It’s that time again. You ask, and I pretend to know things and answer your burning questions. It really is so much fun to open my inbox and see the wide variety of questions you guys have. Reminds me that my readers are so diverse and pretty dang awesome. So keep those questions coming and I’ll keep racking my brain for answers. As always, please pipe up if you have any input or are knowledgeable when it comes to any of the following questions:
In my glory days of stocking my pantry with a 3 month rotation of food staples, so I’ve noticed that my family of 6 couldn’t go through what I purchased fast enough. I’ve since stop shopping at Costco because I hate to see tubs of peanut butter, oil, etc be tossed because of the expiration date. Is there a grey area where this food is still safe to eat?
~Emily
Here in the US, our expiration dates and best by dates are a little fast and loose. They are not regulated, and so there is no real standard on how long non-perishables are safe to consume. I know I personally consume them long after the “best by” date, and I have never had a problem. An expiration date doesn’t necessarily mean that food has gone bad, it just means the quality might begin to decline {think texture, color, etc.}, and so food is wasted unnecessarily.
Many companies include the expiration dates on their products just to preserve their integrity and reputation for quality. So often times I use my own tests: Smell it. If it smells “off”, toss it. Taste it. If it tastes “off”, toss it. I know, really scientific!
Wanting to know how to do pallet gardening and what kind of pallets that can be used plz? Do you put anything under them before starting to keep grass from growing up through them? Thank you for your help!
~Patsy
Pallet gardening is as easy at it comes. First things first, you want to find the cleanest pallet you can, preferably from a known source. Places that don’t store chemicals of any kind are ideal. You want heat treated pallets, rather than chemical treated pallets. Heat treated pallets usually have a nifty stamped “HT” on the side.
If you plan on going vertical with your pallets, you’ll want to get some landscape fabric and staple/nail it to the back, sides, and bottom of the pallet. That way, you won’t lose your soil when you stand it upright. If you are leaning it up against the house, you’ll also want to add a layer of plastic to the back to protect your siding from water. Otherwise, you won’t need anything under them.
Mavis, been reading your blog for years. Love it and the pics of Lucy. We look for them every time. Have you ever seen something like THIS from IKEA? It looks like a great solution to people who have limited space. I think I would just make one square – but the idea of being able to walk on the inside is super! Thanks again for your great ideas and bits of wisdom. Oh, and enjoy your visit over here on the East Coast. Glad to have ya.
~Dawn
Ohmygosh, that is AMAZING! I want one! Here’s the thing though, if it’s from IKEA, we can probably assume that a project that size will take a solid year to assemble using typical IKEA instructions. But seeing how awesome the end product is, it might be totally worth it. Good find!
The last few times I have posted comments, they never show up. Any idea why?
~Kari
Because there are so many crazy people lurking on the web, I have my spam filter set to an extreme level. Because of that, sometimes completely acceptable comments get flagged. Also, any comment that contains a link has to be approved as well. I go in multiple times a day to approve them, but sometimes they’ll be pending for awhile until I get to them. So if you post a comment, just know that it might not show up immediately, but I will get to it!
What boots are you wearing in the recent picture of you with the free chair? I have been searching for a pair of warm boots and it is so hard when you can’t try them on. I tried a pair of Sorel Joan of Arctic (they were out of the next size up). I know you love LL Bean boots and I am curious what you ended up with.
~Carrie
They are SOREL Women’s Tofino Boot in red. Sadly they no longer come in that color, which really is a shame because I love them and I suspect you would, too.
Have a question for me? Submit them HERE and I’ll try to answer them.
~Mavis
KC says
Re: expiration dates, I totally agree *but* my parents have repeatedly given themselves food poisoning from really-expired things, so that’s worth taking into consideration as well – things don’t always smell/taste “off” enough. As a separate issue, I’ve occasionally been “counting on” something in the pantry to serve as an ingredient for dinner, only to find that the smell test flunks it (I’ve had seasons of not going through enough oil to keep up with rancidity, for instance – now oil lives in the fridge to extend its lifespan 🙂 ) and then I’m scrambling for a replacement option. So part of it depends on your risk tolerance of various kinds… and whether you can remember to check all your ingredients *before* starting a recipe.
If you’re feeding people (either your family or in a potluck sort of setting), then also take into account their risk tolerance – anyone have health issues causing low immunity? Really don’t chance it with any ingredients with the potential for causing food poisoning; it’s not fair to them.
There are, however, more risky and less risky foods (full-sugar jam is unlikely to ever entirely die, for instance; it’ll get less flavorful and less brightly colored, but if it’s mostly sugar and acid, it’s probably still edible years later; low-sugar high-fruit jams or fruit butters are more dicey; etc.), and reading up a bit on restaurant food safety guidelines and on what foods are safe to do open-bath canning with vs. what foods need to be pressure-canned will give you a rough but quick idea of what things are really good breeding grounds for the bad kind of bacteria. (highly acidic or highly salty or heavily sugared things are safer than things without those preservatives at a neutral pH, for instance)
I also tend to take into account the general length of expiration date; if the food is listed as still being good for a year after being purchased, then eh, a year and a half, odds are it’s probably fine. If the food is only listed as being good for a month after being packaged, then I’m definitely not stretching that expiration date by six additional months, though!
I also pay attention to whether the language is “best before” or “use or freeze by” or “discard after” – best before has seemed to be the stretchiest of the categories. Obviously, companies do not want lawsuits, so they are conservative with food safety and expiration dates; the question then is exactly how much of that risk that *they* don’t want to assume is acceptable to you. 🙂 Good luck!
Beth rankin says
As a food processor preserving local farms’ surplus by canning and dehydrating I agree. I am supposed to put some kind of “ending” date on the food but there are no regulations about what to call it or how long that time should be. With my products all being self safe I use “best by” and date it 13 months out. It’s safe well after as long as the seal is undisturbed by quality may decline.
Terri David says
Years ago I saw a story on 60 Minutes or some similar show about how supermarkets take eggs and ice cream that are past their expiration date and just put a new one on. Buyer beware.