# How often do you throw out expired food? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 10, 2011, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-throw-out-expired-food/567084 "2011-01-10T12:58:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-throw-out-expired-food/567084/41 "2011-01-31T10:03:54Z")
I don’t throw out food because it has reached its “best by” date: pretty much the only thing I buy which does that regularly is yoghurt and, living in a fridge that’s quite empty and gets opened twice a day M-F and up to six times a day on weekends, “best by” is nowhere near “spoils by”. But I’ve had to learn to buy fruit in single portions, because if I buy more than two portions of the same kind or four total, the rest will spoil. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-throw-out-expired-food/567084/42 "2011-01-31T15:57:31Z")
I used to end up throwing a lot of bad food out, but I got pissed at myself for having to do it so I don’t allow myself too much fresh stuff. I quit drinking milk because I could never get through it, but switched to soy milk because it lasted longer. But I hate soy milk. Now I’ve found lactose-free milk and it lasts a long time so I’m good there. I don’t buy much fresh veg anymore, except baby carrots which last forever. I buy most of my veggies frozen. I’ve gotten it down to rarely having to throw things out that have gone bad. Stuff I make, that doesn’t have a date, I make sure to eat before it smells funny. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-throw-out-expired-food/567084/43 "2011-01-31T16:29:03Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > I know several people (all female) for whom “Best if used by …” means “Probably fatal if used after …”. Last night, the Firebug decided he wanted some ice cream for dessert. And of course, we hadn’t bought any since last summer. Mrs. Firefly pulled a couple of small cartons out of the freezer that were a month or two past their “best if used by” date. We joked that it was still within its “tolerable if used by” date, did a quick taste test, and fed it to the kid. We all seem to be in reasonable health this morning. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-throw-out-expired-food/567084/44 "2011-01-31T17:04:32Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Last night, the Firebug decided he wanted some ice cream for dessert. And of course, we hadn’t bought any since last summer. Mrs. Firefly pulled a couple of small cartons out of the freezer that were a month or two past their “best if used by” date. > > We joked that it was still within its “tolerable if used by” date, did a quick taste test, and fed it to the kid. We all seem to be in reasonable health this morning. For a lot of products the best before date relates more to product quality than health and safety. Ice cream could stay in your freezer for decades without ever becoming toxic but it wouldn’t taste very good. The key is figuring out which category the food you’re about to consume falls into and your level of risk tolerance. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-throw-out-expired-food/567084/45 "2011-01-31T19:05:17Z")
We hardly ever let food sit long enough to pass the date. Leftovers, on the other hand… we once had Thanksgiving leftovers get lost in the back of the fridge for nearly a year. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-throw-out-expired-food/567084/46 "2011-01-31T19:18:48Z")
> [@Danger\_Man](#): > > I could imagine just a barcode on the food you bought that you scanned before putting it in the fridge. Then it could just tell you what food was about to expire, so you could eat it. Doesn’t even have to be built into the fridge. You could just have a seperate small device doing this. That separate small device could be your own brain! The huge advantage here being that your brain can do it with any food, not just processed and barcoded packages. Actually, “about to expire” is a bad standard to use in any case. You want to eat things when they’re at their _best_, not when they’re barely acceptable. If I eat, say, a dairy product two days before its “expiration,” I feel like I’ve screwed up. It’s clearly past its ideal. The same for produce, though those aren’t actually labeled with “expirations.” > [@Danger\_Man](#): > > I seem to forget to eat food before it expires all the time. Especially when I am very busy and barely at home for a couple of days. If this happens a lot, you’re just buying too much food. Maybe try to get in the habit of only buying perishables _after_ periods of business, so you’ll have a reasonable shot at being around during the right window to eat things. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-throw-out-expired-food/567084/47 "2011-01-31T22:49:21Z")
I just did a quick search and destroy on some of mom’s canned goods. The oldest was expired in 1999, a couple in 2000, and most I tossed were from 2006 or 2007. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-throw-out-expired-food/567084/48 "2011-01-31T22:57:04Z")
My wife has a pathological need to clean out the fridge on Saturdays. Our garbage collection date is, of course, Friday. Which leads to visible stink rays emanating from the garbage can in the summertime. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-throw-out-expired-food/567084.md?page=2)