Food in Cupboards

jhgkp

A friend of mines grandmother passed away recently and they are in the midst of clearing the house and have come across a stash of tinned foods in the kitchen cupboards. I suggested why not give it to the food banks, save binning it all but some is past the best before date - can that be passed on or should it be binned. Think their granny was preparing for an acoypolpse.

What is best to do?

Drachenfach

Most food banks will not take food that is past the best before date.


My husband's nan was the same - she lived in the far north of Scotland, so she was a big believer in having food on hand for emergencies.


After her death we cleared out six cupboards of tinned food, including countless bulging cans of macaroni cheese, and several unknowable things that had burst over the years and welded themselves to the shelves. :eek:


As a direct result of that, I've started to pay more attention to best before dates, and bin anything that's more than a year out of date.

Soworried

As long as the cans aren't blown I'd start to use them. Meal plan them starting with the worst dated items.

Ilona

Yes, I would use some of them as well. I buy out of date packets and cans at a knockdown price from a cash and carry. Nothing wrong with them.
Ilona

Nargleblast

As already said, you can often use stuff after the best-before date, hence the popularity of Approved Foods. Exceptions to the rule are 1) if the tin has "blown" or shows any sign of leakage and 2) if, when you open it, the stink blows your socks off.

Goldiegirl

How much past the sell by date are the tins?


A year or so and they'd be fine, but I'd draw the line at 20 - 30 years old!

[Deleted User]

Goldiegirl wrote: »

How much past the sell by date are the tins?


A year or so and they'd be fine, but I'd draw the line at 20 - 30 years old!

When my late OH was working in the Sudan in the early 1980s the local market was selling tins of corned beef from a box market 'A gift from the Chinese people' 1949 He didn't buy any,but he said there were plenty of folk who did.Apparently the boxes of tinned food had been found dumped in a cave near to Port Sudan and the locals weren't too fussy about dates as most lived on a very limited diet.

I personally would donate the stuff that's in date to a food bank if possible, and the rest take home and use your nose and common sense to use it up

pigpen

My '2 years past its date' tomato soup was better than the new stuff.. if the tins are not corroded or puffy use them!

Prinzessilein

I would sort through the tins...

Any that are severely dented, or markedly rusty. or 'blown' would go straight in the bin.

Next, I would check the actual dates...most tins I would be happy to eat within a year of their best-before date.

(My personal choice would be to avoid tinned fish that was past its best-before date ...but that is because some years ago I had food poisoning after eating tinned fish - and my stomach has never forgotten the experience! )

For the rest of the tins I would look at what I fancied keeping...tinned fruit - and I love tinned green beans! Those would go on my shelf (to the front...I rotate my tins so stuff to get eaten first is near the front)

Any tins I liked the sound of, but wasn't sure about whether they were still good would be opened and the contents, if still good, could be cooked and then frozen. (Tinned veg works a treat in soups and curries)

Whilst food banks will probably not accept out-of-date tins, you may have better luck with other organizations. Churches, for example, often do a shared pot-luck lunch and might be happy to take the tins.

You could have a dinner party in memory of gran to use up some of the tins...veggies soup from tinned vegs....tinned meat would perhaps make a nice meat pie - served with more tinned veggies!...and a tinned fruit crumble or trifle with tinned fruit for dessert....and blitzed tinned fruit and milk for fruity shakes to drink!