# What's the most expired thing you've ever eaten? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 6, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-expired-thing-youve-ever-eaten/643217 "2012-12-06T19:22:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![troubledwater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@troubledwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troubledwater)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-expired-thing-youve-ever-eaten/643217/41 "2012-12-11T01:36:14Z")
She is in her early twenties. What she _will_ do is cook chicken with absolutely no concern for sanitation and/or cross-contamination - raw poultry, used plates/utensils/paper towels get flung everywhere. She wants to join the Peace Corps, and didn’t seem to have any issues with eating whatever she was offered during her semester in Africa. Slightly vintage Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix? Nuh uh. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-expired-thing-youve-ever-eaten/643217/42 "2012-12-11T02:16:38Z")
I have a bottle of ketchup in my fridge that expired in 2009. I don’t use much ketchup obviously! One of these days I’ll replace it, but it still tastes ok. ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-expired-thing-youve-ever-eaten/643217/43 "2012-12-11T02:42:33Z")
My sister and her erstwhile roommate disagreed on this constantly (them both moving to separate places was unrelated). My sister throws things out when they spoil. Roommate throws things out when the date says they’re expired. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-expired-thing-youve-ever-eaten/643217/44 "2012-12-11T03:21:45Z")
I once ate some way past expiration date sour cream. I thought what could go wrong. I mean it is bad (sour) when you buy it, right? Wrong! It does go **real** bad. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-expired-thing-youve-ever-eaten/643217/45 "2012-12-11T08:02:37Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#): > > I once ate some way past expiration date sour cream. I thought what could go wrong. I mean it is bad (sour) when you buy it, right? Wrong! It does go **real** bad. This makes me wonder… does fat-free “sour cream” ever go bad? ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-expired-thing-youve-ever-eaten/643217/46 "2012-12-11T10:09:44Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > This makes me wonder… does fat-free “sour cream” ever go bad? That would be the day it’s manufactured. Fat-free sour cream? One shudders! ---
**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:** [December 11, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-expired-thing-youve-ever-eaten/643217/47 "2012-12-11T16:01:24Z")
> [@lorene](#): > > How old is she? My daughter, who is 10, is a “best by” fanatic. We’ve tried telling her that “best buy” is not the same as “turns into poison immediately after”, but she starts giving things the stinkeye when they’re even approaching their best by date. I wonder what your daughter would think of non-foodstuffs that have an expiration date. The prospect of using, say, Gold Bond Medicated Powder as the date on the container approaches. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-expired-thing-youve-ever-eaten/643217/48 "2012-12-11T17:39:31Z")
About a year ago I noticed that my powered creamer had sort of a funny taste. Not too bad, just a little different. Checked the expiration date - October, 1982. Only 30 years out of date. I don’t think even Hostess Twinkies can last that long. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-expired-thing-youve-ever-eaten/643217/49 "2012-12-11T19:03:23Z")
I only had a taste of this one- but when I was at school there was a really cheap sweet shop round the corner run by a really old guy. Me and the friend I walked in with used to call in regularly on the way to school, and one day she bought a new kind of toffee bar, one neither of recognised; she tried a bit and said it tasted a bit odd, and had a texture more like fudge; I tried a bit and agreed, it didn’t taste like toffee at all. At that point, we checked the packet, just to double check it wasn’t some new weird toffee, and discovered that it wasn’t a new kind, it was a kind they’d stopped making somewhere around a decade earlier, and it’d clearly been sitting in the shop since… We still bought stuff from there afterwards- hell, the prices were decades old as well- but did tend to check the dates after that. It closed down about a year later, I guess someone else wasn’t as forgiving about selling years out-of-date produce to kids as we were. ---
**Author:** ![chargerrich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chargerrich/32/5399_2.png) [@chargerrich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chargerrich)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-expired-thing-youve-ever-eaten/643217/50 "2012-12-11T19:14:44Z")
A few years back a few of us were helping out a elderly lady who recently lost her husband by doing some cleanup and home improvements. She lived on a few acres of land that also had another very old, broken down home on the back of her property where her mother had lived many decades ago. While in there we - don’t ask why I could not tell you - opened the fridge, which was still powered but barely working. In addition to the 30 year old moldy luke warm air that waffed from the appliance was an assortment of rotting food, including an unopened can of deviled ham an expiration of 1981. Yes we opened it No it did not look that bad (actually still looked pink) Yes it had a funny smell but not rotten No we dared not eat it :eek: ---
**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:** [December 11, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-expired-thing-youve-ever-eaten/643217/51 "2012-12-11T19:51:53Z")
> [@chargerrich](#): > > In addition to the 30 year old moldy luke warm air that waffed from the appliance was an assortment of rotting food, including an unopened can of deviled ham an expiration of 1981. [It would taste like creamed corn.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/DownPeriscope?from=Main.DownPeriscope) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-expired-thing-youve-ever-eaten/643217/52 "2012-12-11T20:21:06Z")
Funny I noticed this thread - I’m drinking a cranberry herbal tea and it tastes a little - dusty? Bland? …then I realized that I had purchased the tea bags for my grandmother’s 85th birthday party loot bags (yes, loot bags - she had never had a b-day party before in her life so I threw her a surprise party with all the swag) …and she’s turning 90 in April. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-expired-thing-youve-ever-eaten/643217/53 "2012-12-13T00:26:10Z")
WWII Ham & Lima Beans C-Rations eaten in 1981 with gustatorial delight, followed by gastro-intestinal distress. I like to live on the edge…of the toilet bowl. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-expired-thing-youve-ever-eaten/643217/54 "2012-12-13T01:43:03Z")
Cloris Leachman. ---
**Author:** ![Sasquatch\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@Sasquatch\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sasquatch_1)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-expired-thing-youve-ever-eaten/643217/55 "2012-12-14T03:44:08Z")
Around 2000 I ate some survival crackers that I found in a big tin in a Minuteman Missile silo a friend had purchased to renovate. The can was dated 1954. There was a faint rancid smell emanating from the packages, but the crackers themselves didn’t really smell up close, and they tasted fine, although I only ate a few. No bad reactions later. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-expired-thing-youve-ever-eaten/643217/56 "2012-12-14T05:13:46Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Cloris Leachman. Now _that_ is funny! I’ve got MRE’s I found on the side of the highway in the middle of the desert back in 1990 stored in my Jeep. Given the reliability of the brand, I’ll be eating them anytime soon. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-expired-thing-youve-ever-eaten/643217.md?page=2)