A New Tradition is Born

It all started with a simple bottle of Shiner Bock. One that I’m pretty sure I saw down in the crisper at Angela’s parent’s house last year. At the urging of her father, I took my chances and tried it, but… it was well beyond the skunky stage.

Later, I had some stale crackers and started to think I might be on to something. It dawned on me that some of these things may have been purchased specifically for my enjoyment – just not this year.

Even though we’ve endured some pretty adventurous dining over the past year of travel, we decided to investigate further.

With permission, we started in the pantry. For some reason, I thought canned goods could last through the apocalypse. Apparently not.

April 2003.  Expired over 7 years ago. Beat that.

The shelf life of unopened Campbell canned products varies from 1 to 2 years. In order to experience optimal color, flavor, aroma and texture the product should be consumed prior to the end of the month and year displayed on the product.
-Campbells

After filling up an entire trash can of expired products, we were done. Although it’s probably rude to inventory and critique your in-law’s pantry (and post it online), I think we did the right thing. At least we all had a good laugh.

Anyway, I think we may now have a new holiday tradition.

So, if you happen to be visiting your folks over the holidays, you may want to take a peek in the pantry before the cooking begins.

Oh, and I’m also happy to report that I finally finished that bottle of shampoo that has been in the guest bath for more than a decade. No expiration date on that one.

4 thoughts on “A New Tradition is Born

  • December 9, 2010 at 3:29 PM
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    I’m glad to see this happens in other families. One year at my mom’s house for the holidays I poured myself a Pepsi, and nearly gagged at the staleness. Checked the expiration date – three years old. My sister and I then went on a pantry hunt and died laughing at the expiration dates we found. Nice find on the seven year old soup!
    (what do you think the expiration date would be on canned beer?)

  • December 9, 2010 at 4:51 PM
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    I forgot to mention it, but we also tasted some over-ripe sodas as well. For some reason, the old 2-liter plastic bottles caved in over time.

    As for beer – it’s definitely perishable. I hear somewhere between 90-180 days after the brewing date is the ideal limit.

    In Central America, there are no dates on anything. It must not ever go bad 😉

  • December 10, 2010 at 10:30 PM
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    Oh! WHen cleaning out my Dad’s apartment years ago Robin and I found something I didn’t even know existed:

    A whole chicken.
    In a tall skinny can.
    Well past its expiration date.

    Couldn’t get up the nerve to open it!

  • December 17, 2010 at 1:29 PM
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    Hysterical!!! We did the same thing recently when my pack rat mother in law re-did her kitchen this summer.. We found a cake mix from 1980!!! I think, with your blessing, we’ll start on the downstairs pantry this holiday season (yes, the woman has TWO pantries full of old crap!). Wish us luck.

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