15 foods you tin can consume past their expiration dates

eggs expiration date

Eggs have a long shelf life.
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  • Oftentimes expiration dates are a guideline and non a strict rule, usually referencing the quality rather than the actual condom of the food.
  • Although it is still important to cheque the packaging, at that place are quite a few foods where the date has no significance.
  • Dry, boxed pasta can last for quite some fourth dimension if it's unopened.
  • Oftentimes "expired" bread is fine to eat if yous don't come across any mold.
  • Visit Insider'south homepage for more stories.

Information technology'south a common misconception that the date printed on packaged food is a firm deadline for when you should toss it.

In reality, one of the only items in the Usa with a federally-regulated expiration date is infant formula ― which is why "sell by" dates and "best if used past (or earlier)" dates are more of a guideline than a rule.

Every bit Paul VanLandingham, a senior faculty fellow member at the Center for Food and Beverage Management of Johnson & Wales University explained in an interview with WebMD, these numbers refer to food quality rather than food safety.

Although the old dictates how long a store should brandish a production to ensure its highest level of quality, the latter refers to long consumers should continue a product earlier information technology loses flavor or declines in quality.

When it comes to these 15 food items, you lot tin oftentimes disregard the date on the parcel.

You tin keep dry, boxed pasta for 1 to 2 years by its printed date.

Dry pasta lasts longer than you might realize.
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According to FoodSafety.gov, a nutrient resource from the United states of america Department of Health & Homo Services, dry pasta can be kept for one to two years past its printed expiry engagement

Fresh (uncooked) pasta ― the kind y'all'll often find in the refrigerated section of the supermarket next to Italian cheese ― is only good for 4 to five days across the date printed on the packaging. When frozen, it will typically keep for six to 8 months.

By and large, cooked pasta, whether dry out or fresh, can be kept for seven days in the refrigerator. In the freezer, it will typically stay fresh for half-dozen to eight months.

When information technology's unopened, breakfast cereal lasts half-dozen to 8 months past the appointment on the box.

For fresh cereal, don't wait too long to eat it afterwards opening the bag.
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If opened, your favorite cereal will typically stay fresh for betwixt four and six months.

In contrast, cooked cereals such as oatmeal volition only keep for four to five days in the fridge once prepared.

"Cereals don't really get bad. There is not that much of a quality event. If you leave your cereal box open, it can get stale, simply you are withal not going to become sick from information technology," Emily Broad Leib, the director of Harvard Food Police force & Policy Clinic, told TIME magazine.

No matter what date is on the carton, you can apply eggs within three to 5 weeks of purchasing them.

Eggs have a longer shelf-life than presumed.
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There are many ways to check if an egg has gone bad (similar doing the float test or sniffing it to meet if information technology has a sulfur smell), but more often than not the fresher the egg the ameliorate information technology tastes.

"In terms of freshness, a company can put a sell-by date or best used-by date on the carton. There is no regulation on that. The date is a good indicator of freshness," Kevin Potato, nutrient safe and sanitation expert and professor and chair of hospitality services at the University of Central Florida's Rosen College of Hospitality Management, previously told Insider.

"The closer yous get to the date, the less fresh the eggs are going to exist. Just, just because you lot've hit that date or gone beyond information technology doesn't mean that the eggs are necessarily bad," he added.

No matter what date is printed on the carton, eggs are oft safety to use within 3 to five weeks of when you buy them. Hard-boiled eggs keep for up to a week in the refrigerator.

Raw meat and poultry keep long past their sell-by date if you lot freeze them.

Only make certain to store information technology in the freezer.
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Although raw meat and poultry will only keep for a few days in the fridge, these items can exist kept past their sell-by engagement if you freeze them.

Co-ordinate to FoodSafety.gov, frozen ground meat will last iii to four months, and a whole chicken or turkey tin be frozen for upwardly of a year.

"Food poisoning bacteria does not grow in the freezer, so no matter how long a food is frozen, it is safe to eat. Foods that have been in the freezer for months may exist dry, or may non taste as good, but they will be safe to eat," according to the US Department of Agriculture report on the bureau's blog.

Raw fish likewise lasts much longer in the freezer.

Fish, similar poultry, must exist frozen if you want to continue information technology fresh for long periods of time.
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Co-ordinate to Eat Past Appointment, raw fish can last a lot longer ― betwixt half dozen and ix months — if you freeze it.

Smoked fish can final for three to six months in the freezer, and commercially frozen fish will go along for 10 to 12 months if information technology doesn't thaw.

Additionally, unopened canned fish (such as tuna) can go on for between two and 5 years past its printed date.

As with many food items, advent and odor will tell you more about if cheese is rubber to swallow than the number on the package.

It depends slightly on the type of cheese you're eating.
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Generally speaking, cheese lasts beyond its expiration date.

Even if cheese (whole, cut, or sliced) grows mold, it can often exist salvaged past cutting effectually the decay.

In fact, white mold is normal on so-called "bloomy rind" or soft-ripened cheeses similar Camembert and Brie, according to the Gourmet Cheese Detective. Most colored molds, such as the orangish, bluish, and green varieties, however, are non edible.

Of course, the brighter mold is okay when it comes to bluish cheeses ― simply only if it's spread evenly in a vein-like pattern and non concentrated in one spot.

Yous can keep dairy milk 5 days or more by its printed engagement.

Chances are you'll know when your milk has spoiled.
Joey Hadden/Insider

How long milk keeps depends on its fat content. Although non-fat milk can last between seven and x days, you can keep whole milk five to vii days past the engagement on the carton.

If milk does spoil, it will await discolored with a lumpy texture and dispel a sour scent.

If unopened, shelf-stable, non-dairy kinds of milk keep much longer — up to a calendar month past the sell-past appointment.

Canned foods accept a long shelf life.

Canned foods can last years.
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Although not all canned foods will last indefinitely, almost have a shelf life that exceeds their sell-past or all-time-by date.

With the exception of highly acidic items similar tomatoes and pineapple, canned vegetables, and some canned soups are okay to eat a yr or two after they "expire."

Canned meats, like corned beef and SPAM, keep fifty-fifty longer — between two and five years.

Unopened packages of frozen fruit and frozen vegetables are good for eight to x months beyond their printed date.

Equally long as information technology's frozen, fruit will typically concluding a long time.
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Eat By Engagement advises that unopened packages of frozen fruit and frozen vegetables can both keep for viii to 10 months past their printed appointment.

When unopened and refrigerated, yogurt will last two to three weeks past the date on the container.

Consider freezing your yogurt.
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In the refrigerator, unopened yogurt can nonetheless be tasty for one to two weeks past its best past date. When frozen, yogurt will keep up to two months, according to StillTasty.

Staff of life is normally fine to eat if you don't see any mold.

If you lot see mold, however, throw it away.
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According to StillTasty, packaged bread (such as white bread) will keep for five to seven days at room temperature if it's stored properly. Once refrigerated, information technology volition retain its freshness for three to four days before becoming stale.

If yous desire to extend its shelf life, packaged bread will stay fresh for at least 3 months in the freezer.

If yous practice meet mold, withal, throw the bread out.

Unopened jars of peanut butter can keep for up to a year past their printed date.

Preservative-free peanut butter will not last equally long.
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Whether or not information technology'south refrigerated, an unopened jar of peanut butter (with preservatives) volition keep for a year past its printed date.

Natural peanut butter has a shorter shelf life, lasting three to six months by its date if information technology'south stored in the fridge.

In contrast, a sealed jar of another popular, nutty spread ― Nutella — volition keep just one to two months past its printed date.

Some condiments, such as ketchup and mustard, are proficient for a yr or two beyond their printed dates if the bottles are unopened.

Chances are that the ketchup in your refrigerator is still OK to eat.
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For instance, unopened bottles of ketchup will last six months and an opened bottle of mustard can terminal upward to a yr if information technology'due south kept in the fridge.

Honey only really spoils if information technology's introduced to moisture.

Honey doesn't offer a friendly environs for bacteria.
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Honey is known for its seemingly indefinite shelf life, a characteristic that tin can be attributed to the pasty stuff's chemical make-up.

As a carbohydrate, love is a hygroscopic substance ― 1 that doesn't contain much water but can absorb moisture from the air.

"Dear in its natural form is very low-moisture," Amina Harris, executive director of the Honey and Pollination Heart at the Robert Mondavi Institute at the University of California, Davis, told Smithsonian Magazine. "Very few bacteria or microorganisms can survive in an environs like that, they just dice. They're smothered by it, essentially."

That beingness said, honey tin spoil if it's introduced to moisture. Still, contrary to popular belief, just because a jar of honey crystallizes doesn't hateful information technology'due south gone bad. The grainy texture is caused by glucose molecules as they dissever from h2o.

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