keeping food past best before date

[kernewek]

I was checking out the website below. I knew you could keep food a long time past it's best before date but I was surprised by some of the results. It says canned meat, for example, can still be used 2-5 years later. Is this accurate? Any other recommendations for sites dealing with long-term food storage?

http://www.eatbydate.com/proteins/

[Arzosah]

I don't have a website I can point you to, unfortunately, but "best before" dates are notorious in being simply a marketing and legalistic device. As far as the food goes, they simply refer to colour, taste, maybe nutrition. Once you get to the level of food stocks you want, rotating what you buy into the food stocks, and using the earliest tins in your everyday cooking, should ensure that you don't get to the best before dates (shoulda, woulda, coulda, of course ).

Opening tins - like everything else, its common sense rules - does it look okay, does it smell okay, did the tin have dents (if it did, don't put it into long term storage in the first place, actually) is there a "popper" button on the top of the can thats already popped. That sort of thing.

[Quercus-robur]

did the tin have dents (if it did, don't put it into long term storage in the first place, actually)

I have heard that a few times. What about a dented tin prevents suitability for long term storage? Does it affect the contents?

Cheers

Qr

[kernewek]

did the tin have dents (if it did, don't put it into long term storage in the first place, actually)

I have heard that a few times. What about a dented tin prevents suitability for long term storage? Does it affect the contents?

Cheers

Qr

Botullism. Read this.
http://money.howstuffworks.com/personal ... -store.htm

[ForgeCorvus]

Basically, a dent is a weakness in the tin (and quite often damages any protective coating on the metal). The seal is more likely to fail as a result.

In short, buy dented tins and eat them now (saving you money to spend on preps and letting you see if you like that brand/product on the cheap before you buy case-lots...... Its better for the planet too).


I don't eat supermarket cheese until after the BBE, it gives it a chance to develop some flavour

[Quercus-robur]

Cheers guys. Will keep that in mind and will have to check through my stores for dented tins that I have had for a while.

Qr

[kizzie]

I love going and buying out of date tins of food. Their loss my gain. Putting dates on food is a new (ish) thing and I remember the days when nothing had a date. We used our eyes and nose to tell if food was good or bad.

[FEISTY]

I cleared out two larder cupboards on Thursday? and rearranged and made a list of everything. I discovered a couple of things past their BB dates. The trickiest one was an opened jar of crunchy peanut butter. My son's allergic so I keep it on a high shelf and usually forget about it. It's dated BB 01/14 . It happens. I sniffed it .. OK. I stirred it .. looked OK. I tasted it .. OK. So I spread some on a lovely piece of wheat, spelt and rye bread and ate it with a cup of green tea. It was delicious and I'm still absolutely fine. Planning on having what's left in a day or two. Have to do this when my son's out and I have to scrub everything, including me, before I go pick up the kids. The good thing was that I managed to condense the stuff we have into a smaller, more ordered space and I've added the cans, etc, from an 84l really useful box. I still have a whole floor corner cupboard in my kitchen almost completely empty - looking forward to filling it.

[FEISTY]

My Mum taught me to press the tops of cans and if they give more than a tiny bit and "pop", it means air's gotten and the contents are spoiled. Don't buy them, no matter how cheap they are.

[Decaff]

My Mum taught me to press the tops of cans and if they give more than a tiny bit and "pop", it means air's gotten and the contents are spoiled. Don't buy them, no matter how cheap they are.

Good point Feisty! I will remember that.

Mmm peanut butter... On toast, or crackers... Or off a spoon! I love the stuff and have a few jars in my stash.