No Expiration Date

[OzarkPyro]

I'm working right now to get USDA approval to ship our BBQ sauce, rub, smoked meats, & jerky products, and I'm learning the "confuse you by" dates. The food "Dating Game" is lost in the regs that could put "anyone" to sleep. I do know that the "Sell By" date is the code to the store to "get rid of it by," but not the date that the product IS bad.

Canned food, whether home or commercial (Including the new "plastic canning") has an almost indefinite shelf life and may be good after WW25. I do have long term storage in a cave, and all cans should be stored cool at best, but never frozen. The only canned products that I've had go bad regularly is canned milk. They never seem to last longer than 3 to 5 years.

Never trust any food, whatever the date. If you cook it and it starts smelling bad, and/or starts to smell bad -- Trash it -- and wash anything touching - it real well. It's not worth it. If you do taste it and it tastes metalic, stop now and chuck it.

As for the hard beans! Pressure cooking solves that problem, and everyone reading this should have a pressure cooker already for canning. A great batch of ham and beans can be cooked up in no time with a pressure cooker, (without soaking) as a lot of whole meals can be, in half the time, or less. As for the ground beans, refried beans? It may take a lot of lard! Like good beer, don't waste any good food :) Beans and beer, great combo by the way!

[kimber45]

Dry beans wil cook up in a short time if you plan ahead for your meals and soak them in watter 8-12 hours. Freazer bags work fine.

[prkchp76]

if your gnc protein did not have a date on it they cleaned it up and wiped it off it was out of date all gnc products have dates of expiration the protein will not go bad but the shelf life is about two years then the nutrients start deteroroating

[snal]

Veggie-style patties, maybe? Add a little beef broth and fry it up?

That's about all I could come up with.
Do we have a detailed list of the best dry foods (rice, wheat, beans, powdered products such as mashed potatoes, flour, corn meal, ect) to stockpile, and how to store them?
I've acquired some buckets and lids for storing vacuum sealed, meal sized portions of whatever.
My plan is to vacuum seal the bags, date them, freeze them overnight (to kill any bugs), then place them in the buckets.

[Big_Saw]

I've been researching dry beans. Seems as though they will last for several years. Problem is they do require long cook times.
I did start reading somewhere that if the beans were so old that they wouldn't cook up soft, then they could be ground into powder for.....?????

Veggie-style patties, maybe? Add a little beef broth and fry it up?

[snal]

I've been researching dry beans. Seems as though they will last for several years. Problem is they do require long cook times.
I did start reading somewhere that if the beans were so old that they wouldn't cook up soft, then they could be ground into powder for.....?????

[kimber45]

Canned peanuts dont have experation dates.I just opened a can i have had for several years still ok.

[Big_Saw]

honey will not spoil

Hey, Cody.....welcome to the forums....howzabout headin' over to the intro boards and telling us about yourself.....;)

[sd allen]

Tuna ,dated 06 will leave a metalic after taste,but no squirts!!!It's been 3 days so I think I'm good!!

[codyleeamrhein]

honey will not spoil

[methusaleh]

I used to be a regional manager (known as "SSM") for GNC. One day I was worried about a lot of my stores having dusty product that may be expired, so I spent hours on the phone with the manufacturers figuring out date codes.

Most things ARE coded, but you need to know how to decipher it! TwinLab, for instance, was pretty easy once you learned it (I have since forgotten it; it's been 10 years since I worked at GNC).

[flight or fight]

Really? So how can they get away with not putting a date on something that will go bad? I don't do it often, or intentionally, but I sometimes leave something in my camping supplies for a long time without realizing it. Other than it being obviously bad when you open it, how would you know not to eat it without a date? That also makes me wonder, do any packaged foods have long enough shelf lives to be OK to store beyond a couple of years?

Not trying to rain on your parade but most manufactuers use a code date now so the general public can not see when the item expires. Also when they sell closeouts and overruns to places like BigLots most of the time there is a reason (ex: forgot to date or quality control) and at the cheap prices they figure it will be gone before it can become a problem or the problem will be blamed on the store not the manufactuer.

The things with a really long dates you can buy at a store are usually dehydrated items or powdered items like eggs or milk. Canned items usually get a year from manufacture and as long as the seal isn't broken will last for a couple of years if the can is lined inside.

[Zombie Axe]

LOL Brosia:D

[Brosia]

LMFAO~!! getting totally off topic here, but as I read about Rusty's Hershey squirts, I was eating a Hershey chocolate bar.

I have thrown it in the garbage now.


I won't buy anything without a clear-cut expiration date. No matter how good the deal.

[lazer128]

They sell stuff at Big Lots and the other discount places like that. My theory is, No date, no purchase. It could already be expired and swimming with Mexican poop making microbes. No way!!! From a guy who has had a case of the Huersheys squirts within the last 2 months, I can recommend that you not buy it. Or, you break into your SHTF toilet paper supply.

I tend to agree with Rusty. I am reluctant to buy anything that is not dated. And if you so end up with the squirts, Brosia has hooked us up with a site that says you can make tea from pines that will fix you right up. (See the thread about making aspirin from trees. Very good site.)