shame on me! all out of date

Grumpysally

For some reason I looked in my store cupboard this morning, and found,
three bags of wholemeal bread flour best before dec 05 which means its nearly a year since i last used my bread maker for anything other than naan bread and chapattias
Bag of wholemeal SR flour BBE April 06
Baking powder BBE may 06
This makes my home made bread very very expensive. So much for saving money on BOGOF's

Various packs of edible seeds all months out of date, ditto dried fruit.
Thats just one cupboard can't bring myself to look in the others yet. I suspect a similar sight will greet me there.

At least I can give the fruit and seeds to the birds. Expensive bird food.

What a waste of money, go to the bottom of the Money Savers class Alison!

Must get organised and acutually use the stuff I buy.

SnowyOwl_2

Hey Alison

If it's any consolation I do exactly the same. The worst item I have at the minute is some baking powder, best before Feb 2002. It still works!!

Don't beat yourself up...best before dates are just a guideline - the bits and pieces may not be 100% perfect, and the manufacturers are really just covering their butts. If there are any things you haven't binned then you can still use them up. I know with the dates you have mentioned it wouldn't bother me in the slightest and I'd keep them with a view to using up soonish. You can always do the "sniff" test - if things are obviously stale and fusty then bin em.

If the fruit and seeds haven't been open I'd bet my last penny that there is absolutely nothing wrong with them. I'd use them up too, even if they are open tbh...

Don't feel guilty...bet there are quite a few on OS who have done the same.

tawnyowls

Only a couple of months OOD? I'd use them all up too - if they don't smell musty and don't have any little creatures crawling round, they should be absolutely fine. To be on the safe side, you could use half & half of old and new baking powder, or use it with self-raising flour, as that's the only thing that, if it is too old, could affect a whole cake and lead to a bigger loss.

Mirtos

Me too! as long as there aren't weevils, or mould I'd not even check the dates!

CoD_2

Mirtos wrote:

Me too! as long as there aren't weevils, or mould I'd not even check the dates!

thats my rule of thumb! if its the right smell, colour and taste then it should be fine! (just careful with eggs which I do the bowl of water test with!)

tawnyowls

Between this and the thread on weevils, I thought I'd better just check my flour. No weevils, but one bag of flour has July 05 on it! Still smells OK, though, so I'll mix it with some of the newer stuff.

mrbadexample

I'm still using my flour BBE 09/04.

I also ate my tin of beans BBE 04 sometime, just the other day. They were fine, and I am happy to report I don't appear to be dead yet.

ViksB

If a product has a USE BY date then it really should be eaten within a day of that date. However if a product has a BEST BEFORE DATE this is simple a guide to when the product is "at its best". It isn't even illegal to sell products past their Best Before (it is for Use by).
I always check if the product smells OK and then use it anyway, especially if it is going to be cooked anyway!!
Hope this helps
Vikki

Grumpysally

I binned the flour with it being wholemeal, Ive used old WM flour before and its been rancid because of the oils, the same reason for being cautious with the seeds. I think I'll put the dried fruit back in the cupboard. ( poor birds ) but if they're still there this time next year they're definitely bird food!