I am pretty hard-set on expiration dates, but with my eating habits, most things go past their due date before I even get around to 'em, in my fridge.
I am wondering how long things like frozen foods or eggs can be good for. My roomie boils all the eggs if they get close to expiring, I on the other hand, chuck everything out. I find I throw more food out than I eat. :-/
We should have smaller loaves of bread.
Buy pizza by the slice. Will probably be a lot cheaper in the long run.
keep OJ two months past expiry date, and drink up. awesome punch.
Always count on you two to come up with the best advice.
buhut shukriya
Re: Expiration dates..
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by hayaa: *
I am pretty hard-set on expiration dates, but with my eating habits, most things go past their due date before I even get around to 'em, in my fridge.
I am wondering how long things like frozen foods or eggs can be good for. My roomie boils all the eggs if they get close to expiring, I on the other hand, chuck everything out. I find I throw more food out than I eat. :-/
We should have smaller loaves of bread.
[/QUOTE]
I hear ya, its happened with me since i'm the one in the house with a discerning taste for food. no one else eats it. i've found that its better to prioritize what i like and buy that first then next week do the other delicacies later. the foods that i eat often are bought more so than any other. the rest of the food either gets fed to the squirrels or birds or processed for recycling for the racoons.
Tell me about it !!!
Right now i have half of a half of gallon of expired milk sitting in my fridge sigh I better drink up the orange juice before it expires too. And them loaves of bread NEVER finish. I mean how much bread can you possibly eat with it's expiration date being just a few days. :-/
You know what guys... its much better to throw it out, rather than throw it in. Meaning, if you don't want to drink it or eat it (cz you are full or have no appetite) than its better to throw it away than to put it in your body. I think its also one of the hadith, though I am not 100% sure. Just thought to add another 2 cent, cz Shahzadi Saheba so summararily dismissed the earlier excellent suggestion.
Exactly, expiry dates are there for a reason. If it's expired, throw it out.
expiry dates are kinda ll over the map, with stuff liek chocolates or chips, which are processed and sealed if it goes beyond expiry date, in most cases theya re stil good. stuff like bread, and milk and meat on the other hand are a whole diff issue, meat especially. I buy from this zabeeha place which i trust but for large grocey stores they have been accused of changing the expiration dates on meat. look it up on the net big controversy about that, so etter finish it way before expiry date.
Other point is, if something expires on the 6th, is it still good on the 5th? manufacturers will tell u that its even good on 6th but starts deteriorating after that. depends on the type of product.
here is a point to ponder. if you buy fruits, and they are fine thursday and saturday they go bad.. do you ever wonder what all exactly did you eat on thursday? last year every damn time i bought strawberries, they went bad within a few days of buying. Finally got fed up and got frozen ones because of the question of if it has mold on it saturday, it probably had spores in it thursday just not visible to the naked eye.
i hear ya hayaa
mere saath bhee yahee masla hae 
in fact i think all ppl who live away from family here in amreeka must have this prob…
sigh
life is so much easier in pak when there r always so many ppl u could give the extra food to…
jab se amreeka aayi hoon sometimes i get surprised at myself and even hecka guilty how easy it has become to just chuck away a whole big bottle of milk or fruits or veggies etc gone bad…and how easily i let them just go bad
pakistan mein toh jab doodh wala doodh de ker jata hae lifafay mein toh doodh ko haandi mein daalnay ke baad theley mein thora saa paani daal ke hila ke woh paani bhee doodh mein shaamil ker lete hayn ke ye doodh waste na ho jayay…
khayr…
i dont ever eat expired foods in america b/c yahaan pata naheen kon kon se chemicals daaltay hayn yeh log khanay mein…injected hormones and fertilizers and pata naheen kya kya chemicals shemicals bala…
i feel like the food here doesnt go thru a natural process of going bad but some aritificial chemical process…and who knows what the resultant chemicals are…
like for example..pakistan mein jab doodh kharaab ho jata hae toh khoya bana lete hayn par yahaan par jab doodh kharaab hota hae toh have u noticed it becomes so weird and it tastes hecka weird like something artificial… 
so i dont usually eat expired foods here…meri eik friend chemistry mein phd ker rahi hae she also told me ke in the usa we shudnt eat expired foods ye log pata naheen kya kya daalte hayn apnay khanon mein…
so i recommend to u too to stay away from em :k:
buy less.
or eat more & finish the food before it expires.
Eggs: Buy half dozen packs - available in the USA
Loaf of Bread: Buy from bakery inside the grocery store. Pick up a small loaf and ask for it to be sliced.
Milk: Come on, milk comes in sizes ranging from 1 pint to a gallon. Why not buy a quartz.
Tell me this, do the cow's tip 'em off while they are milking it, when will this expire? I don't think so! So, just keep drinking until you can taste the difference. :)
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by ahmadjee: *
Tell me this, do the cow's tip 'em off while they are milking it, when will this expire? I don't think so! So, just keep drinking until you can taste the difference. :)
[/QUOTE]
agreed. You can see, smell or taste when food is off, no need to look at dates. I've never bothered and it's never done me any harm.
I don't like throwing things away and tend to cook less and don't like to do bulk buying. Just buy something whenever you need it. Unfortunately, it's difficult when you are student and/or living on your own but compromises can be made to avoid throwing food.
I agree that bread should be sold in slices and it shouldn't have the first and the last slice attached to it.
Milk in the US nearly always expires *exactly *on the stated date.
Coca Cola tho… I don’t know if I can trust their expiration date or not.
See this site for tips:
Refrigeration:
Eggs - 4 to 5 weeks
Fish - 1 to 2 days
Ground Meat - 1 to 2 days
Poultry - 1 to 2 days
Steak - 3 to 5 days
Cottage Cheese - 2 weeks
Grated Parmesan - 12 months
Swiss Cheese - 3 to 6 months
Processed American Cheese - 8 months
Shelf Life:
Crackers - 3 months
Plain Bread - 15 days
Oatmeal - 12 months
Instant Cereal - 2 to 3 months
Pasta - 24 months
White Rice - 24 months
Brown Rice - 6 months
Bananas - 3 to 6 days
Apples - 6 months
Onions - 2 weeks
Potatoes - 4 weeks
Yellow Mustard - 6 to 8 months
Ketchup - 24 months
Mayonnaise - 3 to 4 months
Jams & Jellies - 18 months
Salad Dressings - 3 months
The site also states:
Keep food away from sunlight. Store things in dry, cool places. Remember that salted products, like butter, last longer. Brown rice spoils faster than white rice. Eggs should not be stored on refrigerator doors because doors are always warmer than the inside of the fridge. Use potassium permanganate pouches in refrigerators, like Green’s Extra Life cartridges, to keep fruits and vegetables fresher. Refrigerate bread to increase shelf life. Bananas should be refrigerated after they have ripened. Even though some foods like peanut butter don’t indicate that they should be refrigerated, storing them in the fridge will increase shelf life and maintain flavor. Meat lasts longer when cooked. Cereals and rice spoil faster when prepared. Buy food in smaller quantities. Tightly wrap food when storing in a freezer to prevent freezer burn.
Eggs, bread, meat, and mayo are usually the most neglected comestibles in a man’s kitchen, but they need not be. Simple tips like buying in smaller quantities and keeping track of expiration dates can easily prevent “gross encounters.”
Hayaa, out of bread that is close to expiration, make breadcrumbs (toast and minutely crumble), and store for upto 2 months for breading chicken etc.., or make and store Shahi Tukrey - Bread Halva (for upto 1 week). It's ideal for bread going stale.
So I'm not the only one. I never have a problem with milk or juice, I usually only go to the grocery store to buy more of these. Other than that, my grocery store is at home. grins I do all my shopping in my own kitchen. Hence, there is the added advantage of bringing back a half a loaf of bread which still goes bad or two bananas etc. But my mom always always sneaks extra food in my stuff..which I end up throwing away.
Apples can last up to 6 months? eek, I throw them out after two weeks because I get all paranoid.. My problem is exactly with foods like fruits, cheese, the pack of EIGHT buns, etc. If I were to taste to set my own expiry dates, I would never eat again. I've had the fortune of smelling milk gone bad and I was turned off it for weeks! ugh.
Ana, that's not a bad idea. :)
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Ana: *
Shahi Tukrey - Bread Halva (for upto 1 week). It's ideal for bread going stale.
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can we have a recipe for Shahi tukray and bread halwa? I don't need it just now but would love to have it when i m back