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
Halloween
A failed costume, stolen candy and a very real scare: Halloween, the one night when fear is allowed.
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
Feel like sharing it with the other FML users?
Thanks, your FML was submitted, and will appear in the moderation queue soon!
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.
Add a comment · Reply to
You must be logged in to be able to post comments!
Comments (126)
dexasterous 17
well you havn't died yet.
Omniprism 15
Actually I think she's right. As long as the top of the can isn't domed it should be fine. That's why women did canning before preservatives so their food would last.
Kevdog824 12
I'm pretty sure canned goods are good for years after the expiration date. I think that's just the date the store should sell the food by
lmbachman 23
Technically as long as the can isn't disfigured, she is correct... I had to do a study on this in our advanced biology class. you'd be amazed at how long certain foods last...
tabrowne898 9
My mom is the same way... I've been fine so far lol
likemice 6
Tell her if she keeps doing that, you could catch botulism and actually die.
Gityerchicken 12
My mom is the same way OP. I'm amazed I survived childhood.
sanecatlady 13
When first read about botulism as an early teen I got so scared that I thought everything my parents fed to me was full of poison and I nearly drove them crazy. My mother even once read to me that a can a food that had been around for decades was found to be still edible. Of course, just because something is still edible doesn't mean it's still good-tasting.
sanecatlady 13
The mother should watch some of Dr. Ashen's video's on YouTube, he shows disgusting expired food a lot in his videos. He once even had a can of rations left over from WW2. The stuff inside it did not look fit for a pig to eat.
sahracrou 7
Well, there are 2 things that can spoil food: microorganisms and chemical changes, which happen after certain time. I am no chemist, but I am microbiologist so on this topic: if the food is rightly stored (and was sterelized/pasteurized before, which all of the canned food normally is) then it should be safe for a long time, even after expiration date. If the package is not damaged, everything should be fine. But I still would not eat food that is years over date :) Depends on the food as well, if it is high in salt, shugar or low in water (dry) there is no way anything will grow, at least not microorganisms that cause food to spoil, since they do have limits considering their living environment. But you know, someone mentioned food from WW2? I don`t know if they had the same criteria for food saftey back then, I guess not :D So if it`s 40 years old, throw it away. If its one year after date...I am pretty sure it is still fine.