Eeewwww!!

[Savannah]

I live in an apartment on my college campus with three other women. They've all moved out already, because they got done with their finals before I did. (Friday finals suck!)

Well, I discovered today that someone made off with my good knife and knifeblock, which is rather annoying. And since I'm graduating I won't be seeing them again, so I'm not sure I will be able to get it back :smallannoyed: ...but that's not what I'm complaining about. (OK, I am complaining about it, but that alone wouldn't have made me want to share.)

They left a fair amount of food in the fridge, too, which I was fine with. I mean, you leave food, it's mine now, right? Saw a box of yogurts and thought I'd try one, but I figured I'd check the expiration date first. OCTOBER 2009!! :smalleek::smallyuk: Those yogurts had been in the fridge since the beginning of the school year! How the heck do you do that? It was completely unopened! How do you bring a (big) box of yogurts to school and never eat one in 9 months??

Needless to say, everything that wasn't mine went in the trash. :smallyuk:

[Serpentine]

This seems appropriate:

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/yogurt.png

[Lycan 01]

That's nothing. My little brother was trying to make a homemade pizza, and he found a can of tomato paste stashed somewhere in the pantry. He opened it up, and the smell nearly knocked him out. Turns out it expired... two years ago, IIRC? Needless to say, his half-prepared pizza was never completed. :smallfrown:

I was going through the freezer the other day, and found about 4 bags of Strawberry Toaster Struedels. They were iced up, so I doubt their still good. :smallsigh: Of course, they probably aren't good anyway, because I don't remember anyone ever buying them. :smalleek:

[Jokasti]

They... don't eat it? Maybe they forgot about it, or just never really wanted it.

[golentan]

We found a bottle of dressing marked as "Use by Nov. 2003" the other day.

It's easier than you think. If you don't have it right away, you're less likely to think of it. And then it tends to get pushed towards the back of the fridge by new groceries, which makes you less likely to remember, etc. etc.

[Lawless III]

Back in 2002, I unknowingly took a sip from a can of pepsi from 1990. Soda lasts a long time, but not not that long.:smallfrown:

[Serpentine]

The other day I used dried yeast that expired a year or two ago. It was fine.

Mounds of mould are always fun to find, though...

[Temotei]

mould

Ooh...new way of spelling it. :smallcool:

I left an orange in my car for about seven months. For a lot of them, it was frozen solid, however, which nicely preserved it. Not much of it was covered in white and black when I remembered it, surprisingly. :smallamused:

[Zanaril]

I made up a packet of cheese bread mix a week or two ago. We think the expiry date was 2004, but all the instructions were in Portuguese...

It tasted fine, anyway.

[Serpentine]

Ooh...new way of spelling it. :smallcool::smallconfused: No it isn't. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences# Miscellaneous_spelling_differences)

A friend of mine acquired a whoooole lot of really crappy oranges. He carries around a... 86L hiking backpack (or something like that), full of all sorts of crap, everywhere he goes.
He left one of the oranges in the bottom of the backpack. For months.
It was black.

[golentan]

I made up a packet of cheese bread mix a week or two ago. We think the expiry date was 2004, but all the instructions were in Portuguese...

It tasted fine, anyway.

You made a dairy product that expired 6 years ago? I realize that cooking was involved to kill live critters, but that doesn't get rid of any toxins that are already present.

[Zanaril]

You made a dairy product that expired 6 years ago? I realize that cooking was involved to kill live critters, but that doesn't get rid of any toxins that are already present.

I'm not sure it it actually contained any cheese, and it was dried and in a sealed packet. And I'm feeling fine. :smallwink:

[golentan]

I'm not sure it it actually contained any cheese, and it was dried and in a sealed packet. And I'm feeling fine. :smallwink:

Aye, but oils and proteins degrade on their own, and no sterile packet is truly sterile, and...

If you feel fine, I guess...

[Brother Oni]

At work, somebody left a sealed tupperware tub of (I assumed) chilli con carne and rice in the 'fridge.

6 months later, the tub was still there, with pink mould growing on the rice.

I didn't dare open it to check the state of the meat and I have access to pharmaceutical grade containment facilities.

[Quincunx]

In 2005, my mother cleaned the family pantry and threw out a jar of oregano which pre-dated 1995. (It also pre-dated mandatory packaging dates on oregano, but it was store-brand from stores we hadn't visited in ten years.) Better, though, was the can of cream of tomato soup which ate through its can and leaked into the previous pantry. Those New Jersey tomatoes are acidic!

In my household, we've. . .ok, I've discovered that Toffifee candies do not last four years past their expiration date, instant coffee does, and instant coffee with almond bits does not; the problem probably lies in the nuts.

[Lillith]

I remember when we were cleaning out my great aunts old cabinet after she moved to an elderly home (she was like 92 at the time). This was back in 2000 and I think she had food there that were like... dated 1991 or something.

In more recent news we got a bottle of Piri Piri spices and its still good even though the date says 2007. :smallbiggrin: (maybe we should throw it out...)

[Castaras]

Ooh...new way of spelling it. :smallcool:

How else would you spell it? :smallconfused:

[Phae Nymna]

I literally have jars of spices (mainly cloves, allspice, and nutmeg) from THE FIFTIES AND SIXTIES. My mom takes out for the cloves for recipes and is all "Oh wow. This takes me back to when..."

They're still good though.

>_>

[Thajocoth]

When flour goes bad is one of the more awful and less predictable as it's not dependent on the flour itself. You just open up the flour container and it's full of bugs (mostly dead). I did not make what I was going to that night. I only had that flour for, like, a couple months. Hasn't happened again since I started keeping flour in a plastic sealed container instead of the paper packaging it comes in. However, I know this has happened to others who've kept their flour in sealed plastic containers (My brother) so it's not a guarantee.

[valadil]

They left a fair amount of food in the fridge, too, which I was fine with. I mean, you leave food, it's mine now, right? Saw a box of yogurts and thought I'd try one, but I figured I'd check the expiration date first. OCTOBER 2009!! :smalleek::smallyuk: Those yogurts had been in the fridge since the beginning of the school year! How the heck do you do that? It was completely unopened! How do you bring a (big) box of yogurts to school and never eat one in 9 months??


Sounds about standard for college. Freshman year one of my friends ordered chinese on the first night of school. On the last day before he went home he finished off the left overs. This was also the guy who would eat a bowl of easy mac and then instead of washing the bowl, let it sit for a good week or two and then peel out the solid cheesy crust so he could make more easy mac.

[Mauve Shirt]

I've done such things. >_> Last year I bought some cheese sticks in September and ate 2 of them. I rediscovered them in December, cleaning out the fridge before winter break. I was disgusted with myself.
And a month ago, when I was at home, I found a bottle of ketchup in our fridge that expired in 2008. And some cereal in the pantry from early 2009.

[Savannah]

So, Lawless, what does 12 year old soda taste like? I mean, most of these I can imagine, but expired soda? I have no idea.

[Atelm]

Last christmas during family dinner at Grandfather's we discovered there was no mustard to be found on the table; a quick search of the fridge uncovered a tube, dated to have expired around late 2003ish. Someone gave it a quick taste, didn't taste anything odd, but the tube was never actually used.

[Midnight Son]

:smallconfused: No it isn't. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences# Miscellaneous_spelling_differences)


How else would you spell it? :smallconfused:
It's mold, noun or verb. Whoever did that list in Wiki is just plain wrong. (I usually like the unnecessary U in British spelling, but this one looks odd)

[Thajocoth]

I just remembered. We once bought soda at the local gas station around Christmas time that was expired. It was the previous year's soda, meaning that it was still Christmasly decorated. Had to throw it out.

[Miklus]

Back in college we had these big fridges where everybody kept their food. Yeah, you can see this comming, can't you? But it gets better.

One day I moved from one fridge to another. I must have put the milk back in the old fridge from habit. Someone found it a couple of months later. So what is the first thing the idiot does? Drop it on the floor, of cause! I'll spare you the details.

[Another_Poet]

Yeah Savannah, I would be a lot more irritated about the knife and knife block than about the yogurts. Someone forgot that they bought yogurt. Everyone else figured it wasn't theirs. It's in sealed containers so it neither looks or smells gross. Not too hard to handle...

But the kife & block, well, I would email those people and figure out who has it. Surely you all exchanged contact info?

Or send nanites to get it back. That always works.

[Brother Oni]

Last christmas during family dinner at Grandfather's we discovered there was no mustard to be found on the table; a quick search of the fridge uncovered a tube, dated to have expired around late 2003ish. Someone gave it a quick taste, didn't taste anything odd, but the tube was never actually used.

Mustard and other similar foods like wasabi have very good anti-microbial and anti bacterial properties, so they never go mouldy.

My personal theory is that's why wasabi and sake (alcohol) is always served with sushi, in case the fish has gone slightly bad.

Another foodstuff that never seems to go off is marmite - although if it did, I don't think you'd be able to taste the difference...

[Savannah]

Oh, I've got plans to get the knife and knifeblock back, don't worry. The thing that gets me about the yogurt, though, is that it was taking up a lot of space, so it was annoying and impossible to miss. I just figured that whoever it belonged to was buying another box whenever they ran out. I guess not.

[Ormagoden]

I didn't know jello could get moldy until this past year.
I feel bad for wasting that jello.

I do have a food story although, it's not exactly expired food as much as mistaken identity.

When I was about 5 or 6 we found a baby bird on the ground and we nursed it back to health after getting some guidance from the local vet.

Baby birds, as every one knows, eat worms.

Meal worms were recommended to us by the vet. You put them in the fridge to keep them cold and anesthetized. My mother put them in a big yellow (Parkay brand) butter tub.

My father making breakfast for himself one day (bleary eyed from working a triple shift) gets out the butter and spreads it on his toast.
Looks down and thinks he is in a horror movie.
Nice toast and meal worm breakfast.

I never laughed so hard in my life.

[Telonius]

How else would you spell it? :smallconfused:

As the CR 2 trap (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/traps.htm#cr2BoxofBrownMold).

[Leecros]

Sounds like the potatoes my roommate left on top of the refridgerator and forgot


for 2 years

we were wondering where all these little flies(which appeared about a year after HE<the guy with the potatoes> left) were coming from.


so 3 years of potatoey goodness rotting on top of the refridgerator:smallyuk:

[mucat]

The thing that gets me about the yogurt, though, is that it was taking up a lot of space, so it was annoying and impossible to miss.
Yeah, but if she forgot that she bought yogurt, then she thought it was someone else's annoying and impossible-to-miss box.

(And for the benefit of those whose minds are not sieves: Yes, it's totally possible to forget you bought a big box of yogurt. I could forget that without breaking a sweat, and it probably wouldn't even be on the top-10 list of stupid things I forgot that day.) :smallconfused:

[Thufir]

Things like that could easily have happened in my student house if I didn't live here. My housemates have a tendency to go shopping and come back with a selection of ingredients, most of which they never use. So I've saved a lot of money by eating the things they ignore, and thus (mostly) prevented mouldy vegetables from occupying our kitchen.

[Serpentine]

Mould is the British spelling.
My personal theory is that's why wasabi and sake (alcohol) is always served with sushi, in case the fish has gone slightly bad.No theory, the antiseptic properties of wasabi is exactly why it's served with sushi. Not necessarily "bad", exactly, though...
I had really bland wasabi with my sushi yesterday :smallconfused:

[druid91]

Well when I was Really little I lost an orange that was in a ziploc baggie, two school years later wondering what that funny smell was I dug through the zipper pocket on the front that I never used and found that same orange. I did not open the baggie, instead I tossed it into the back yard and it apparently vanished overnight.

then there was the time that we opened up the fridge that has been sitting unplugged in the basement since who knows when. Inside of the fridge was chinese leftovers. We shut it and to this day it stands in the yard.

[shadow_archmagi]

Someone needs to invent a rear-loading fridge, so that old things are pushed to the front.

[RandomNPC]

Someone needs to invent a rear-loading fridge, so that old things are pushed to the front.

you seem to have the intelectual property rights, seeing as you said it first. i think. anyway, now the responsibilities fall to you.

[Cleverdan22]

I just found a sandwich (fortunately in a plastic bag) that I placed somewhere in my room from a time that I can only assume, from the state of the bag, was sometime when I was still in grade school. I almost threw up like 8 times.

[Setra]

I just found a sandwich (fortunately in a plastic bag) that I placed somewhere in my room from a time that I can only assume, from the state of the bag, was sometime when I was still in grade school. I almost threw up like 8 times.
Might wanna clean your room a bit more often =p

I myself am pretty good about checking dates ever since the time I drank some bad milk yogurt abomination juice.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Several years ago I was making pizza for my parents. I took the bag of shredded mozzarella cheese and saw that it had turned blue in places! I thought, "Cool, it's like my dad's blue cheese!" and made the pizza with it.

Needless to say, when I tool it out of the oven, it tasted awful. When I showed it to my parents they told me that the cheese had gone moldy. :smalleek:

A few years after that there was a moldy cucumber in the fridge. It was thick and white and looked like a blob and I nearly puked.

[Ravens_cry]

Interesting note on mould. For a while if I left old tea bags in the pot for too long,a white fluffy mould would sprout. Gross, but kind of pretty all the same. But for the past few months, instead of a white fluffy mould, what grows instead is these gritty speckles, each about the size of a chocolate sprinkle cut in half.
Weird huh?

[sktarq]

Saw a box of yogurts and thought I'd try one, but I figured I'd check the expiration date first. OCTOBER 2009!! :smalleek::smallyuk: Those yogurts had been in the fridge since the beginning of the school year! How the heck do you do that? It was completely unopened! How do you bring a (big) box of yogurts to school and never eat one in 9 months??

About amonth ago I chose to clean out the fridge. I do this once a year. If that seems like too little I have a shelf and live with anywhere from 6-10 other people so if even half did so as regularly we'd be fine.

I found 4 month old chicken stew that was so fowl I did throw up. Also 14 packets of eggs (mostly about 1/2 full) one of which had apparently been missed last year or was in their room's mini fridge at the time since it was sell by May 2008. Liquified vegtables in drawers....

[Erloas]

Well this has kind of gone a little legendary now, but I think it was 2 Christmases ago at my grandparents house one of the grandkids went into the back room where they store all sorts of things to find something. They came back with a can of ham (or some other type of canned meat) that they said the expiration date was from the 70s or 80s. It was laughed about and thrown out. Now my grandparents insist that it wasn't true and that they were reading something wrong, that it couldn't have been nearly that old. Which seems very possible because back then they were using that room for other things, not storing food. But it was too late to try and verify any claims by then.

I wouldn't be surprised to find very old stuff in their fridge though, you almost need an expedition crew to get to the back, its so full of stuff.

And it was a few months ago at my mom's we were going through old salad dressing and they had expiration dates from a few months before that to, I think about a year and a half.

What is bad is when you find something that is several years past its expiration date and you know that it is the sort of product that has a shelf life measured in years already, so you know thats been there for a while.

[RandomNPC]

We recently did a cleaning of the pantry, it's all kinds of fun to find un-opened dressings two years old, things you used last week that expired months ago, and things with labels so fadded they have no experation date anymore.

Also we've got this thing, If you don't at least attempt to scrape your plate off I will not attempt to wash it. This is an ongoing excercise in stubbornness that will soon give birth to sentient molds.

[sktarq]

Also we've got this thing, If you don't at least attempt to scrape your plate off I will not attempt to wash it. This is an ongoing excercise in stubbornness that will soon give birth to sentient molds.

We have something similar in my house...except it is how long can A (one of my roomates) stand the pile of dirty dishes in the kitchen she doesn't use, How long until T (A's BF) annoys A to the point where she relives her stress by cleaning the kitchen or how long until K (me) gets tired of eating out and wants to cook. Remember there are 8 people (plus very common guests) and A and I are stubborn

[chicken nugget]

Grodi!!!!!

[fergo]

When we were looking around a flat which, according to the letting agent, hadn't been lived in for a couple of years, there was a half-empty bottle 0of squash in the pantry.

Even then... that wasn't even the worst part of the flat :smalleek:.

[KuReshtin]

Thread necrmancy...

[fergo]

Grah, I didn't notice :smallfrown:. (Although I should have noticed, what with the timescale of gthe first post...).

Also, what does 'Godi' mean? :smalltongue:

[Aedilred]

When I was about twelve, at my granny's house, I made the mistake of looking at the best-before date on a jar of horseradish sauce the contents of which I was eating with some roast beef. 1983.

For reference, I was born in 1984.

Sadly (fsvo) the days of truly ancient condiments at her house are behind us; she moved house ten years ago and my dad took the opportunity of throwing away pretty much every food item he could get his hands on.

[Tigrita]

I was once eating some Apple Jacks when I noticed some little black specks in the center of some of the pieces and naturally wondered what they were.

They were ants. What made it worse was that I had already eaten about half the bowl.