We’re all guilty of letting our 3-week-old Chinese takeout sit in the fridge for a little too long. Before we know it, it’s time to toss that takeout, and anything else that’s been growing in our fridge.
We don’t stop at the moldy food, either. We go crazy and start throwing any and everything away. Almost like we just can’t bear to look at it anymore.
Gif courtesy of buzzfeed.com
Well, guess what? We are tossing aside way more expired food than we need to, but you knew that already. And believe it or not, some of that expired food is actually still okay to eat.
Thanks to a group of foodie researchers with some strong stomachs, we now actually know how long our most common foods last past the expiration date.
Those eggs that say expired a week ago are actually good for almost another month. No bad eggs over here.
Gif courtesy of tumblr.com
The beer sitting in the back of your fridge from the party you threw six months ago, you can still drink that. It’s got at least another six months to a year before it actually goes bad. Score.
Gif courtesy of giphy.com
The printed dates on our food aren’t accurate all the time. Expiration dates aren’t regulated by the FDA and don’t always refer to their food safety protocols. The sell by dates are put on food to make the manufacturers look good and to protect their reputation, not because it can give you a foodborne illness.
The folks over at Thrillist put together an awesome infographic of some foods that we can stop throwing away so soon. The most shocking one on the list, in our opinion, is the inclusion of Nutella. Who ever has a jar of that crack past a week?
Photo courtesy of thrillist.com
Think how much money we could be saving by not throwing away food every time it nears an expiration date. Pesto and deli meat aren’t always the cheapest items, so it’s good to know we’ve got a few extra days to get our grub on.
In need of more food storage tips: