Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Expiration Date

This might be a somewhat random entry but here we go.

Just a moment ago I put down my tired little man in hopes that he will take at least a 3 hour nap(please Lord, pleeeeaaaassse)and then wandered into the kitchen to finally make lunch for myself. It is almost 2 o'clock.

So, I decided to kick it old school and make english muffin pizzas because it is somewhat low maintenance. As I was getting the cheese out I checked the expiration date and it said 1/22/10. And I thought "No way", chunked it in the trash and got out a fresh bag.

Then it hit me. I bet you can tell a lot about people in how they respond to expiration dates. For some such as myself it is a hard rule. If it's past the date you can bet I won't be using it. My husband on the other hand, will cut mold off of cheese and still use it. ughhhh

Side note. This reminds me of a story from a few months ago to further support my point. We had a bunch of people over for dinner one night in the fall and Blake made his famous bar-b-que chicken. Well we had a bunch left over and put it in the fridge. NINE days later my hubby decides to make dinner with "left overs". What does he make? Chicken Tacos. Technically Bar-b-que Chicken Tacos. My judgement was surely impaired. I was in a moment of weakness. . . ecstatic that I didn't have to cook dinner. That dinner probably cost us $10 in toilet paper when it was all said and done. And since then I don't do "left overs" revamped by my dear hubby.

So anyway, as I thought more about expiration dates I realized that I am not a fly by the seat of my pants kinda girl. I'm pretty cautious and not much of a risk taker. I've become better over the years but I'm not there yet. With expiration dates I think to myself "That's there for a reason, and I'm not gonna make myself sick for nothing". My hubby is more "relaxed" about that stuff, though "relaxed" may not be the word I would choose. Maybe. . . stubborn. Who said that? :)

Anyway, what do you think about expiration dates? Are you a straight laced kinda person or do you think of them more as a guideline?

8 comments:

  1. Woah! This sounds like me and my hubby! :p I am very much straight laced when it comes to expiration dates.. where as Ray, he doesn't care.

    While we were dating (long distance dating), Ray would take leftovers from a restaurant and put them in his car on one weekend.. And when I would come back to visit the next weekend they would still be there. If I tried to throw it out, Ray would stop me and say "No no.. I'm going to eat that!" This was after it sitting in his car (in July!!) for a week!! Sooo gross! I finally broke him of that habit but he still doesn't follow expiration guidelines :/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, I take expiration dates seriously and won't even eat left overs. Period. But, I'm a rule follower by nature and am uptight about most things. Since being married to Seth (and having kids) I have RELAXED tremendously.... his easy-going nature has rubbed off a little. Which, is a good thing for everyone involved. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think it may be a gender thing. I am very strict on epiration dates...as my dear hubby is related to yours...we both know how he feels about left overs and expiration dates. It could be in the fridge for a month and he would still think it was perfectly fine to eat! Where I only do left overs about one day old then its straight to the trash.

    Ok, that was WAY too long!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is the first time I've realized you have a blog Michelle! Yay for blogging! I'm so relaxed about expiration dates I'm starting to think I'm living in the wrong gender! I think Mark is more strict than I am! I'm careful and I smell stuff...but I think after living in Britain where the expiration dates are ridiculously strict, and I ate stuff past its date all the time and was fine, I think I've decided to use my own judgment instead. Nine day old barbecue chicken though... I don't think I'd go that far. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. First off - this was hilarious!! I have to agree with you though - I am a rule follower to the core, so I throw things out one day after it expires and occasionally will eat left overs, but only one day after. My husband on the other hand, sounds like everyone elses! He could care less! The other day he used whipping cream that expired in October - ugh:(

    ReplyDelete
  6. I follow expiration dates rather strictly especially when it comes to milk (I won't drink it if it's within 2 days before the date!). I do eat left overs though, which I am usually really strict about (have to be eaten within a couple days), but occasionally I keep food at Jarvis UMC in the industrial fridge and I'll eat it almost 2 weeks later. I guess I really just go by smell and looks.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Daniel is more stringent than I. He hates it when I leave the milk out on the counter. Which, I confess, I do quite often. When it comes to other foods, I sometimes feel if you can cook it really hot again, you will kill all of the bad bacteria. :o)Smelly milk-- in the trash. >25% of the chesse molded--trash. I do think companies put exp dates on products so we will buy more, faster, so I try to be judicious.

    ReplyDelete
  8. ha ha ha! I love the comments! It's great to hear other peoples experiences, some of them are quit funny!
    Hannah-Blake read your comment and said he wouldn't even do what Ray did! lol

    ReplyDelete