I understand in some cases it may be wasteful, but I’m super strict about expiration dates. Food poisoning is truly awful, and I don’t fuck around. All that barfing, shidding, and farding.
It is wasteful, the expiration date is very conservative. You can push it 20% or more for sealed, correctly stored items. Just check for signs of rot or mold. Food waste is a serious problem in first and second world countries.
The risk is worth it, I will probably never get food poisoning (as long as I’m careful when foraging) and I’m healthy overall so my body would take it well. I can’t imagine store-bought food pushed to less than +50% of its shelf life with no signs of decay will do permanent harm. I guess a week off work can be a problem if you’re in America? I feed old food to chickens instead if it goes stale or unappetizing so I never really waste any anyway.
Depends on a lot of factors. When I consider grocery prices in the Czech Republic, our food safety standards, sick leave conditions and healthcare costs, I’d say I might get food poisoning 0-2 times in my life for $25 each while saving at least $30 per year.
If it’s meat, I typically follow that advice, though they make the expiration dates otherwise super difficult to find (if at all) and I usually find out in hindsight, and so over time, I have become used to just not thinking of the expiration dates unless an actual issue. I was with some friends the other day and they were amazed I was eating a nutrient bar that was almost a year past the date (still waiting for the side effects, which in a way surprises me as that would be my answer). Usually for them, once the expiration date comes, they just throw a thing outside for the animals (which I do very infrequently; typically I employ foods I don’t trust as art materials as I discovered it helps that hobby).
I understand in some cases it may be wasteful, but I’m super strict about expiration dates. Food poisoning is truly awful, and I don’t fuck around. All that barfing, shidding, and farding.
It is wasteful, the expiration date is very conservative. You can push it 20% or more for sealed, correctly stored items. Just check for signs of rot or mold. Food waste is a serious problem in first and second world countries.
No thanks.
The risk is worth it, I will probably never get food poisoning (as long as I’m careful when foraging) and I’m healthy overall so my body would take it well. I can’t imagine store-bought food pushed to less than +50% of its shelf life with no signs of decay will do permanent harm. I guess a week off work can be a problem if you’re in America? I feed old food to chickens instead if it goes stale or unappetizing so I never really waste any anyway.
I’m not discouraging you or any one else to be more flexible about them, I’m just saying I have my limitations on the matter.
Which is cheaper — composting food after its expiration date, or the copay at the doctors office when you get food poisoning?
Depends on a lot of factors. When I consider grocery prices in the Czech Republic, our food safety standards, sick leave conditions and healthcare costs, I’d say I might get food poisoning 0-2 times in my life for $25 each while saving at least $30 per year.
You go to the doctor for food poisoning? What are they gonna do besides tell you that you have food poisoning and send you home?
If it’s meat, I typically follow that advice, though they make the expiration dates otherwise super difficult to find (if at all) and I usually find out in hindsight, and so over time, I have become used to just not thinking of the expiration dates unless an actual issue. I was with some friends the other day and they were amazed I was eating a nutrient bar that was almost a year past the date (still waiting for the side effects, which in a way surprises me as that would be my answer). Usually for them, once the expiration date comes, they just throw a thing outside for the animals (which I do very infrequently; typically I employ foods I don’t trust as art materials as I discovered it helps that hobby).