Today, my mother decided to inform me that she doesn't believe canned food can have an expiry date and that the food is still okay to eat years after the 'supposed' expiry date. She's probably been cooking my dinner with expired food for over 17 years. FML
Collection
Fall
Dead leaves, the first cold of the season and an umbrella flipped inside out: fall, the season of grace.
Today, I opened up a can of tomato soup I'd taken from my parents' house recently. After eating the whole can, I started feeling a little off, so I checked the expiration date. It expired 12 years ago. FML
Today, I threw out all the food in the freezer that my mom had been keeping since 2013. When she found out, she said, "frozen food doesn't go bad." FML
Today, I saw my mom changing the expiry date on milk. She genuinely thought this would make the milk sour later. FML
Today, I cleaned out the fridge for my mother. I didn't throw out a single thing that was less than a month past its expiration. Instead of thanks, she complained about everything that I threw away being still good, including a tub of butter that had been expired for two years. FML
Today, I found out that my boyfriend's mom doesn't believe you can get food poisoning from food that is cooked. She gave us food that had sat out all day/night and then got angry when I said we could get sick. FML
Today, a friend invited me over for dinner. She presented me with a "gourmet" homemade meal. As I started eating, I realized it tasted… off. She looked at me expectantly, so I politely ate it all. Afterwards, she told me it was a new recipe she was trying "tuna casserole" made with canned tuna… which we found out later expired in 2015. FML
Today, while tidying up my grandmother's fridge, I got to play expiration-date-bingo. The winner was some type of concentrated apple sauce supposed to be used for salad dressings. It expired in 1986. FML
Today, surprisingly, my roommate made a nice meal. Within an hour, I started throwing up. When I confronted her, she confessed that she'd used long expired ingredients, including meat, because she didn't want the garbage men to think she's "the type that wastes food." FML
Today, while my mom was out, my family agreed upon the assumption that she has a "shopping problem." I argued against it for quite a while, until she pulled up minutes later with a what seemed like a life-time supply of canned condensed milk. FML
Today, I'm worried my mother might have the early onset of senility. She started making gumbo, only to lose the plot halfway through, and then began throwing in the ingredients for chili. The result was an inedible mess, and she insisted we've had this for years. Then she tasted it, and yelled, "What the hell is this?" FML
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Top comments
adrianh1090 12
You've made it this far.
Welshite 40
Canned food is good for a long time after the expiration date. Just sayin'. Manufactures print the "best by" date, but that doesn't mean it's spoiled even months later.
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Comments (126)
lsjjrepting 7
I have to comment here. I'm no expert on canned food, but (I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night) I watched a TV show/documentary on H2 called "Life After People" that said that canned foods that are kept in relatively stable temperatures under 100* F and are in a certain type of can are good for a very long time- up to 15-20 years.
whatwhyhoo 10
Canned food never used to have dates on it. Manufacturers do it to sell more food. I agree with your Mom.
skittyskatbrat 19
She is correct. Unless the can is pressurized or punctured, it's fine. The flavor might be off, it's BEST BY date reflects when it is no longer at its "peak" but you can eat canned peaches for 1812 if you so desire (except for the lead lining)!
Evaah_fml 3
She's completely right. As long as it's airtight it's fine for consumption for up to 25 years. Expiry dates on canned foods only exist because the companies will sell more.
goreajek 13
The expiry date doesn't matter. Food is still good for quite a bit after that date.
walkingspastic 22
She's actually right so this whole FML is invalid.
tukies 28
Canned food last forever. Don't worry too much on it. That's why people don't like to buy dented cans, because they shouldn't be eaten after the sell buy date.
amisenho 11
Dented cans are a high-risk red flag that should be avoided, since the denting of the metal warps the can, allowing air, therefore pathogenic aerobic bacteria, to enter, not to mention the chemicals in the metal that can leak into the food. To be fair, though, if you cook your food until it reaches an internal temperature of 85°C (or, if you really want to be sure, 100°C), you shouldn't have to worry about hazardous bacteria in your food (pathogenic strains are incredibly weak competitors against beneficial microbes, in most cases). Byproducts that they produce, on the other hand, can be a potential hazard, depending on how long the can has been damaged (e.g., the botulism toxin sometimes found in honey, assuming the honey has been contaminated with C. botulinum). As a last resort, throw your hands up in the air and sterilize your food with an autoclave. It may taste bad, but at least you'd know nothing in it could possibly be alive (autoclaved kale is tasty with vinegar, by the way). On another note, your senses can give you a good idea of how well the food is keeping. If you're inspecting that 11-month-old sour cream that's been hanging out in the back of your fridge, and it smells like someone farted in it, you might want to toss it. The crawling pink thing on the rim of the container is a good indicator, too. When in doubt, throw it out!
markusmay16 10
if she has, it sounds to me she might be right.
ASBriere 8
I'm a marine and trust me when i say that I've eaten some over expired canned food. It's still good. It's just a legal issue to put the sell by it bedt by date.
number_1son 1
I wouldn't worry too much, expiry dates on canned foods are fairly bogus. my father was a usda certified meat/food inspector and told us to only worry about dates on cans if the can started to swell or he can was YEARS past its date.