# Expired food



## CoastalSprite (Sep 8, 2011)

Am I doing more harm than good to my body by eating expired food? :um I eat expired yogurt, peanut butter, bread, cereal, etc. stuff a lot, but never when they're in a moldy state.

Also, does food still retain some nutrients past their best-before date? I'm currently in the process of eating 1,400 grams of yogurt today and feeling proud I'm getting so much calcium, but realized maybe it's moot since it's a day expired? :blank


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## Equimanthorn (Aug 5, 2012)

First it depends on if it's expired but still sealed, or expired and you've already opened it.

Secondly, no, it's not an exact science like that, where at midnight of the expiration date, suddenly all the nutrients are gone. Eating it one day later is not a world of difference.

It's less about the nutrients being depleted and more based on things just getting sour or old. 

I'm sure a day or two has never killed anyone.

I would be most careful with dairy products and meat though. Stuff like that, don't push it.


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## Farideh (Nov 13, 2011)

I would be too scared to eat expired food. I think I would die. I believe you can get sick from your stomach by doing that so you shouldn't do it anymore.


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## CoastalSprite (Sep 8, 2011)

Equimanthorn said:


> First it depends on if it's expired but still sealed, or expired and you've already opened it.
> 
> Secondly, no, it's not an exact science like that, where at midnight of the expiration date, suddenly all the nutrients are gone. Eating it one day later is not a world of difference.
> 
> ...


Thanks!!  What about foods like cereal, granola bars, nut butters? I've eaten peanut butter a year and a half past its expiry date before and haven't gotten sick, but would nutrients in that be a lot more depleted?



Paloma M said:


> I would be too scared to eat expired food. I think I would die. I believe you can get sick from your stomach by doing that so you shouldn't do it anymore.


I try not to, but it feels like such a waste :| 1400 grams of yogurt is actually 14 entire pots. I have eight more to eat haha.


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## Hello22 (Feb 10, 2010)

I wouldn't touch expired food, infact i returned a small packet of philadelphia (sp?) in the canteen the other day as it was 5 days out of date. 

Dairy, meat and bread products, no way.


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## TrcyMcgrdy1 (Oct 21, 2011)

Most expirationd ates are set much earlier than their true expiration because companies want you to either eat it faster or toss and go out and buy more of their products. I have eaten things so out of date yet they were perfectly fine! I think expiration dates are more accurate on eprishables like milk and stuff.


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## CoastalSprite (Sep 8, 2011)

Hello22 said:


> I wouldn't touch expired food, infact i returned a small packet of philadelphia (sp?) in the canteen the other day as it was 5 days out of date.
> 
> Dairy, meat and bread products, no way.


Oh how come? :| I'm not judging, just worried if I'm better just writing expired food off as sunk costs or if it's just a small risk in eating them.


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## Amorphousanomaly (Jun 20, 2012)

Just today my Ma tried to kill me with some cheese that expired in June, I emerged unscathed.


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## pita (Jan 17, 2004)

CoastalSprite said:


> Am I doing more harm than good to my body by eating expired food? :um I eat expired yogurt, peanut butter, bread, cereal, etc. stuff a lot, but never when they're in a moldy state.
> 
> Also, does food still retain some nutrients past their best-before date? I'm currently in the process of eating 1,400 grams of yogurt today and feeling proud I'm getting so much calcium, but realized maybe it's moot since it's a day expired? :blank


Those things aren't actually expired. Expiration dates are given to products that may become dangerous beyond a certain date. But peanut butter, yogurt et al. have best-before dates. Nothing wrong with eating that stuff unless it starts to smell/look/taste bad. You can eat yogurt for weeks past its date. Once it grows fur, though, best to chuck it in the bin.

Food does decrease in nutritional value once the item is past its best-before date, but you're likely still getting the calcium. Some nutrients, like vit c, degrade over time and in the presence of certain substances (water, for instance). The calcium in your yogurt is inert, I'm pretty sure.

Health Canada released a bulletin on the subject: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/media/advisories-avis/_2012/2012_32-eng.php. I know about it because I'm a super nerd.

Anyway, hooray for probably meeting (maybe exceeding!) your calcium requirements for the day!


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## Hello22 (Feb 10, 2010)

CoastalSprite said:


> Oh how come? :| I'm not judging, just worried if I'm better just writing expired food off as sunk costs or if it's just a small risk in eating them.


I'm not sure if they are dangerous to eat, but for me, the smell, appearance of meat and dairy products just turns me off it. And bread goes mouldy after it's sell by date.


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## CoastalSprite (Sep 8, 2011)

pita said:


> Those things aren't actually expired. Expiration dates are given to products that may become dangerous beyond a certain date. But peanut butter, yogurt et al. have best-before dates. Nothing wrong with eating that stuff unless it starts to smell/look/taste bad. You can eat yogurt for weeks past its date. Once it grows fur, though, best to chuck it in the bin.
> 
> Food does decrease in nutritional value once the item is past its best-before date, but you're likely still getting the calcium. Some nutrients, like vit c, degrade over time and in the presence of certain substances (water, for instance). The calcium in your yogurt is inert, I'm pretty sure.
> 
> ...


Yay thankyou!! :clap And it's actually a day and a half worth of calcium 



Hello22 said:


> I'm not sure if they are dangerous to eat, but for me, the smell, appearance of meat and dairy products just turns me off it. And bread goes mouldy after it's sell by date.


Ahh I see.. I can get past the weird smells/taste as long as it doesn't mold or grow chunky! :b


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## Kakumbus (Mar 27, 2012)

dairy is pretty much bad after expiry date, anything else is fine.


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## THearthstoneman (Oct 14, 2006)

Drank some expired juice the other day, it was about 3 weeks expired, didn't notice until it was too late. Long story short is that I was terribly sick the next day.

So I would warn against consuming anything that is expired.

To throw something else out there.

There is a place in Surrey, BC, Canada, that if you are on social assistance you can purchase food from them for a discounted price. I went to this place once, picked up quite a few things there, brought the food home. When I went to go eat something, it smelt bad. So I started checking the things that I had purchased from them, everything was expired. So I had to toss everything I had bought from that place. It is disgusting that they are profiting from people with low incomes while selling them food that will just make them sick.

That same place was then in a local newspaper saying how they are helping the low income people afford to eat better at lower prices. I saw that and then sent the editor of the newspaper an email about how everything they sell is expired and they don't tell people anything about that. He didn't respond back.

Just thought I would throw that in there. Even though it doesn't have much to do with your question.


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## CoastalSprite (Sep 8, 2011)

Well I just finished eating almost 1.5 kilograms worth of expired yogurt. Stomach feels like it's going to burst but not feeling sick yet :um



TetrisKing23 said:


> Drank some expired juice the other day, it was about 3 weeks expired, didn't notice until it was too late. Long story short is that I was terribly sick the next day.
> 
> So I would warn against consuming anything that is expired.
> 
> ...


I'm from the Lower Mainland too. What's the place called? Sorry that happened to you.. Did you ask for a refund or file a complaint to the manager at least? :|

I recommend No Frills for cheaper groceries (that won't make you sick).. The stuff there isn't dramatically discounted, but it's definitely more affordable than most other grocery stores. Also buy produce at those small Asian markets


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## MachineSupremacist (Jun 9, 2012)

Organic yogurt eventually becomes cottage cheese with some yucky water on top. Organic apple cider morphs into hard cider and will get you drunk just from natural fermentation; orange juice does something similar but I wouldn't recommend it. Cereal just loses its regular crunch, and "expired" bread without any mold is the same as nonexpired bread so long as it isn't too dry or too humid.

Severely expired Pop-Tarts from the Bush administration were tested and found edible so long as the packaging had remained perfectly sealed (some samples had packaging that failed). Peanut butter remains unchanged for a really, really long time so long as the lid is tightly closed. Chocolate is semi-eternal, but if kept warm it undergoes an allotropic transition after a few months and ceases to be shiny while retaining shape and taste. Ice cream left in the back of the freezer dehydrates to a nearly-indestructible (but technically edible and safe) brick that's studded with pretty ice crystals. Honey sort of crystallizes, but once it does that it does not deteriorate further _forever._ Old army food in cans also has mysterious and largely unexplored longevity.

Maraschino cherries stored in syrup are the only truly and utterly ageless wet food I know.


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## Mark222 (Aug 30, 2012)

The expiry date of every food is just an extra precaution and its not the exact date beyond which the food will not be healthy for eating. So many foods stay good even after expiry. So if you eat them with a positive mind that they are fine then there may be no issue with your health. Some packed foods that contain water in them become uneatable even before expiry. So it depends upon food that whether it stays good or not..


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## AceRimmer (Nov 12, 2008)

I ate a can of beans last night that expired in 2010. It was full of bacon and yummy. So far I am not spraying blood out of my anus.


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## march_hare (Jan 18, 2006)

If it looks okay, I smell it, if it smells okay, I taste it, if it tastes okay, I eat it. Not got sick yet...
There are some exceptions such as leftover cooked foods, especially rice. Two days max and if I haven't got round to eating them I throw them away even if they still seem alright.


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## typemismatch (May 30, 2012)

Hello22 said:


> I wouldn't touch expired food, infact i returned a small packet of philadelphia (sp?) in the canteen the other day as it was 5 days out of date.
> 
> Dairy, meat and bread products, no way.


makes me think of this..


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## visualkeirockstar (Aug 5, 2012)

My dad did and he's ok. Some foods are label a few days earlier than the actual expire date.


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