# The most expired product you will use **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 21, 2024, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567 "2024-09-21T22:27:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2024, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567/81 "2024-09-24T13:52:43Z")
I thought that the size issue was obvious - after all, a four ounce bottle wouldn’t have lasted 20 years after the expiration date. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2024, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567/82 "2024-09-24T14:12:41Z")
Maple syrup (the real stuff) and honey are supposed to last forever. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2024, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567/83 "2024-09-24T14:18:46Z")
A guy whose property abuts ours has bee hives. He brings the hives to our horse pastures when clover is peaking, and gives us a tiny jar. He also taps his maples and a few of ours every 2-3 years and makes syrup. We get a tiny container of that as well. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2024, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567/84 "2024-09-24T14:53:50Z")
I took some homemade plum jam into the office and forgot about it. I changed jobs and then went back to that company 18 months later. They’d moved office by then, but my jam was still in the fridge, and still tasty. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2024, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567/85 "2024-09-25T06:00:21Z")
I was at a boarding school in Zimbabwe in 1998, when we were issued tomato sauce (aka ketchup ) with a very dark brown colour. On further investigation, we did not notice any expiry date, but we did see the “Made in Rhodesia” mark… 18 years after independence. We ate it. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567/86 "2024-09-29T17:18:48Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > On further investigation, we did not notice any expiry date, but we did see the “Made in Rhodesia” mark… 18 years after independence. Perfectly good label like that - you don’t use them up all at once. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567/87 "2024-09-29T23:44:24Z")
Today I was out with a cousin cleaning storm debris and she found a bag of Halloween candy hidden away in a supply shed. It isn’t clear _which_ Halloween it was from, she thought maybe “during Covid”. No expiration date on it. But thinking of this thread I picked out a tiny Kit-Kat bar. Visually it had some patches of white like recrystallized chocolate. The taste was stale but not unplesant. The aftertaste, though, was pretty darn unpleasant, with hints of ammonia among other things. I did not recommend them. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2024, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567/88 "2024-09-30T10:54:45Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > Perfectly good label like that - you don’t use them up all at once. A Bosnian friend renewed their passport in 2013 and it still had Yugoslavia crossed out with Bosnia stamped underneath. Then a Russian friend renewed hers in 2015 and it still had CCCP/USSR printed on it. She was born in 91 so had never really lived in the USSR. Paper never expires! ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567/89 "2024-10-03T06:26:49Z")
I’ve eaten chocolate that was years old and had bloomed. It didn’t taste very good, but I didn’t get sick. Recently I found a package of hot dogs in my refrigerator that had expired 2 months earlier. I thought about throwing them away, but I ate them anyway. Again, I didn’t get sick. ---
**Author:** ![deneen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deneen/32/17713_2.png) [@deneen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deneen)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567/90 "2024-10-03T10:00:34Z")
I just laughed out loud re hot dog ends/anus… ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567/91 "2024-10-03T14:10:17Z")
My husband is always checking dates on packaging. Last night he asked me if we had any more ranch dressing. I found a bottle in the pantry, I checked the date - 10/15/23! I immediately thought of some of you. Luckily the date was printed on the paper label wrapped around the neck of the bottle. I “accidentally” ripped it off when I opened it for him. I took a whiff, it seemed fine. He ate it and didn’t complain. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2024, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567/92 "2024-10-07T06:55:47Z")
Yesterday I ate some black beans from a can that expired 2.5 years ago. No problems yet. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2024, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567/93 "2024-10-07T12:46:27Z")
I have proplems from **unexpired** beans. Not me personaly, but others around me. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2024, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567/94 "2024-10-07T12:57:55Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I’ve eaten salad dressing made by a company closed down for a decade. Expired has no meaning with salad dressing. I’ve eaten leftovers my gf deemed inappropriate for giving to the dogs. Can you or anyone else who hoards bottles of salad dressing please elaborate, you’ve said this before and while I get the impression you’re a foodie I don’t understand this behavior? Not judging well maybe a little but What are we taking about? Bottles of Wishbone, Marzetti or Kraft in your fridge for years? How big is your fridge? And how often do you dig out the 10 yo Kraft Ranch dressing, only on special occasions? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2024, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567/95 "2024-10-07T13:06:53Z")
For me it’s usually an oddball dressing purchased originally to try out. It wasn’t anything special so the bottle eventually got moved to the downstairs refrigerator (aka the beer fridge) where it was forgotten about. Or it was purchased as an ingredient in a marinade and never used. Also I’ll go through periods where I make our dressings from scratch. Then the various balsamics and poppy seed commercial dressings are forgotten about for a while. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2024, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567/96 "2024-10-07T13:40:04Z")
Ok I get it, specialty bottles for occasional use, makes sense. I have a jar of preserves smuggled out of Costa Rica in 2018. Way past Best Buy date and unopened. Not gonna use it ever I don’t think so but I like the label and until I decide to dump it out it’s in my fridge. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2024, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567/97 "2024-10-10T04:27:10Z")
The last few weeks I’ve had several cans of evaporated milk “Best by Nov 2021”. They taste fine. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2024, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567/98 "2024-10-10T19:53:27Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > When I moved in with my gf I had to rearrange some storage so I had places to put my stuff. > > In the basement there was a cupboard with her ex’s old liquor. Stuff he bought for a party decades ago, some open, some not. > > It is all long gone now, I drank it. Tasted just fine to me. Just saw this. I’ve told this story before, but what the hell - a couple of years ago we were round at our friends C and J’s place, had dinner, settled in for a few drinks, and J produced a bottle (unopened) of Haig whisky, and passed it to me to open it. I was confused, because I couldn’t figure out how the cap worked (and I’m reasonably experienced at opening whisky bottles). I eventually did manage to open it, but the peculiar cap led to a discussion about where the bottle had come from. J (in her late 70’s) concluded that she had inherited it when her father died. Later research on the cap revealed that this had only been used for a period in the 1960’s, and that the (unopened) bottle was very much a collector’s item. And that’s how a regular bottle of Haig is by a huge distance the most expensive whisky I have ever drunk. j. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2024, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567/99 "2024-10-11T00:27:13Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > And that’s how a regular bottle of Haig is by a huge distance the most expensive whisky I have ever drunk. A friend who is really into wine, and has an actual wine cellar (as opposed to a cellar where wine is kept) gave me a bottle of “good” wine, curious about wether we’d like it. He kept pushing us to open it. I brought the bottle along to a little Italian place that was BYOB. The owner, an older Italian woman, commented on the beautiful bottle as she attempted to open it. The old cork crumbled. She improvised and poured the wine through a coffee filter. We shared the bottle with her. It was delicious. I later found out that the particular vintage was available to purchase for 4-500 dollars. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2024, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567/100 "2024-10-13T13:25:36Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I just now remember that I have an ancient bottle of maple syrup in my pantry. I was told that it never expires. Someone I dated in 2006 brought over a partially used bottle to make something and it has been there ever since. The label says 2004 Harvest 100% Pure. Trader Joe’s brand. I just cracked it open and it smells good. No mold and it’s viscous, not gummy. > > Should I toss it? No. It’s mostly sugar water, and has enough sugar that pretty much the only thing that can grow in it is mold. No mold means it’s fine. A little mold means you should strain and boil it and put it into a clean container. A lot of mold can affect the flavor, but i don’t think it ever becomes unsafe. > [@deneen](#): > > I just laughed out loud re hot dog ends/anus… I mean, of course it looks like an anus. So what? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expired-product-you-will-use/1007567.md?page=6)