Out of date food ??

[Lostinspace]

Quick question.

Around the house I have several items that are the past sell date. Today I had some leftover taco meat,not too left over, so I decided to use it in some Zatarains rice mix, the hot stuff. The Zatarains was 3 years past the sell by date.

I cooked the rice like I have a hundred times before. The rice never absorbed the water and did not fluff up. It was kinda semi-soft. I ate it anyway because I didn't want to waste the half pound left over taco meat.

And of course my question is; does rice go bad as far as cooking up right. I have some other Zat rice, brown I believe that's even older '09 I think. Should I give it a try or throw it out?

 

[rvwandering]

I'd toss it. It sounds like the first box didn't taste very good. The second box might be worse! :-D Don't make yourself sick.

We have a fulltiming friend who has a motorhome with way too much storage. She cleaned everything out one day and found some old corn bread mix, baked it and her husband who will eat anything refused to eat it. She even admitted that it tasted awful. I think that mixes go bad because of all the different ingredients.

Take a look at this site - http://www.stilltasty.com/ It says that brown rice goes bad fast because it has a high oil content.

 

[PastTense]

Here is a good site on that topic:
http://www.eatbydate.com/

 

[jeanontheroad]

Oh my gosh, Lost, you like to live dangerously. If it's out of date or questionable in any way, get rid of it. The few bucks you spent on it isn't worth getting sick over. Why are you hoarding that staff anyway? Even if it doesn't make you sick, the quality and nutritional value will be degraded. That really is a waste.

 

[Lostinspace]

Well it mostly was just in the pantry and my tastes had changed enough to not use it. Out of sight , out of mind kind of thing. I have stuff in the freezer I need to clean out too. Mostly old vegi stir fry combinations.

I guess that's a job for today. I can use the space.

Thanks all for the response.

 

[LeeRevell]

Properly stored white rice will last a decade or more. But brown rice, or the 'rice meals' with flavoring, that's questionable. The additions often have oils, that will go rancid with time.
Non-acidic canned goods (most non-tomato veggies) will last a long time too.
Salt and sugar will last forever - but might become a hard brick if exposed to humidity.

Go to a good prepper forum to learn about proper storage of foods for long term.
Dried meat can go long, but the convenient foil pouches, maybe a year at best.

 

[Ella1]

Lostinspace wrote: "it mostly was just in the pantry and my tastes had changed enough to not use it. Out of sight , out of mind kind of thing."

Me, too. When digging out camping stuff for the upcoming trip I found several boxes and pouches of out of date foods, and decided to toss it due to oils. And previously I didn't throw out anything, lol! I also found stuff that should have been in the kitchen all this time, and more stuff to take along.
Pass that aged stuff on to the garbage man and claim your good in return!
Ella1

 

[highdesertranger]

I find that the preflavored type stuff will go bad faster after the use by date, then the nonflavored version. for rice I like the Uncle Bens, it was developed during wwII, for a long shelf life and resistance to bugs. highdesertranger

 

[mockturtle]

I like this web site:  Still Tasty