Need help, please - expired food. Been there, done that?

C

colleenmomof2

Well-known member
My dad and I are packing up the house - slowly. He has recently moved into senior housing and is not interested in the remaining food at home. Most everything is expired, some by several years. You should see the jars in the fridge!

Mom loved soup so there are lots of cans of beans and veggies. I've made some calls and local food banks/soup kitchens are not interested. I know that I can open the cans, dump the contents and recycle the cans but I wondered if anyone here has a more creative suggestion.

I have never composted (extensively - I have recycled coffee grounds, eggs shells and the occasional veggie peeling) but I understand that I can dig a pit and use the veggies (from the blender, maybe) along with other composting materials. Have you done this?

Any other ideas, please? Colleen

 
This may not be what you want to hear, but I would just ...

trash it all and use the time would would spend opening cans and getting rid of putrid, spoiled food with your dad!

 
Most properly (commercially) canned foods are perfectly edible and safe long after...

...the expiration dates. The only degradation occurs in the nutritional content.

Expiration dates are voluntary in most cases, and not government mandated. The nutritional content on the label (which IS government mandated) has to be in the can until the expiration date. After that, the canner is not held responsible.

Bottom line is this: most of what you are throwing away is perfectly good food. If the can is not swollen or of a foul odor, etc., the food is fine. Heat as usual.

If you choose not to eat it, then I'd just throw the food out. Debbie has a point.

Michael

 
I'm fanatical about composting and recycling, so I would dig a hole, (at least 18")

empty the contents of the jars and suspect cans, refill the hole and recycle the containers.

This is what I do with kitchen waste that is too potent for the above-ground compost pile--ie bones from stock, grease, bad cheese, etc.

If you want to start an ongoing compost operation, dig a larger hole and layer in dry brown stuff like dried leaves, wood chips, sawdust, shredded paper, etc, with wet green things like your veggie scraps, grass clippings, green weeds, etc. You can also do it in a bin or a pile.

Other guys spend time golfing, organizing their garage or maintaining their boat. This is what I do for fun, lol. I like keeping waste out of landfills.

But I agree with Michael that the canned goods are probably still safe.

 
I've seen expired unopened food offered many times on www.freecycle.org. It's usually snatched up

within minutes.

 
speaking of expired, I found a packet of yeast marked "01" in Bill's Mom's recipe file. just for

grins I added it to some warm water with a spoon of flour and sugar to see if it could possibly still be alive. It was indeed still Alive and we made the best raisin bread in the bread machine with it. Even breaking all bread machine rules by adding the yeast in the liquid all mixed up and bubbly first. just had a piece toasted with pnut butter. yum!

 
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