Near-death experiments in food

[sheddi]

I think we need this thread, even if I'm the only poster!

What: White chocolate macadamia nut CLIF bar
When: BBE 31 Aug 2017, eaten today (I was peckish ...)

I've had old CLIF bars before and they've been edible but kinda hard and dense. This one however was much more palatable. Appearance was great, smell was pleasant and but unremarkable, texture was slightly moist and almost biscuit-like (scone if you prefer British English). A little chewy and with crunchy bits, very pleasant to eat.

If it hadn't been after 6pm with dinner cooking in the oven I'd have happily eaten a second one!




(admin title edit)

[NT2C]

Heinz Savory Beef Gravy.  Had it over egg noodles with chopped up pieces of roast beef added.

[NapalmMan67]

Ironic, I was just thinking about the old thread last night as I opened a jar of Corn Relish from 2009 and had some with dinner.


Still kickin this morning so far...

[Crosscut]

An old friend and his family spent last weekend with us, he loves tinned smoked oysters so I always keep a stash of 'em in our pantry.  Been awhile since we'd seen each other, the Best By date of the next two in rotation was 2013.   We each had a tin, smelled and tasted normal.

[MPMalloy]

I am in the middle of changing all bags & pails over to winter-time.  I sampled a number of snack bars that 2+ yrs OOD.  Zero ill effects.

[EBuff75]

Last week I found a can of Campbell's Chunky Soup lurking in the back of my pantry with a 2012 date on it.  Can was fine, no damage, rust, or bulging.  Opened it and it smelled normal, so I heated it up and tried it.  There was a fairly strong metallic taste to it which was unpleasant and I decided not to risk it and pitched the rest.  No aftereffects from the few spoonfuls that I'd eaten. 

[Moab]

I used to buy trailmix at trader joes. But was always picking things out i didn't like. Like almonds. Hard on my teeth. So i started using trader joes ingredients to make my own.

Cashews.
Peanuts.
Dried cranberries. And dried orange flavor cranberries! The best!
And trader joes no sugar added chocolate bars.

Last month i picked up this list at tjs and noticed when chopping up the chocolate into tiny pieces that it was shattering. I checked the date. And it was expired by a few months. Which is very unusual for tjs. I ate it anyway. And it was fine. Usually the dates are a year out.

Anyway. Posting this more as a recipe than an expired food test. Do yourself a favor and use tjs to make your trailmix. Their nuts and dried fruit are the best quality and cheapest. Also their chocolate. Beats traditional trailmix by a longshot.

[RoneKiln]

I know this thread was traditionally about expiration dates, but I tried something new yesterday.

For some reason I spent my whole life thinking sardines are supposed to be gross. I have no idea where I got that idea.

Recently I was listening to a podcast with a nutrition scientist and they briefly talked about the benefits of sardines. I didn't think too much on it.

Yesterday I stumbled across cans of wild caught sardines in olive oil on a good sale at the store. I started overthinking it, then decided to just go for it and force myself to eat something gross but good for me. Doing hard things make us better right?

Damn these taste good! I have a new favorite travel snack and source of protein and fat. I'm going to go back and stock up.

[sheddi]

Yesterday I stumbled across cans of wild caught sardines in olive oil on a good sale at the store. I started overthinking it, then decided to just go for it and force myself to eat something gross but good for me. Doing hard things make us better right?

Damn these taste good! I have a new favorite travel snack and source of protein and fat. I'm going to go back and stock up.

I love sardines, they're great. In oil they're good but I personally prefer them in tomato sauce. Mostly I eat them with crackers but sometimes I make sandwiches (it helps if you mush them up a bit first). Also they are good grilled on toast.

Now you've made me hungry!

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

Yesterday I stumbled across cans of wild caught sardines in olive oil on a good sale at the store. I started overthinking it, then decided to just go for it and force myself to eat something gross but good for me. Doing hard things make us better right?

Damn these taste good! I have a new favorite travel snack and source of protein and fat. I'm going to go back and stock up.

I love sardines, they're great. In oil they're good but I personally prefer them in tomato sauce. Mostly I eat them with crackers but sometimes I make sandwiches (it helps if you mush them up a bit first). Also they are good grilled on toast.

Now you've made me hungry!

You guys can have all the sardines. Just the smell of those things makes me nauseous. 

[Brekar]

Man I love sardines. I eat them when I'm stuck on locomotives with nothing to do. I like to eat them instead of the snacks that one might have like chips. One can get fat sitting around munching on chips to much.

In line with the near death experiments with food. In June we were visiting my in-laws in Arizona, and my father-in-law made steaks. I asked him why the steaks had a sour after taste, and he just shrugged it off. I looked around and found his steak seasoning has expired in September of 2012. That stuff smells so sour it was insane. My wife went through his spices after that and found the majority of them were at least 4 years expired. He got super annoyed that she threw them away, because to him they tasted fine still, but we went out and replaced them with "new" stuff, thus ensuring the next food tasted correct.

[lurkedthere]

Sardines : my understanding is that for long term storage tomato sauce is better than oil. The oil can go rancid, particularly in hot climates. I like mine on toast.

[majorhavoc]

Aseptic packaged, self stable whole milk (no refrigeration until it's unopened).  Expiration date of 25 FEB 21.  Absolutely fine. 

[NapalmMan67]

Ate some Apple Butter recently from 2001 and opened another jar of Corn Relish from 2009.  All good stuff.  However, the Peaches from 1998 got tossed, as they smelled a little.....  off.


I'm usually not a fish eater, but I do like sardines and preferred in tomato sauce also.  Used to eat them with Rye Krisp crackers, but those alas, are no longer made that I'm aware of.

.

[majorhavoc]

Ate some Apple Butter recently from 2001 and opened another jar of Corn Relish from 2009.  All good stuff.  However, the Peaches from 1998 got tossed, as they smelled a little.....  off.

Much respect.  You are a brave, brave man.

I'm usually not a fish eater, but I do like sardines and preferred in tomato sauce also.  Used to eat them with Rye Krisp crackers, but those alas, are no longer made that I'm aware of.
.

Mark my words, some day tinned sardines will be recognized as a seriously under-rated prep.  Might not be exactly what you're thinking of. This stuff is my go to for "bread" analogue preps.  As actual bread it's a poor substitute but certainly has a longer shelf life.  I consider it little more than a protein/cheese/condiment delivery system.  But it get's the job done.

https://www.shaws.com/shop/product-details.102020797.html?cmpid=ps_shw_shwd_ecom_goo_20200329_71700000081452354_58700006943798265_92700062511692878&gclid=Cj0KCQiAkNiMBhCxARIsAIDDKNUmpyotckc2vx21kLdwmVp4v8CjVs8AluAEoGHGlyL-YlPYlCWYfl8aAoN7EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

[NapalmMan67]

Ate some Apple Butter recently from 2001 and opened another jar of Corn Relish from 2009.  All good stuff.  However, the Peaches from 1998 got tossed, as they smelled a little.....  off.

Much respect.  You are a brave, brave man.

I'm usually not a fish eater, but I do like sardines and preferred in tomato sauce also.  Used to eat them with Rye Krisp crackers, but those alas, are no longer made that I'm aware of.
.

Mark my words, some day tinned sardines will be recognized as a seriously under-rated prep.  Might not be exactly what you're thinking of. This stuff is my go to for "bread" analogue preps.  As actual bread it's a poor substitute but certainly has a longer shelf life.  I consider it little more than a protein/cheese/condiment delivery system.  But it get's the job done.

https://www.shaws.com/shop/product-details.102020797.html?cmpid=ps_shw_shwd_ecom_goo_20200329_71700000081452354_58700006943798265_92700062511692878&gclid=Cj0KCQiAkNiMBhCxARIsAIDDKNUmpyotckc2vx21kLdwmVp4v8CjVs8AluAEoGHGlyL-YlPYlCWYfl8aAoN7EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

Hmmm, I'll have to see if they carry that in my AO and give them a go.  Thanks for posting that.

If I remember correct, the Rye Krisp I used to get was Nabisco brand and dark rye, real crunchy cracker type stuff.

[NT2C]

It is not possible to "gum" slightly stale oatmeal raisin cookies.

[NapalmMan67]

It is not possible to "gum" slightly stale oatmeal raisin cookies. 

But crumble a few in a bowl with some milk (Real or Almond) and a few short bursts in the microwave...  There ya have a nice warm bowl of oatmeal raisin mush.  No dentures required.

[Brekar]

So in line with this thread I was bored and hungry while sitting on a locomotive with nothing to do a few days ago so I went digging through the cavernous depths of my lunch box and found a can of "Sardines in Mustard Sauce" that expired in April of 2021. Being the curious sort and hungry, I cracked the can open and took a cautious sniff. It passed the smell smell and cautious taste test, so I cracked it open and ate it with some Ritz crackers. Tasted great and 2 days later I still here with no issues from the sardines expired 9 months ago...

[RoneKiln]

I fell in love with sardines this last year, but about 2 months ago I got real sick a few hours after eating a can. I don't know if I was dealing with a stomach bug, something was off with that can, or if I just overloaded on fat.

Then I started getting texts from members of my crew that everyone was sick with wildly different symptoms. Every one of us on the same night. Normally we would think it was coincidence but we then got notice someone that entered our building the previous week tested positive for covid.

Covid can have near any symptom imaginable, and we're ALL sick. That can not be coincidence.

It was coincidence. We all tested negative. But it took days for us all to get tested, and some had symptoms that merited staying quarantined anyway to be safe, and by the time it was all sorted out work was an absolute mess.

Sardines just seem sort of gross to me since then.