# Kitchen archeology **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 16, 2012, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869 "2012-10-16T11:25:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869/1 "2012-10-16T11:25:18Z")
I was putting plastic wrap over some cornbread earlier (didn’t quite let it cool down enough, lost part of a piece to sogging from condensation), and happened to notice that the plastic wrap was the Vons store brand. Vons is a southern California variant of Safeway, we moved to northern California (outside the area that brand is found in) in 2004. That roll of plastic wrap has apparently been with us through three different kitchens. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869/2 "2012-10-17T08:17:18Z")
We’ve lived in this house for twenty-five years. Last month I was looking for something to eat late at night, and I opened a cabinet in the corner (the kind that rotates, ya know?) that I couldn’t think of the last time I opened. It was all dry goods, and I didn’t recognize anything in there as something that we eat. The next day I asked She about it and She went to check it out. She didn’t recognize anything either. The only expiration dates She and I could find were from the '80s :eek: I once opened a can of tomato soup at my mother’s house and didn’t like the look of it. Looking at the can, it was 15 years out of date. After that, I went through her whole kitchen and threw out about a third of her voluminous horde of canned goods. And I could write a horror story about her chest freezer without even the need to invoke any fictional dismembered body parts! ---
**Author:** ![prettydorky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@prettydorky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/prettydorky)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869/3 "2012-10-17T08:34:16Z")
My ex and I split up last November, I moved out in January. We were together for 5 years. I still work out of my old office at the house we used to share. He has stuff in the cabinets- specifically, falafel mix and some dried mung beans- that I had in the _apartment_ I lived in before we even met, and had probably brought from the house I lived in before that apartment even! ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869/4 "2012-10-17T10:38:16Z")
When I demolished our old kitchen last year, I found several old items (non-perishables, like candles and matches) with prices including a ½p. The halfpenny coin was demonetised in 1984. I also found a tin of silver polish with the price in pre-decimal currency (i.e. before 1971). I bought the house off my parents, and they moved in in 1971, so they must have brought that one from a previous house! I also uncovered some nice 1960s [wallpaper](http://i48.tinypic.com/11j6a6b.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869/5 "2012-10-17T13:59:25Z")
When we sold my mother’s house a few years ago and packed everything up, I found rolls of wax paper that dated back to the 60s. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869/6 "2012-10-17T14:49:47Z")
A few months ago, we finally finished using up the giant roll of plastic wrap that we bought at Costco. It’s been four and a half years since we lived in an area with Costco, and I know we were joking about how old that roll was before we moved. It was the end of an era. My wife posted an RIP message on Facebook - we were that moved. Yesterday I finally threw away a can of custard powder that I bought shortly after my trip to Great Britain. It expired in 2008. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869/7 "2012-10-17T15:09:12Z")
After my mother passed away in 2005, I completely restocked and reorganized everything in the kitchen. Some of the condiments had addresses on them that contained Zones, which were used before Zip Codes . . . prior to 1963. The medicine cabinet was even worse. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869/8 "2012-10-17T15:29:21Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > A few months ago, we finally finished using up the giant roll of plastic wrap that we bought at Costco. It’s been four and a half years since we lived in an area with Costco, and I know we were joking about how old that roll was before we moved. It was the end of an era. My wife posted an RIP message on Facebook - we were that moved. > > Yesterday I finally threw away a can of custard powder that I bought shortly after my trip to Great Britain. It expired in 2008. We have a giant roll of plastic wrap from Costco. I know we bought it before my sister went off to grad school in 2006, but after she lived with us in the mid-90’s. I think we bought it around the time our son was born in 1998 or shortly thereafter. It’s almost, but not quite used up. ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869/9 "2012-10-17T18:44:02Z")
“What could go wrong with Kraft Mac & Cheese?” I thought. Sure, it was out of a date by a few years, but it’s dried pasta & powdered, processed cheese, um, saucy stuff. The milk & butter I added were fresh. It came out brown. You know, the normally neon-orange Kraft Mac & Cheese? Orangey-brown. It didn’t smell right. And it certainly didn’t taste right. As hungry as I was, it got thrown out. And the other unopened boxes, too. My mother laughed the last time I put something away in her freezer & wrote not only the date on it, but the year. When we pulled it out recently we were grateful for the full date. ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869/10 "2012-10-17T18:45:09Z")
Oh, and occasionally we’ll come across something in her pantry that has a “Gemco” or “Fedco” price sticker on it. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869/11 "2012-10-17T18:53:54Z")
Ha! I just finally ran out of the roll of plastic wrap I keep on our sailboat. I stocked up when we bought the boat in 1996, so that roll lasted 16.5 years. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869/12 "2012-10-17T19:46:45Z")
I still have bottles of oil that spoiled shortly after I moved into my current place. That was 10 years ago. At least I didn’t bring anything from my old place. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869/13 "2012-10-17T19:56:41Z")
> [@Rich\_Mann](#): > > . . . After that, I went through her whole kitchen and threw out about a third of her voluminous horde of canned goods. And I could write a horror story about her chest freezer without even the need to invoke any fictional dismembered body parts! We dealt with something similar when my Mom died, only she had two freezers. It hadn’t been a danger to her, because she mostly used what was in her kitchen and in the top layer of one freezer. The kitchen stuff was fine. The old stuff was in the hall and back porch cupboards, in the porch freezer and to the back of the hall freezer (an upright). She wasn’t using any of the old stuff, she just didn’t want to throw it away in case she ever needed it. We also sold four boxes of Survival Food that my Dad had bought in the early seventies. Each box said it contained enough freeze dried food for one person for one year. I say ‘we’, if I had been there, I’d have thrown it out. My son didn’t know how old it was and added it to the yard sale. I guess if civilization doesn’t collapse, it really doesn’t matter what’s in the box. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869/14 "2012-10-17T20:05:18Z")
I read this thread title as “Kitten Archaeology”. This is significantly less creepy. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869/15 "2012-10-17T20:57:00Z")
I cleaned out my Mom’s chest freezer once, and replaced all the food I tossed with several layers of water-filled ziplocks. (Mom is fairly short, so she’d notice if she had to reach down too far to get something.) 6 years later she moved, and called to curse me up and down for “stealing her food.” She was counting on that, you see, to tide her over when the money got tight.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869/16 "2012-10-17T21:09:39Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > I was putting plastic wrap over some cornbread earlier (didn’t quite let it cool down enough, lost part of a piece to sogging from condensation), and happened to notice that the plastic wrap was the Vons store brand. Vons is a southern California variant of Safeway, we moved to northern California (outside the area that brand is found in) in 2004. That roll of plastic wrap has apparently been with us through three different kitchens. 🙂 Exactly this, except mine’s from Pathmark, not Von’s. I have boxes of Jell-O mix that I am sure are well passed their “use by” dates. I’m not saying I’ve never let anything go bad, but I’ve done a pantry clean out recently enough that there isn’t anything notable in there now. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869/17 "2012-10-17T22:50:35Z")
We recently moved houses, so I threw out a LOT of kitchen stuff, including all mismatched storage containers and lids, yay! It’s only been a few months, but that cupboard is already mixing it up in there. /facepalm Also, I have a few Hamburger Helper varieties in the cupboard that I just can’t seem to throw away, 'cause the pasta won’t go bad, so that’s always there. Even though I have a big, deep drawer FULL of pastas and rices, lol. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869/18 "2012-10-17T22:51:35Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > I read this thread title as “Kitten Archaeology”. This is significantly less creepy. Well, that would depend on what was in your fridge, now wouldn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869/19 "2012-10-17T23:02:12Z")
When I moved to San Francisco in 1988, I brought with me a standard 26 oz. container of Morton Salt. Lately I’ve noticed that the container is getting low, and I may soon need to purchase a new one. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869/20 "2012-10-17T23:11:39Z")
Yeah but how many of those are still the “active” one? When I was visiting my parents I needed some ibuprofen and asked my parents where they kept it. She went to the kitchen cupboard and grabbed the giant vat-o-pills I remembered from before I went to college from a Pace Warehouse in the 80’s. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-archeology/637869.md?page=2)