Food Preps almost outdated

Absolutely! And great idea to post for others to consider!

Great idea. However I personally would just change my diet to use up the items or re-package them. Canned fruit close to expiry I would just dehydrate. Money is very tight ATM so I really couldn't afford to give it way unless I could not re-package/eat.

A few years back I let my supplies go beyond their best before date. At that time I donated to the food bank. Now I have a good system in place to avoid making that mistake again. Today I am a little more skeptical about our local food bank but that is another story.

Why wouldn't you EAT THE STUFF. That is, after all, why you bought it isn't it?? Great opportunity to see if you could actually live off the stuff if you had to.
You wouldn't have to buy groceries in the meantime, funding your re-stocking.

Why wouldn't you EAT THE STUFF. That is, after all, why you bought it isn't it?? Great opportunity to see if you could actually live off the stuff if you had to.
You wouldn't have to buy groceries in the meantime, funding your re-stocking.

Don't get me wrong. I do! And your right! But...if I got 20 can's of beans..or chicpee's, or whatever...I can only eat so much of it in a row! 🙂 Better to go to the food bank then the trash can thats all. A lot of the stuff we buy, in batches may have expiry dates throughout the year.

We always buy preps that reflect what we normally eat on a daily basis.

When our regular groceries run low, we mark them down on our grocery list as most people do. After our trip to the grocery store, however, all the new groceries end up in the prepped storage, and we take out from "old stock" the stuff on the grocery list. 🙂 Everything gets labeled and marked with the month and year of purchase, as well as the expiration date. We have a massive Excel sheet that has tabs for various types of food, different brands, different expiration dates, quantities, costs, calorie contents, etc.

I say, eat the preps! You can add chick peas to alot of things............chili, stews, soup, make humus, etc.... And don't forget to rotate in the future.
Regarding, 'donating' expired cans to the food bank: DON'T! I've experienced times in my past when I had to use a food bank and I was SO bummed to find expired cans. I thought, "well am I just a leftover that doesn't count?" - I was already feeling pretty down. Besides, if it's expired and YOU won't eat it, why dump it on some poor unfortunate soul to eat and maybe get sick.....
PLEASE DON'T DONATE EXPIRED FOOD TO A FOOD BANK! 🙁
Thank you. 🙂

I would suggest not worrying too much about the expiry dates, especially on canned foods...they should be good past the date. Here in Canada, food banks will just throw it out now. They can't distribute the expired foods, just like grocery stores can't sell expired foods.

We've been getting loads of groceries from the 'back doors' of grocery stores for a few years now and there is nothing wrong with it (except the date).

I was told that the foodbanks out here don't accept 'expired' food or don't redistribute it if it is donated and they notice later.

On another note, I'm currently working my way through several cans of tuna (in water) that expired in 2011... no side effects yet 😳

Canned food lasts much longer than what the expiry dates state, longer by years 🙂

if you look, the date is actually a best before date, not an expiry date. basically, the food starts to lose its taste at that point. i would still eat it. just make sure the can isnt dented. if so, i would toss it.

The expire date on a package is the date for the store...ie when the store would want to restock an item and dispose of the current item.

Expiry date for items is beyond the date on the package / can. You will have to research each on its own...i contact the company directly and many times i get a responce back ..eventually.

Canadian Government also ...to be safe recommends that you dont use something after a date...as it will loose nutrition etc..

here are some terms

"Best if used by (or before)" date. This refers strictly to quality, not safety.
"Sell by" date. The labeling "sell by" tells the store how long to display the product for sale.
"Born on" date. This is the date of manufacture and has been resurrected recently to date beer. Beer can go sub-par after three months. "It is affected by sun,"
"Guaranteed fresh" date. This usually refers to bakery items. They will still be edible after the date, but will not be at peak freshness.
"Use by" date. This is the last date recommended for the use of the product while at peak quality. The date has been determined by the manufacturer of the product.

"Pack" date. You will find this one on canned or packaged goods, as a rule, but it's tricky. In fact, it may be in code. It can be month-day-year-MMDDYY. Or the manufacturer could revert to the Julian calendar. January would then be 001-0031 and December 334-365. It gets even weirder than that.

Here's a link for 'decoding' canned dates: http://www.emergencykitchen.com/html/can_code_decoder.html