All Hail the Mighty Expiration Date!

Yesterday I read the following comic and it got me to thinking about how ridiculous some people can be when it comes to expiration dates.

There really are people who are like this. I know, I’ve seen them at the grocery store. They don’t care when a product was made, they just want to know when it expires.

What they don’t realize is that those dates are almost meaningless. The companies pick a random date at a specified point in the future because the government says they have to. I mean, seriously. Do they really think that on 05/06/11 that box of cereal is perfectly fine, but at precisely midnight on 05//07/11, *POOF!* it suddenly becomes a box of toxic death flakes to anyone who eats it?

Expiration dates are a handy guideline, but to throw something away the day after the date on the package expires is just foolish and wasteful. Some things are still good months after the expiration date, and some things, such as pasta, are good years after. Just as long as the package is sealed, and bugs haven’t gotten in it.

I did an internet search on how long some items really last and I found out that even these five most feared items are good for quite a few days past the date. (Original article HERE.)

Milk: If it's properly refrigerated, it will be safe, nutritious, and taste good for about a week after the "sell-by" date.

Cottage cheese: It should last 10-14 days after the date on the carton (or 10-14 days after you open it, if this period ends before the printed date).

Mayonnaise: If it’s unopened and refrigerated, it can be kept for 30 days after its expiration date or three to four months after opening.

Yogurt: It will be good 7 to 10 days after its "sell-by" date.

Eggs: If they’re properly refrigerated, they should last at least three to five weeks after the "sell-by" date.

Just use your own good judgment, and don’t follow the religious sect of the Expiration of the Holy Date.

It drives me crazy how wasteful our country is. The store where I work throws tons of perfectly good food away because of that date on the package. And they don’t even wait till it passes, if the date even starts approaching, it gets chucked in the dumpster. Why not mark it down or donate it to a food pantry? Oh, right, because Nanna Government says not to. And we mustn’t disobey Nanna now, must we?

Ok, that’s enough ranting for now. I’d better move on to some homework before I start off on another tangent on how wasteful the government is. :)