Cut the Old Food Out of Your Fridge

It can kill you.  And if it doesn’t, it’ll give you wicked food poisoning.  

What is the reason for this rant, you ask?  Salsa.  OLD salsa.  I mistakenly thought it was “okay” and ate it with my chimichanga on Tuesday.  A few hours later I was SORRY.  REALLY sorry.   I was miserable and missed two days from work. 

All of that got me wondering about how long we should leave opened bottles of Pace Picante Sauce in the fridge.  Among other things.  I know that food I prepare myself should stay in the fridge no longer than 4 days before it goes in the trash.  But what about all that preservative-laden stuff I’m currently trying to get rid of?  (Yes.  I’m eating it.  I don’t want to waste it. )  So I did what every person of the 21^st Century does.  I Googled it. 

I found this article that gives a pretty good idea of time frames on how long we should leave certain things in the fridge.  But it wasn’t enough, really.  It says that pasta sauce lasts 5 days after being opened.  Does salsa fall in the same category as pasta sauce?  I want to know about PRESERVATIVE-LADEN foods. They do have a shelf life; I get that.  But what about that expiration date?  Does that mean on the shelf, before it’s opened?  Or in the fridge AFTER it’s opened?  Does that expiration date mean you should eat it BEFORE?  Or is that really a guideline?  You know… like the pirate code that nearly screwed Johnny Depp out of the Black Pearl?  I’m just sayin’…

So that brought my search to THIS article on WebMD.  This article states that the expiration date is the “eat by” date.  The “sell by” date is another story altogether, and the two should not be confused.  To make matters worse, most items have “sell by” rather than “expiration” stamped on them somewhere.   There are other pesky things on packaging that don’t really help us much… such as “best if used by” and “pack” dates.   The article goes on to talk about other things with expiration dates like drugs and condoms, but since the main crux of my search was focused on food items, I skimmed over these sections. 

I read other items that pretty much say the same thing.  These “dates” they put on our food are guidelines.  Just like I thought.  What have I learned from all of this, you ask?  I need to look at dates on packaging and be more vigilant about what I put in my body.  Hopefully, once I get all the food-flavored preservatives out of my house, I’ll not have to worry about such things.  

Wish me luck.