I generally look for expiration dates in the dairy and meat cases in the grocery store. I'm also careful with the same when I remove a product from the refrigerator before use.

I'm not as careful buying canned, bottled and boxed goods and even worse when removing an item from the cupboard/pantry before serving or using.

The night before last, Mrs BamaVol couldn't find her preferred salad dressing (Ken's Steakhouse Lite Vidalia Onion) in the fridge. So, she went to the pantry where the overstock is kept. She looked at the date and said it was expired. Then she went through the jumble of bottles on that particular shelf and found most of our stock was past its "use by" date. Oldest items were three and a half years past! Typical bottle/jar of dressing, barbeque sauce or pickles was six to eighteen months past! I don't think it's been six months since I purchased any of these and suspect I've been played a fool by the local Winn Dixie. My first weekend project is to search their shelves, fill a shopping cart, and present them to the store manager. My second is to repeat the process a couple days later, assuming they will be restocked. I wonder what project number 3 should be?

Some things yes but milk, cheese and yogurt - never. Always check first.

Just checked my overstock shelf. Our pickles expired in July 05. They still taste great!!!

If they are preserved and they don't smell bad I really wouldn't care too much.

No, especially if it's dairy, meat, and bread.
Even if it's jarred, canned or packaged, I still check it, because I know that once it's been opened, it won't take long at all for it to go bad.

I never ignore...but am perhaps overly neurotic when it comes to such matters. That reminds me that I need to review my stash when I get home.

The worst is dried spice. They really won't hurt you, but that's one thing people keep WAY too long. My dad has bottles in his spice cabinet that really have been there for at least 8 or 9 years, probably much more! I don't think he uses them, but I shudder to think... It's like pouring dirt on your chicken!

That's funny...until last year, my parents' spice rack included things from as far back as when they moved into the house (1970). Finally my mom cleaned it out and got all new ones.

They're not big spice users, as can imagine!

Personally - I'm totally neurotic about milk (it's gone the day after expiration, whether or not it smells bad) and less so about other things. Pickles I would probably keep indefinitely - I mean, after all, isn't the point of pickling something so that it is preserved for a long time?

I'm not meticulous with the spices, but I try and throw away everything from that cupboard every time I move. That's 3 years on average but we've been here almost 5. I have cleaned them out once in that time. It's funny I'm not as careful with the cans, jars and bottles for some reason.

I think it may be partially your fault. Whoever bought them did not check the dates when they bought them. We always check the dates on everything we buy and try to buy the farthest date as we expect some things may sit on our shelf. As you may have guessed these newer items are placed in the back behind all of the older product. Even canned goods that have no dates on them are stocked this way. The stockers place the new product in back. So everyone else is reaching back and grabbing new product and you come along and just grab the first item on the shelf. I am sure some of the product is itended for immediate comsumption and not to sit in the pantry for a year. As far as sauces, seasonings and dressings you will find that most of the items will all have the same date because they probably all came in the same shipment but it is still good to check.

I thought I was pretty clear in identifying myself as the fool. The local WD manager is just the playah. I do think a retailer has a responsibility to remove outdated product from his shelves or identify it as such while offering an incentive to purchase (as well as a disclaimer, I suppose).

I looked over the salad dressing shelf yesterday at lunch and didn't spot anything past its date, but this is not the store I shop regularly. Winn Dixie just emerged from bankruptcy. While operating under BK, the shelves were often less than full and I can imagine not removing expired foods so as not to contribute to the nudity.

I'm pretty sure the oldest items in my pantry were my own doing. After all, if I'm not smart enough to look at the dates when I purchased the product, I'm probably not pulling from the back of my own shelves either.

My wife worked part time as a "merchandiser" for Nabisco for a while. The job was essentially stocking all Nabisco product on the shelves. One of the responsibilities was removing outdated stock. Her co-workers seemed to do a pretty good job, she said she never found anything more than a week or so out of date. I wouldn't be surprised to find that to be true for other products stocked by the vendor, which includes a lot of dry products, and many beverages, including soda, beer, and dairy.

In places with high turnover, like Walmarts, she almost never found outdated stock. OT, but at Walmarts she also found a lot of packaging for CDs, DVDs, and other expensive items (contents removed) behind the stock.

OTOH, items stocked by the store personnel might not be so carefully monitored. My understanding is that would include most canned goods, items where there are only a few products from a specific vendor, and store brands.

I've found Whole Foods to be particularly bad at getting old stuff out of their dairy case (in more than one store), which I find kind of ironic given their marketing.

And I think every store does pull expired goods BUT some may expire in a much shorter time the others. It is your job to make sure you get the newest product particularly if it will sit for months. For large families it may not be an issue since they go through the food so quickly. Product that is just about to expire should also be discounted as well.

I have a hard time trusting supermarkets that pull the old "grind the old grey hamburger inside the new red meat" trick.

I NEVER ignore on food, NEVER.

Stuff like tylenol, I will because seriously, its in a childproof lid, it's got cotton in it, how is it going bad?

Most foods and many meds have usable dates far beyond the expire dates printed on them if reasonably stored. The large McCormick spice company frequently runs ads in mags recommending older spices be discarded (I percieve a profit motive). The US Army tested antibiotic tablets etc 3-5 years old and they tested fine.

MisterNice

I asked a close friend a while back who runs over 125 pharmacies for a large west coast chain, about OTC drugs and expiration dates. He said it should be safe to use anything up to a year after expiration date, even if previously opened.