple in my cabinet once. At the time, I described the smell as, “What dirt might smell like if dirt could die and rot.”
I had a gallon of milk in my fridge so long, it turned clear. I guess everything even vaguely solid in it settled out, and what was left was quite transparent. I didn’t take a chance on opening it, I just ran it to the dumpster with all speed.
Orange juice has a “spoiled” odor all its own, too…I remember pouring a glass without paying attention once, and taking a swig, and it was fizzy! Orange juice shouldn’t be fizzy! Gah! Bleh! Ptui!
It was fermenting! You would have had yourself some nice orange wine with pulpy bits.
It’s when it’s fuzzy that you have to worry.
I once made my high school band conductor’s car smell like burnt chicken for a few months. The strange thing was, I didn’t even do anything abnormal, I mean besides eating a horribly burned Chick-Filet sandwich in his car on the way to a concert.