I’m sure it’s not just me. While cleaning my store cupboard last week it revealed several items which had outstayed their welcome by some considerable time. I am sure this has happened to you too, you know when you buy a specific spice or ingredient for some exotic recipe you’re trying out then many moons later you find it sitting in the back of the cupboard well out of date, a shadow of its former delicious glory.
Funny that it never seems that long ago, but the written truth on the side of the bottle tells you that you had that dinner over 5 years ago…but no way could it have been that long, I remember making that meal and the evening that went with it and that feels like it was only a few months ago, certainly not years!
There are some things in my cupboard which I am always running out of, stalwarts such as cumin, dried oregano and basil, but this week it was Ras el Hanout that I discovered had been cheating death in my kitchen. I must have totally missed it several times as I had a much newer and unopened pack.
I do clean out and purge my cupboards fairly regularly so this item was a bit of a mystery as the expiry date was 2007. Now although in the big scheme of things that sounds very recent it is 5 years old and if you think when I bought it there would have been at least a year on it so I’m guessing its been living there for 6-7 years.
It got me a bit flustered and I started to double check other products, when on earth was the last time I used that wholemeal flour? I don’t remember making Indonesian for a while what’s the date on the sambal oelek?
After reassuring myself that the cupboard was fully up to date and in order, I started get a bit more relaxed and happy. Then oh no I thought…the freezer! I had to check it out immediately. Everything seemed fine until in the third draw down, there they where. Two different foodstuffs, homemade dinners of course, in separate plastic boxes but I had been clever enough to not put a single mark on them. I couldn’t tell you what was in them let alone how long they had been in existence!
As a man I pride myself on being right even though the evidence would suggest otherwise. When I put those meals in the freezer I knew exactly what they were and the date on that day. I am pretty sure I would have said to myself I’ll eat them next week. But oh how those weeks fly by!
It got me to thinking how inefficient my system of freezing is and I have challenged myself to make sure if it’s good enough to keep it must have a date and description before I even look at the freezer.
The spice issue is a little more tricky and I have been trying to come up with a new website were people can share and swap their spices, the logistics are a little tricky though. Perhaps I should open a small retail unit or “spice hub” as I’m calling it where unloved and unwanted spices can live again in another more sympathetic kitchen. But I suppose it will never take off and again one day I will find a spice which will catch me out again.
So can you beat my 5 year out of date store cupboard record? Go have a look you might surprise yourself!
Latest posts by The Food Curator (see all)
- 70 Years of Wimpy - June 25, 2024
- Tindle Is Your New Favourite (Not) Chicken! - April 19, 2023
- Kelly Loves Korean Variety Box Review - October 13, 2022
Ah yes, the unidentifiable foodstuffs in the freezer. I have a drawer full of it, just in case one day I remember.
Also in the freezer is the contents of my mothers freezer, I am looking after it while she moves. The thing is, she moved 6 years ago and I still have it. I think it’s safe to say she doesn’t want it back now, so I might just bin it. Although that could be dangerous, I have two freezers, I demanded the 2nd one when we had no room in the first one…
@SarahArrow Ahhh maybe that’s the secret, 2 freezers! Maybe I should get another cupboard too 😉
Ahhh so that’s the secret, 2 freezers! Maybe I should get another cupboard too 😉
Ahhh so that’s the secret, 2 freezers! Maybe I should get another cupboard too
My issue is making more food to deliberately freeze and then eating it all…and the spice thing is a hazzard but I am from my mums school of thought, unless it smells off it is okay to use 😉
I discovered THREE open boxes of corn meal over the weekend. I know I inherited one when my neighbor passed, how long she had it, I don’t know, but she was well over 80 so I guess I’d better take a close look at the box!