Expiration Dates

[Edie]

Well? I'm curious as to how others handle these things.

 

I threw out a tube of Neosporin yesterday because it expired about a year ago -- later on I thought I was succumbing to marketing. I did use it though before I threw it out and I'm not dead yet.

[cryptique]

Neosporin expires?

[Edie]

Apparently. See, if I hadn't read the back of the tube, I never would have known.

[PigSooie]

I'll use drugs when they are expired, but I won't eat food that's even close the expiration date.

[Winston Legthigh]

Milk and meat require the smell test.

 

Drugs? meh. They might lose some potency with age, but it's not as if they suddenly become useless on that magic date.

 

Condoms? throw em out!

[austrya]

I'll use food past the expiration date as long as it looks and smells ok.

 

Medicine and stuff still gets used. If it's a couple years past the expiration date, that's different.

[Duck-Billed Catechist]

Usually drugs just get potentially less effective past their expiration date, I think.

[M. (hristine]

This is an excellent question.

[remphish1]

What about sliced deli meat? How long would you keep something like that? I usually buy on sunday and throw out by friday if it is not used? Am I crazy?

 

As for lets say Milk I will use it slightly past the expiration date if I need it for a ceral and don't feel like going to the store but never more than 2 days max past the date for me!

[plasticeyeball]

i was replying to carlos about antivert for vertigo the other day and i realized it was 4 years to the day that i went to the hospital and later filled that perscription.

 

if i start spinning in my sleep tonight, i will have no problem taking that scrip, even tho it's 3 years expired. i'll bet i have pain meds from the 90's that i would also take if need be.

[myboyblue]

Definitely need to clarify to accurately answer... as far as drugs, I'll take them as long as I have them. Not sure how a capsule can get less effective but they still seem to work for me. Placebo effect? As far as food, it generally depends on what it is. Eggs for instance...they say can go 7 days after the date. Generally speaking, I throw it out.

[bleedorange]

With regards to expiration dates, I operate by one simple adage: "Better safe than sorry."

 

What's a few extra bucks, anyway?

[quarter23cd]

I found a bottle of cherry flavored NyQuil recently that had expired almost a decade ago. I gave it a shot anyway and discovered that time had aged it into something resembling a fine merlot.

 

 

* the merlot part isn't true. it still tasted like NyQuil and still knocked me asleep in 3.7 seconds.

[pillowy star]

I throw out all meat products latest on the expiration date, whilst I still use all milk products at least one week after they've expired. Food poisoning is non-existent in our household so far.

[Guest Moses]

i guess i'm the one person that voted for throwing it out as soon as it expires. i wasn't really thinking about anything other than food when i answered though. i think i'd probably use expired neosporin.

 

but i'll tell you this - don't fuck around with expired milk. if you take that chance, and fail, you will really, really regret it. and you'll probably be cleaning up copias amounts of your own vomit.

[mfwahl]

I found a bottle of cherry flavored NyQuil recently that had expired almost a decade ago. I gave it a shot anyway and discovered that time had aged it into something resembling a fine merlot.

 

 

* the merlot part isn't true. it still tasted like NyQuil and still knocked me asleep in 3.7 seconds.

I just threw up

[Edie]

Definitely need to clarify to accurately answer...

 

Yeah, I started making this poll more complex, but then my interest expired....

[quarter23cd]

I just threw up

Did you drink expired milk?

[Wilco Worshipper]

What about sliced deli meat? How long would you keep something like that? I usually buy on sunday and throw out by friday if it is not used? Am I crazy?

 

 

Nope, not crazy. Just the IDEA of expired deli meat makes me queasy.

 

As far as milk, I am notorious for buying new milk before the old even expires. My kids always ask me why there's still an open gallon and I'm starting a new one. Paranoid, I guess.

 

Meds I usually throw out, especially if it's for the girls.

[uncool2pillow]

I smell milk. If I'm not sure how old leftovers are, I look & smell, then pray.

[yermom]

I usually throw out deli meats and milk/yogurt pretty quickly. The meat will get slimy if it gets old and beyond that, it'll get spotty...ewwwww. (I've forgotten meat in the fridge drawer before and let it get funky.) Some yogurts actually say "Good for 7 days after expiration." on the package. You'd think they'd just put a date seven days later than the one on there? Any kind of dry goods with an expiration date, I'm pretty liberal about...pasta etc.

 

My biggest weird food expiration thing is jarred pasta sauces because you're supposed to use them within a week of opening. I always pull it out of the fridge and then can't remember when it was originally opened but I'm afraid to test it in case there was fuzz growing on it before I shook it around taking it out of the fridge.

[isadorah]

I found a bottle of cherry flavored NyQuil recently that had expired almost a decade ago. I gave it a shot anyway and discovered that time had aged it into something resembling a fine merlot.

 

 

* the merlot part isn't true. it still tasted like NyQuil and still knocked me asleep in 3.7 seconds.

 

 

you should cherish that bottle of NyQuil. they had to change the formula because folks were using it to get high or something. the new stuff sucks! it doesn't even come close to knocking me out now (and I weigh like 100 lbs).

[Good Old Neon]

I watched a 20/20 or 60 Minutes or Primetime type of show about his very subject

[Mrs. Peel]

I need to clarify my answer too, since I was only thinking of food. I don't throw out expired prescriptions because I know they just lose potency over time. But food is another story. I throw it out as soon as it expires. My husband will eat anything in the fridge. If bread is less than 25% mold he'll pick off the moldy bits and eat it anyway.

 

It's funny that you mention this because I was just discussing expiration dates with my mother last night. Has anyone else noticed that the "sell by" date on milk has gone from a week maximum to upwards of a month? What exactly are they doing to the milk that makes it last 3 or 4 times as long as it used to? Does it all have to do with the advent of light safe containers or have they actually changed the milk?

[quarter23cd]

Has anyone else noticed that the "sell by" date on milk has gone from a week maximum to upwards of a month? What exactly are they doing to the milk that makes it last 3 or 4 times as long as it used to? Does it all have to do with the advent of light safe containers or have they actually changed the milk?

Time machines and/or wormholes are involved.