Shopping screw ups with expiration dates?

[ManaMinori 4,146]

Has anyone ever gone shopping and gotten a product that expired on the day you bought it, but you don't check until after its already bought, assuming you have a good few days until it goes bad, but by then, it's too late?

 

 

In my instance, I bought 1 lb of pre cut watermelon, yesterday, which was its expiration date, didn't look at it till today, a day past its use by date, and had to wolf the whole container in one sitting (they still tasted ok, so thought I'd take the risk)

[Megas 27,920]

My brother once bought 2 jugs of milk that were gonna expire in less than a week. We ended up finishing the first jug quickly enough, but he ended up opening the second one and using it for cereal about a day after the expiration date without knowing. He ended up throwing up as soon as I told him it was bad and was expired a day late

[Invincible 2,092]

I once bought a can of doc. Pepper that was about a week past expiration. I saw the date only some time later. I drank it anyway; my stomach can hold almost anything so a little expired soda wasn't the end of me.

[Comic Sans 401]

* pre-diced pineapple chunks. never again... they were so freaking sour when i ate them and my tongue was just stinging from the juice.

[Guest]

* pre-diced pineapple chunks. never again... they were so freaking sour when i ate them and my tongue was just stinging from the juice.

I laughed out loud when I read this (probably more than I should have, but it just sounds so horrible)

[captainborgue 343]

Most dates on products aren't an expiration date, but a "sell by" date- meaning the store has to move that inventory by then, but it does not necessarily mean it's spoiled. Most milk can go a week past the date without a problem, I've had eggs last two weeks past. Canned food lasts like crazy, though pineapple is an exception as the juice actually contains enzymes that dissolve meat.

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,303]

We've deliberately purchased discounted items that we knew were going to expire soon; always with the thought that we'd finish it off before that happened.  I think I might have unintentionally bought something that had looooong since expired at the local place.  A place that, I might add, recently got in trouble with the health inspector.  I'm not sure if they even sell meat or groceries anymore...  They still sell liquor, though.

[EpicEnergy 23,239]

Thankfully my mom does most of the shopping, and she checks the expiration dates so there hasn't been hardly any problems with expired food.

[Splashee 28,581]

On 4/17/2016 at 11:02 PM, ManaMinori said:

Has anyone ever gone shopping and gotten a product that expired on the day you bought it, but you don't check until after its already bought, assuming you have a good few days until it goes bad, but by then, it's too late?

It happens, even in modern stores. You kinda need to always check the dates. Check price, date, and if the product is still sealed, before deciding to buy it. It saves you a lot of headache!

[DubWolf 17,533]

I thought you meant you were out looking for merch that can’t be sold anymore  

 

nope

[Lucky Bolt 35,106]

I’ve had this happen a couple times, even with milk.  Always check the expiration date before buying, kids!

[Early Sunsets 2,108]

At BronyCon last year I bought a carton of milk that I was going to use in my breakfasts for the weekend, only to find that it was almost a week expired after I had gotten back to my hotel room. It was an hour walk to the store through downtown Baltimore (not the safest of places), so I just threw it away and went without (man, I did not eat much that weekend. If I do the math, I ate barely over 1,000 calories each day  Eat more than that at conventions, please)

[Thuja 3,663]

So as someone who's worked with inventory, I literally spent a few hours rotating stock once a week so the stuff that expires earlier is on the front where people will just grab it so the stuff with the longer sell-by date is in the back to be rotated later.  It helps prevent too much food waste since if something is past the sell-by date we have to dispose of it somehow, either by throwing it out ourselves or sending it back to the distributor to be disposed of by them(usually brand name foods or canned/packaged foods are sent back while things like meat and produce are just unceremoniously thrown out in the dumpster).

I mean, if someone's a bit more environmentally conscious and wants to reduce food waste, just buying stuff that's on sale will help both the store and probably your wallet in the long run.  I wouldn't suggest you do that with things like meat though but if you plan on cooking it the same day you've bought it, it should be fine to use just as long as you're cooking with it properly too.