Tuesday, February 22, 2011

The Days of Our Food

This weekend we lived like rock stars and cleaned out our kitchen cabinets. I know, you all wish you were me. Actually, I don't mind the quadrennial cleaning, since it gives Ryan and me time to play the game show that is sweeping the nation: "what food has the oldest expiration date!" This time, our two finalists both came from the soup family.


Obviously we don't eat soup. So, which one was it? Well, the travel soup expired in 2005. And the can?


Yep, that soup EXPIRED in 2004. That means I probably bought it in 2000, which also means it moved from Washington D.C. to Utah with me, and then through three apartments before being stuck in our cabinet. I really wasn't sure if we should throw it out, or throw it a party. Of course, that soup would just be an honorable mention if we included spices. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you parsley flakes from 1996.


How do I know the parsley flakes are from 1996? Because I remember buying them when I moved into my first apartment in D.C., thinking I would make garlic bread. I never did. I just made mummified parsley.

Do you think the Smithsonian takes parsley? Maybe I should keep it around, just in case. If it turns out they don't at least I'll know I have an ace in the hole for the 2015 cabinet clean out...

21 comments:

Stephanie in Suburbia said...

Why do we MOVE this stuff? I cleaned my husband's condo top to bottom before he sold it. Not 6 months ago, I found a can dated before we met. I don't understand!

She Said said...

My father, the hoarder, will have expired (by years) mayo in the fridge. He would assure me he only opened it a few weeks ago and swore it was fine.

Yeah, Domino's was on speed dial on my phone during those visits.

Anonymous said...

Isn't it funny how we "move food" with us? WTF? You moved it with you across the country....

Kim said...

Wow, I am in hoarder awe of you.

Scribe said...

LMAO, Libby! I've done the same thing and am constantly checking expiry dates since I have eaten marshmallow fluff from my grandmother's fridge circa 1980... that woman threw nothing out! And I think I follow in her footsteps.

VEG said...

I was just about to triumphantly say "Oh hell, I DO THAT ALL THE TIME" when I read your dates and well....you trump ME, missy. I had a 2007 can in my cupboard but that's clearly an infant next to your stash. :) I'm impressed.

Riot Kitty said...

That is hilarious! Don't feel too bad. I found some spices left over from a set we got for our wedding in 2005.

G. B. Miller said...

Nice.

Reminds me of my late grandfather. Whenever we let him go home (at this point he was reasonably unable to take care of himself) to check up on things, he would always insist on doing grocery shopping for the house.

After he passed away, the family spent about a week cleaning out his pantry and fridge.

I kid you not, they found meat in the freezer dated at least 5 years prior to the clean out.

Granny Annie said...

It has been a very difficult thing for me to throw out perfectly good food even though we won't eat it ourselves because it has expired. However it is unbelievable the amount of space it takes up in the pantry and yes, we moved some of it here from Kansas. However now I can clear my conscience by feeding this food to my chickens and goats and feel like it is not being wasted.

Chelle said...

Psh. So wasteful. Those theing are probably perfectly fine.

You should donate them to the food bank. The volunteers love it when people give them expired food.

Me, You, or Ellie said...

Oh, I love it. I am in awe. Because the only old thing we had was a can of corned beef hash that was in the cabinet for the years and years we rented out our place furnished while we were on the road. When we finally sold the house and moved everything out, we ate the hash.

It was deee-licious.

Ellie

rockygrace said...

Heck, I didn't even know soup HAD an expiration date. Better go check my cupboards ...

Mandy_Fish said...

I know for a fact I have spices from my first marriage. That marriage ended 9 years ago.

Kelly said...

My husband will throw food away if it's been in the fridge for a week. The stuff in the cupboards, he obviously doesn't get too terrified of.

Mack went on a cleaning binge of the kitchen once when she was grounded and kept calling me all day telling me what expired things she was throwing out, and how gross we were. At least I didn't feed her salmon loaf when she was a child.

Amanda said...

P'shaw
Motivated by your binge, I did a little residential excavation of my own - and unearthed a tin of Old Bay seasoning, purchased by Mom, years before she moved to North Carolina. That baby is culinary RELIC!! It has apparently been with me through at least three houses.

I am sure that if opened, it would be reminiscent of ashes, with a hint of hoarder crazy.

Jen said...

You win. I thought I was going to win, but I read your post and went and checked. My oldest pantry item expired in '04. I moved it with me. I apparantly need more stuff so I don't feel compelled to move old stuff I don't eat.

Phil said...

Wait...soup expires?!!? Uh-oh!

Samantha said...

Oh, this is too awesome. Now I'm determined to go through our cans and beat you. Because I'm fairly certain there's something older than 2004 in there. ;)

Shop Girl said...

Pssshhhh....what's a little botulism in the name of thriftiness. I'm sure its fine.

Three Cats and a Baby said...

I am sending this post to Adam b'c he made a big deal about how we had cans that expired in 2008 in our cupboard when we cleaned it out last weekend. You win!

LL Cool Joe said...

What is it with soup? Whenever we get snowed in, or there's a family illness we buy soup. No one likes it, or eats it, but for some reason we just have to have it.